Painting the Basement

On Thursday, July 24th, I was sitting on my recliner in the usual heating pad pose and Gary was lying on the bed in pain from a muscle pull in his lower back and we were really feeling like we were getting old--

when I got a text from our contractor.  We had asked for them to do some repairs and painting for us downstairs and he had said it would likely be in September or October which was fine for us.  I just wanted it done before our Christmas party in December. Anyway, he had an unexpected break in their schedule the following week and wondered if they could come and do the work and painting.  We said yes, but then laughed at ourselves.  We were both not well and getting the basement ready was going to take some energy over the next few days.  We still had lots of boxes not unpacked yet and cleaning and organizing the areas where we had unpacked.

In between the two of us--walking wounding--we got it done (although we did forget to clean out the water bottles from the small fridge and move it.).

And now we have a freshly painted game room, hallway, and bathroom and we can actually move into those areas and finally get rid of our boxes!  The grandkids will be so excited to finally have a place to play with grandma's toys again.  It has been five years for them.

Getting ready

Carlos working on the trim

The painting is done except maybe a few touch ups and the hanging of some doors and other things.  Probably no one will really notice, but this is a slightly lighter and "minter" color of green.  It is actually on the same "color strip" as the green in our master bathroom, but a shade lighter.  I like it.  I read that green was a good "social"color, so perfect for our game room.

toy closet--all green this time

They will finish up tomorrow and then we can start slowly moving things back into place and maybe finally feel "moved back in."

So at least, we "accomplished" something during July...well, Gary has accomplished a lot.  Even with his back being in pain, he continues to work on things around the house, do family history work, and serve at the temple. We are hoping to do a session this coming week--that will be a first since this kidney stone sage started.

Twelve Angry Men (Hale Theatre)

 I have already mentioned that I spent most of the month sitting in our recliner with a heating pad.

We did take the chance to go to the Hale Theatre to see Twelve Angry Men.  It is a jury room drama which was excellent.  They did a great job casting the parts.  It was one that gave you things to think about.  We had had to change our tickets because of the kidney stone adventure in Washington, but I was glad we made it.

I have never been on a jury and probably won't at my age now.  But it made me want to have that experience.  I should have put it on my bucket list long ago.

The Angiogram (July 31)

As I mentioned, this appointment had been set about 5 weeks ago.  The plan was to go in, take pictures of the blockage they had found in my upper left leg and hopefully stent it (he assured me that this stent would not cause the problems I experienced with ureter stents--although back when we had the conversation, I was speaking of my problems years ago, never dreaming I would be dealing with them again within a week.)

Wednesday evening (the night before), I got very sick again from the pain in my kidney and spent time throwing up.  I was debating if I needed to go to the ER, because vomiting was one of the symptoms to be concerned about.  Adding to the complications were we had to be at the McKay Dee Hospital at 6:00 am.  I was worried about getting there, but also what was happening with my kidney and trying not to wake up Gary so he would be able to drive us wherever we ended up going.  After about 3 hours, the pain subsided about 1:30 am and I was able to get a bit of sleep. It wasn't the best start for the day's procedure, but I was glad that I didn't have to cancel it.

Pretty smiley for 6:30 am

And this is what Gary sent the kids.  He is getting fancy with his smartphone.  They loved it, of course.

After the surgery, they covered me with this blowup blanket which is filled with warm air--a newer version of the heated blanket.  It is super nice but looks a bit funny.

The surgery was set for about 1 1/2 hours, but after 20 minutes or so, the doctor finished the angiogram and ended the procedure.  The blockage was 100% which wasn't what we were expecting and it was also located near a junction off the main artery which didn't allow for a stent to be placed in it.  That means that the only treatment options are : 1- to continue to walk through the pain and in a year or so, it should improve because of new blood vessels being added around the blockage; or 2- do a by pass surgery which requires taking a piece of vein and rerouting the blood around the blockage.  That doesn't sound fun at all, especially as I google that surgery and the recovery times (3 to 6 or 12 weeks, depending on what you read.)  I have't talked to the doctor, but he told Gary that it would probably be set for September.  My September is pretty busy and I am not sure how this will fit in.  We will meet with the doctor on Wednesday to discuss options.

So the unexpected and the complications keep happening, but it is and has been true that I have felt a peace about it with both the stone and now my leg.  And in the moments when I feel picked on or discouraged, I remember the sweet promises of peace from my Heavenly Father uttered by that missionary in Washington and I have found that peace each time I have asked.

It is not a kidney stone---but this too will pass!

And I found out today that Kaye Volk has the same things in both of her legs (and also in her heart) and has been struggling with pain in walking for awhile. We are never left alone. It was good to talk to her about it although hers is much worse and more intense than my situation is.

The Sage of the Kidney Stone

On October 12, 2014, I wrote a blog post, entitled "How many days can one kidney stone ruin?"  At that point, I said 14 days, although back then, the adventure did continue throughout October down through Thanksgiving as it turned out that I had a second kidney stone which took its sweet time passing as well and a kidney infection which took a while to clear up.  And just to top it off, I got very sick a few days before Thanksgiving that year and ended up back at the urologist's office to doublecheck the kidney/bladder and to get IV solutions to deal with some viral infection.  In that case, 2 kidney stones impacted several weeks of life.

This experience has been different from that one, but this one kidney stone has kept me "down and out" for the month of July.

As you know, we returned early from our trip for the postponed lithotripsy which was set for July 16--finally.  The goal was to break up the stone and to allow it to pass though and out of my body.  We did the procedure at the Holy Cross Davis Hospital (the old Davis Hospital).  It went fine and it was the easiest and fastest that I have ever come out of general anesthetic.  The doctor chose to leave both stents in because it wasn't totally clear which tube might catch the debris and he wanted to protect both ureters. Fine, but I was counting down the days until those would be removed.  That was set for July 29.  That would mean that the stents were in place for a month. Yuck!

We have a family thread and so it means that we send pictures to "share" with our kids.  So they have gotten a few from hospitals this month....They can't say we don't keep them informed.

After the lithotripsy on the 16th

I continued to feel miserable, like a constant bladder infection plus a tender back.  As part of the treatment, my urologist sent me to a PT to do a treatment to help encourage the debris from remaining in the lower kidney.  It involved using a small handheld massage gun to pound on your back as you lie in different positions.  After doing it at the office, we try it at home.  Both times, it left my lower back feeling super painful.  I wasn't sure if that meant it was working or not working, but I decided that the pain was a sign that it wasn't the right thing so we didn't do it again.   

So, I read books, took naps, and ordered groceries from WalMart to keep everyone fed (so helpful).  That is really all I did.  Back in 2014, I was in my first year of graduate school so I did spend lots of time studying which felt a bit more productive than just reading spy novels, historical fiction, and non-fiction books.  Again, heating pads and ice packs are my friends and our bedroom recliner my safe spot.

On the evening of the 28th as I was preparing to fall asleep and thinking about the stents being removed the next morning, I had a quiet whisper of a thought--don't get too set on that outcome. Not something that I had considered up to that point, but I acknowledged to myself and to God that I would be okay with whatever happened---but of course, why wouldn't they be taking out the stents?

Tuesday morning, I did the required CT scan and then headed to the urologist's office.  The medical assistant set me up in the procedure room including preparing my bladder for the stent removal.  She told me that the doctor would be about 15 minutes as he was finishing up another case.  No worries--I had a book to read. About 10 minutes later she came in and apologized.  Dr. Reynolds needs to see you because your kidney stone has not moved or changed over the past 2 weeks. He needs to talk to you about next steps. (Side note: I had been straining my urine for the past 2 weeks and I was mostly getting a white powdery substance and blood clots. I had hoped that the stone had been blasted into this sandy stuff, but no such luck.  I knew that I hadn't passed any thing "peddle-like.") I got dressed and headed to one of his exam room. The option was surgery the next day to try to go into the kidney and pull the stone out.  And likely, the stents would remain for at least another 2 weeks---because as he said, "that is kind of how this kidney stone as gone for you."

That caught me off guard, but I was grateful for that small feeling the night before about not counting on the stents being removed.

What added to the "fun" of it all, I already had a angiogram scheduled at McKay Dee Hospital to treat the blockage in my left leg for Thursday morning. That appointment had been made 5 weeks ago, long before the kidney stone started causing problems. Dr. Reynolds was okay with the back to back procedures and as I reached out to Dr. Schlieder's office, they also gave the okay.  Easy for them to say--and despite the weirdness of it all, we decided better to get things taken care of and into the recovery phase for both the kidney and my leg. Might as well rest and recover from two things rather than just one!

Gary assisted by Craig Pessetto gave me a sweet blessing Tuesday night (although Gary reminded me that the promises from the young missionaries back in Washington still also applied) and I felt comfortable that things would proceed safely and the way that they should go.

Wednesday morning, we were back at the Holy Cross Davis Hospital for the kidney stone removal.  Things went smoothly, he was able to remove it, AND the best news was that he decided to remove both stents since he felt that there wasn't any concern about further debris damaging the tubes.  That resulted almost immediately in relief for my bladder.  YAY! Recovery went well and we headed home by 1:00.

Gary has been a great support to me over the
past month and has spent a lot of time in
hospital chairs.

After surgery--no stents!!

And although I have had some serious bouts of pain and passing blood clots, overall, I have felt much better.  The pain is mostly in my kidney area and it helped by Tylenol and heat or ice. Probably just another week or so as the kidney recovers from the impact of the stone and from its removal.

So it is true as predicted--this too will pass!!! Even if it takes over a month, four different medications, two stents, and three surgeries!!!