The first indication of a problem stone was on Wednesday, August 13.
I started getting pains high up on the left side of my back.
That's also when the blood & cloudiness started.
Both indicators that a stone was making its way down from the kidney through the ureter.
[http://www.webmd.com/kidney-stones/kidney-stone-in-ureter]
As long as it keeps moving I thought "I have enough time."
I babysit my niece & nephews for my sister and last school year ended with renal failure, a bilateral stent [http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002303.htm], a couple of procedures and eventually ended with me coming home for a week with a Foley Catheter. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foley_catheter]
What a grand finale that 3 week experience was!
This school year begins like last year was supposed to end, with my sister's school starting while my niece & nephews have 1 more week off. So that means she needs someone to babysit for that week, 8+ hours for each of those 5 days.
Seems daunting, but they are more laid back (no school bus to catch!) and we can do more fun stuff.
I look forward to all the days I get to do this (so there's one positive thing about being chronically ill and unable to hold down a "regular job.") I am lucky in that respect.
So I was getting all psyched up for this coming week (Aug. 25 ~ 29) but pains on August 13, while seemingly far enough away to not be a major concern, started turning into something more threatening as time went on.
From the 13th to the 18th (Wednesday to Friday) I tried my usual "wait it out", and for a while it seemed like the best plan. The stone was moving, the pain was moderate most of the time, and when it spiked I did come close at least three times to calling my parents for a ride to the E.R., but I never gave in - perhaps I should have.
Friday the 18th the stone was really low, it felt like had reached the entrance to the bladder (but it was still in the ureter) and I was just hoping it would make that final push from ureter to bladder and then the pain would cease and I'd then just have to wait for it to float around the bladder for a bit (could be hours, could be days, it could even take weeks) but a kidney stone in the bladder doesn't hurt (unless it gets stuck in the urethra on its way out of the bladder!)
The pain got to be too much but I really felt like i could still wait it out if I could control the pain, so I called my urologist and he gave me a prescription for some Percocet [http://www.rxlist.com/percocet-drug.htm] which would be good enough to reduce the pain to let me get on with Life while the stone decided what it wanted to do.
I waited Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and when the pain hadn't decreased or the stone hadn't moved in those 5 days, I called my doc again to see if maybe he could do something more proactive. I explained about my commitment which was now rapidly approaching next week!
He wrote out some orders for a KUB X-Ray [http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Kidney,+Ureter,+and+Bladder+X-Ray+Study] and a Renal Ultrasound [http://kidshealth.org/parent/system/medical/renal_ultrasound.html] which I picked up from his office and then went to 3 different places to try to have done.
I tired an imaging place right across the road from my urologist, but their Ultrasound technician wasn't in.
I then tried the satellite Radiology/Imaging office of a closer hospital which is located right next door to my Primary Care Physician, but they require appointments (the place was a ghost town, no one there except the nurses & techs, no patients) and the first available was in September!
So I wound up driving up to St. Mary Medical Center anyway (which was the initial plan, but I thought I could save myself the slightly longer trip and the hustle & bustle of a large hospital.)
I got there and after 3 hours I had the 2 tests done, they gave me the "films" (on CD) and the reports and I dropped them back off at my Urologist's office then went home to wait.
After reviewing the reports & looking at the films, my doc wanted to go in and remove the large stone that was the bane of this experience. He told me he'd remove it after his office hours and to go to the E.R. to prepare for the procedure.
I called up my folks for a ride, they picked me up, we got to the E.R., I told them I was told to come through the E.R. as my doc was preparing for a procedure. They started to go through the usual E.R. process (triage, vitals, history, etc) when a call comes from the OR wondering where I am.
This starts a tiff between the E.R. doc on call and the OR about where I should be.
This moves out of ear shot and an hour later I'm finally being taken down to the OR for the procedure.Before I even leave the E.R. holding area, my folks dash out taking all my possessions.
The nurse who was going to wheel me down to the OR was shouting after my folks that there's a waiting room down there and they can wait there or go to the cafeteria, but they just kept walking.
She seemed surprised by this, I explained that they hardly ever wait any more but they'd probably be back when they thought it was over. My nurse thought it was a strange way to treat someone going into an operating room, and I agree (silently, to myself) but as much as it stings (to have your parents just kind of walk away and not walk with you to the OR) I know they don't like waiting either so I let it go.
When I get wheeled into the operating room (my doc is not yet in there) there are the usual occupants; anesthesia docs/nurses, other nurses, techs, etc. and I swear at least 2/3 of them turn and say "Rob?!" when they see me. They ask what brings me back, I say "the usual", and they said they were sorry since they had just seen me like 6-7 weeks ago!
I felt like Norm from "Cheers."
My urologist comes in and he asks if I'd like to go home tonight - I tell him, for me, that's top priority as I have to prepare for my duties coming up in 5 days! He says he'll do his best to get me home ASAP.
Then I presume they did their thing because I woke up in the recovery room.
My folks had returned, they gave me my stuff, said their goodbyes then left.
I thought that was odd (well, more odd than usual.)
I then had to pee really bad and I did (with all the horrible things you'd expect after someone had been inside you through the most convenient passageway available.)
It stung, it was bloody, it was messy, but there was no string, so I was happy.
After a little while I had to pee again and as I shifted in my bed to get a better angle (for better flow) I felt a pang of pain in my back on the left. I knew that pain, and hadn't hoped to feel it again, not now, not after not seeing the zip cord hanging out of me!
I peed again, and after all the mess, there it was - the string.
That cursed black zip cord of misery.
I had a stent.
Not good news at all. It shot down my hopes go getting out Wednesday night and going home.
I talked to the nurse and she said I did have a stent and that we're waiting for a room.
So I was being admitted.
She said it was just to be overnight for observation.
Okay. One night. Fine.
Thursday comes, I see my doctor, and he tells me of the stent, and how he thinks he got most of the big stone that was the problem, but I appear to now be running a fever and they're going to watch me to be sure it's not an infection. I hope the fever breaks and I can be home Thursday night.
Thursday runs its course and turns into Friday. The fever breaks but the Infectious Diseases department sends the vampires to collect lots of blood and urine from me to test what the infection might be.
I also get a visit from my Nephrologist (kidney doctor) who is concerned about my high Creatinine levels [http://www.medicinenet.com/creatinine_blood_test/page2.htm]. These are apparently new concerns because back in June when I had the renal failure episode, my levels were returning to normal, otherwise they would not have let me out. So this is a new rise in my Creatinine level so now he's concerned about either an infection (which would be easy to treat) or Hydronephrosis [http://www.healthline.com/health/unilateral-hydronephrosis] which could be a bigger problem indicating a blockage by perhaps uric acid crystals growing in the kidney reducing flow.
This type of problem might require more intensive & dangerous surgery.
So he takes some urine to sample also.
So now, I wait.
I have no fever Friday at all, though I am on an IV anti-biotic, which could have cleared up whatever was going on.
Saturday rolls around and I'm feeling like a caged animal and all I can see if Monday looming up ahead and I'm not yet prepared!
I feel useless and here I am again causing problems for my loved ones.
Finally my doc sees me Saturday around noon and says there's no infection, no blockage, the fever is gone for 2 days now, and my creatinine levels are returning to better levels. I can go home.
I am somewhat relieved, but he wants to remove this stent and go "back in" to go higher up the ureter to make sure it's clear, but he knows this week I am unavailable, so he's scheduled it for the day after Labor Day, Tuesday, September 2, 2014.Initially I call to let my folks know that I'm being discharged but it could take a while (it took 4 hours last time!) and that I'd call when the paperwork is done and in-hand.
Mom says Dad went to a movie.
Movie > Son = Hurts.
That's ridiculous, but at least I'm now free.
I call my folks for a ride home and my mother comes to get me because dad is making some new experimental sauce at home.
Sauce > Son = Hurts.My doc sends me home with prescriptions for Bactrim (and anti-biotic) and Percocets (for the pain.)The pain is moderate, but the Percs are helping.
Today will be prep day for me, in case my niece & nephews decided my place is more fun to hang out in than their own home.
I have cooler toys!
Anyway, so now I have a stent and another pending surgical procedure looming, and my hopes of getting ahead of this problem instead of waiting for it to get bad enough for the usual routine, have gone and completely blown up in my face, making everything I did to try to prevent this seem utterly futile.
I told my friends I was going in to have a stone broken up and hoped to be home Wednesday night, but I wasn't able to get online and tell them what had happened until Saturday afternoon.
So this is what was occupying my time during those missing days!
My next post will probably be about my experience on September 2 when this stent is due to be removed....
