After writing my last blog entry about my stubborn kidney stone issue, I decided to go back to bed around 5AM this morning.
I just kind of laid there for over an hour and finally dozed off for about 15 minutes.
I then decided to get up for good. No sense waisting time trying to sleep when it wasn't going to work.
Veronica and left the house around 7:30 and headed to Elizabeth City to the hospital there.
This is where I was supposed to have my surgery.
Before leaving the house, I made sure that I took along the kidney stone that finally decided to make a surprise appearance at the 11th hour.
Once at the hospital, I was checked in a given a room along with the usual hospital garb to change into.
After completing various paperwork along with all of the other semi preparation stuff that they do before surgery, I had some quiet time before my doctor showed up.
After some discussion and looking at the problematic stone that I proudly presented to him, it was decided that he would do some stat blood work and a ultra sound that was to be read stat before getting into any serious prep for my scheduled surgery.
The blood test was to check on the level of the chemical that had gone much higher than was comfortable and gauged how much function my right kidney was working at.
If the stone that i had presented to the doctor was indeed the stone that was causing the blockage and the chemical level to rise, then by passing this stone, the chemical level should have dropped to almost normal by this time.
As it turned out, the ultra sound test came back good and the chemical level dropped to almost a normal level.
The test results along with the stone in hand, was enough for the doctor to cancel my surgery.
There was a lot of whooping and hollering going on between Veronica and ...at least in our minds and hearts. We were very thankful that I averted this surgery.
Although I am sure that the surgery would have turned out fine, there are so many variables involved in any surgery, that I always am concerned any time they put me out for any type of procedure.
We did not even have to wait to be officially signed out of the hospital because I was only semi officially signed in.
After getting an appointment slip to see my Urologist this next Wed, I quickly changed clothes and ran for the doors before anyone decided that a mistake had been made and I did indeed need to have the surgery done.
On the way home, Veronica and i stopped at a roadside Farmers Market where we bought some gourds to decorate and some fresh vegetables.
Once again life was good and now we could focus on the upcoming "Frankenstorm" also known as Hurricane Sandy...a current Category 1 hurricane that was to run up the East Coast or possibly make landfill in the Mid Atlantic states or maybe New Jersey before heading up to the New England states. Still unknown was the exact path of this storm but I have already brought in our outdoor furniture from our 3 floor balcony.
No matter what this storm does or where it tracks, at least Veronica and I will be together during this weather event.
Like I said...Life is good.
Showing posts with label kidney stone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kidney stone. Show all posts
Update On Kidney Stone Issue
I have been dealing with a stubborn kidney stone and pain associated with that stone for over 2 weeks now.
After straining my urine and collecting various debris and "gravel", I took my collection to my Urologist yesterday.
As far as I knew and based on what was in the strainer, I had not passed my stone as of yet.
My most recent xray could not locate the stone although the xray before it showed a stone relaxing and enjoying itself about halfway down my ureter.
There was also a chemical level that had been checked a couple of times via a blood test that showed this chemical level to be much higher than it should be and was a concern to both the doctor and I.
The chemical level showed that my right kidney was not functioning properly which could very well be attributed to my stone somewhat blocking the flow of urine and backing it up into the kidney or the cause could be something else. It came across to me that it was most likely to be caused by the stone.
This chemical level is not something one wants to stay elevated for any real length of time because it could permanently harm the kidney.
The Urologist and I discussed the various issues and unknowns that we were dealing with at this time.
No evidence of the passing of the stone, elevated chemical level showing less than ideal kidney functioning and pain in my right side.
The doctor took another blood sample to get a new reading on this chemical level but we would not have the results back for 2 days.
It was decided that if I did not go in for surgery today, then it would be 2 weeks before he could get me into the surgery room and 2 weeks was too much time to let pass by with that chemical level possibly being as high as it was when last checked or it could be higher at this time....only the blood test could answer that question.
So as I left my doctors office, I was to be at the hospital in Elizabeth City by no later than 9:30 this morning.
I say this morning because it is currently 3:30AM here.
I was woke up by pain in my right side about 1:30AM and I lay in bed trying to let the pain pass so that I could get some sleep.
As you can tell by my current typing of this blog entry, my attempts to get back to sleep failed miserably so I decided to get up and get something productive accomplished. Thus...here I am being productive or at least as productive as one can be at 3:31AM with a looming surgery scheduled for around 10AM.
You know how they say that timing is everything? Well believe it because it is true.
For the last 2 weeks, I have been drowning myself with the intake of water so as to flush the stubborn kidney stone out of my system. Had that happened before yesterdays doctors visit, my upcoming surgery might not be a happening thing.
After returning from my doctors office visit, I had resigned myself to the fact that I was going in for surgery. I had thrown away my urine strainer while at his office and gave up on pumping gallons of water through my system.
It was time to give my system a little break and enjoy my usual drink of choice..diet cherry cola or some diet cola variation.
So around 8PM I had to use the bathroom to urinate.
No sting...no blood....no problem.
Looking into the bowl i see this dark speck staring up at me. Figuring what have i got to lose, I shove my hand into the bowl and put my finger on this speck. Lo and behold, it is a kidney stone.
I carefully fish the stone out of the bowl and protecting it with my life, I walk upstairs and proudly present it to my Veronica.
We carefully place this stone into a secure plastic packet so that I can take it to the hospital with me tomorrow.
So the good new is that I am 99% sure that this is "THE STONE". The bad news is that we have no idea what that chemical level is at and my doctor will most likely go ahead with the "surgery" to check both kidneys to see if there is anything else that might be going on inside me that would cause that chemical level to be elevated.
Hopefully the latest blood test will show that chemical level down to where it should be but unfortunately that won't be until after today's medical journey is complete.
When they say timing is everything....believe it.
See you on the flip side...
After straining my urine and collecting various debris and "gravel", I took my collection to my Urologist yesterday.
As far as I knew and based on what was in the strainer, I had not passed my stone as of yet.
My most recent xray could not locate the stone although the xray before it showed a stone relaxing and enjoying itself about halfway down my ureter.
There was also a chemical level that had been checked a couple of times via a blood test that showed this chemical level to be much higher than it should be and was a concern to both the doctor and I.
The chemical level showed that my right kidney was not functioning properly which could very well be attributed to my stone somewhat blocking the flow of urine and backing it up into the kidney or the cause could be something else. It came across to me that it was most likely to be caused by the stone.
This chemical level is not something one wants to stay elevated for any real length of time because it could permanently harm the kidney.
The Urologist and I discussed the various issues and unknowns that we were dealing with at this time.
No evidence of the passing of the stone, elevated chemical level showing less than ideal kidney functioning and pain in my right side.
The doctor took another blood sample to get a new reading on this chemical level but we would not have the results back for 2 days.
It was decided that if I did not go in for surgery today, then it would be 2 weeks before he could get me into the surgery room and 2 weeks was too much time to let pass by with that chemical level possibly being as high as it was when last checked or it could be higher at this time....only the blood test could answer that question.
So as I left my doctors office, I was to be at the hospital in Elizabeth City by no later than 9:30 this morning.
I say this morning because it is currently 3:30AM here.
I was woke up by pain in my right side about 1:30AM and I lay in bed trying to let the pain pass so that I could get some sleep.
As you can tell by my current typing of this blog entry, my attempts to get back to sleep failed miserably so I decided to get up and get something productive accomplished. Thus...here I am being productive or at least as productive as one can be at 3:31AM with a looming surgery scheduled for around 10AM.
You know how they say that timing is everything? Well believe it because it is true.
For the last 2 weeks, I have been drowning myself with the intake of water so as to flush the stubborn kidney stone out of my system. Had that happened before yesterdays doctors visit, my upcoming surgery might not be a happening thing.
After returning from my doctors office visit, I had resigned myself to the fact that I was going in for surgery. I had thrown away my urine strainer while at his office and gave up on pumping gallons of water through my system.
It was time to give my system a little break and enjoy my usual drink of choice..diet cherry cola or some diet cola variation.
So around 8PM I had to use the bathroom to urinate.
No sting...no blood....no problem.
Looking into the bowl i see this dark speck staring up at me. Figuring what have i got to lose, I shove my hand into the bowl and put my finger on this speck. Lo and behold, it is a kidney stone.
I carefully fish the stone out of the bowl and protecting it with my life, I walk upstairs and proudly present it to my Veronica.
We carefully place this stone into a secure plastic packet so that I can take it to the hospital with me tomorrow.
So the good new is that I am 99% sure that this is "THE STONE". The bad news is that we have no idea what that chemical level is at and my doctor will most likely go ahead with the "surgery" to check both kidneys to see if there is anything else that might be going on inside me that would cause that chemical level to be elevated.
Hopefully the latest blood test will show that chemical level down to where it should be but unfortunately that won't be until after today's medical journey is complete.
When they say timing is everything....believe it.
See you on the flip side...
What A Morning!!!
- Wow...what a morning. Woke up at 2:50 this AM to pain in my low right side and front of my abdomen. I figured it might be gas not that I ever have anything as absurd as that. Walked around, sat on the stairs, went back to bed and basically could not find a comfortable position. After taking a bunch of antacids and some chewable GasX, I tried to decided whether to wake Veronica up. She has been on the go for 3-4 weeks now and is exhausted. Today was her first day of where there was absolutely nothing going and she could sleep late. Well...leave to me to mess that up for her. After holding off as long as I could, I finally had to wake her up...it might have been around 4-4:15. Told her what was going on and we did some research via Google. The pain started getting worse and we decided to go to the hospital. When we got there the ER was completely empty. I was in a bed within 15-20 minutes at most...I think that might be some sort of new record. One Saline bag later, 4 shots of morphine(smiles and giggles), one shot of Toradol and something to fight off nausea from the morphine, one pee test, 2 xrays, 2 ultra sound procedures, shift changes for both the ER(s) and nurses, one DOA and 1 one young lady that fell down 3 floors of an elevator shaft(no idea)...I was finally with a minimum one 1 kidney stone. I was finally sent packing with 3 pharmacy scripts and some additional info on what a kidney stone is, we headed to the closest pharmacy to have the scripts filled. Then it was time for something to eat so we briefly hit Dunkin Donuts...let me tell you...nothin like DD when you are dealing with a kidney stone.
When we finally got home, we were only interested in getting some sleep. Was doing ok at sleeping until we got a call from my family doctor that was letting me know that she was canceling my upcoming appointment and we would have to re-schedule...believe me I know....hard to believe that a doctor would cancel an appointment because they won't be available. That call was enough to wake me up to the point that I couldn't fall back asleep. Only thing left is keep myself medicated to the point of drooling on myself and feeling no pain, drink my weight in liquids and hope that this stone will pass in the near future. Just wanted to give you an update. Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. PS- Sorry honey for keeping you from getting the rest that you have earned and causing you to be more exhausted that you already are. I will somehow find a way to make it up to you
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Free website hit counter