I have two titles to this post and since I couldn't decide I am using them both.(the titles are actually kind of important to me. I am odd that way.) Two titles but no pictures.
We will start with the "Tangled Weave" angle: (Spoiler alert: If you aren't into kidney stones, you can skip this whole post. This is for my family who may get kidney stones themselves sometime in the future although I certainly hope no one does.)
As I checked back I see the last post that I wrote about having kidney stones was called: "14 days and counting" referring the number of days I had been dealing with my kidney stone. Unfortunately, the "and counting..." proved to be prophetic as I ended up counting and counting more days in which I was dealing with this kidney stone which had been removed on Oct. 3. It was the gift that kept giving, I guess.
So, when I last wrote I was waiting for the stent to be removed. That happened on Oct. 14. It was a quick and simple procedure which they did in the office. I was so excited since many of the issues I was having were likely due to my body's reaction to that tiny bit of tubing. When the doctor removed it, he indicated that there was still lots of swelling and healing going on in the bladder and tubing and that I would be very sick for the next few days but then I should start feeling better. I wasn't happy to hear about the "very sick" part but figured to be better in a few days was awesome news. He was right. I was miserable. I went to one of my classes that night but couldn't stay for the later one and was back in bed for the next four or five days.
And it dragged on and on. I continued to be sick to my stomach and feeling like I had a constant bladder infection with pain. I would have some periods when things would calm down and I could sit at a computer and work for an hour or two. I would also have times of severe cramping and pain where all I could do is lay on the couch with ice and heating pad at the same time. Ice for kidney pain, heating pad for everything else. It didn't make sense to me that I was still feeling so sick. Finally at the end of October (mind you this was all going on with the rest of our lives still happening--hence the tangled weave.), I finally called the doctor again and left a message with my current symptoms. I got a message back for the nurse: "It sounds like the other kidney stone is moving. You need to come in today so we can check it and see where it is at and if it is safe to try to pass." Shock--neither Gary or I had been told that there was a second stone in my kidney! It took some time to have that sink in and I really didn't like the idea of going through the past month again with a new stone. In addition this was the Tuesday just prior to Halloween and the UDSF Conference so I was not in favor of dealing with a kidney stone at all.
Gary and I met with the PA, redid the CAT scan and sure enough, he reported that the stone had moved down the tube. He assured me that it was half the size of the first one and that I would be able to pass it on my own without surgery. I asked for a promise that it wouldn't happen during my speech on Saturday, but no luck. He gave me a prescription and off we went to wait for the stone to pass. It took me all afternoon to deal with the fact that there was really another stone--I know it sounds dramatic but somehow learning about the second was harder than the first. The first one I was in such pain I was just glad that they knew what it was and that it wasn't forever. By now it had been a month and it felt like forever.
Right before I left for school, I picked up our voice messages and found one from the PA. He said that as he reviewed the former CAT scans with the new one, he realized what he thought was a stone was actually something located outside the tube and a non issue. The stone itself was still in the kidney. However since the kidney was still not draining appropriately that I should continue taking the medication to help the tube in the healing process but if I didn't feel better in a week, I needed to come back in. Good news, bad news--stone still there but maybe not going to impact that week's activities. Stones can actually remain in your kidney and cause no problems for your entire life. It is when they move that the problems start.
Slowly it seemed like I was getting better but it was very slow--kind of two steps forward and one step back. Unpredictably I would have a bad few hours or a day or two when I was back in bed and then it would be better for awhile. But I continued to have a feeling like a bladder infection although I had no fever. The week went by and I called and asked for another week of medication as I felt I just needed to keep healing. By the next week, I should have gone in but was too busy with Ben and catching up with life. Jena had a doctor's appointment that week with our family practice doctor so I gave him my sob story and he gave me more Flomax which was the medication to keep the tubes open and healing.
Then on November 19 I had another bad day--Gary gave me the "look" and so I called my urologist. The soonest they could see me was the Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving which was 6 days away. Oh well. I hoped I would be better and could cancel the appointment.
I was good enough by the weekend that we were able to watch Scarlett on Saturday for a few hours and then attend a play at the Hale Theatre ("Catch Me If You Can" excellent). I didn't sleep great that night but got up and got ready for Church. Unfortunately (or actually fortunately for my ward), I got very sick to my stomach and ended up at home for the day with all of the signs of a stomach virus--vomiting and high fever. That is never fun at any time but when your bladder is already stressed, it doesn't make things better. I felt miserable again very fast.
It has now been almost 2 months--how much trouble can two kidney stones cause? A lot. It didn't help in the middle of it a friend posted that she was in the ER with a kidney stone in Seattle. A week later I emailed her to see how she was feeling and she sent me back a link to someone singing "It's a beautiful life" or something sappy like that. Once her stone passed she felt back to normal....I felt like a slug on a bug!
Tuesday morning I was still throwing up and running a high fever. I hate going to the doctor's when I am actually sick and I wasn't sure my urologist really wanted to see me sick. On the other hand, I wasn't better and the holiday weekend was coming up. I spoke with his staff and they indicated that I should come in--wearing a mask, of course.
Four and a half hours later, Gary and I headed home after two shots, two prescriptions, one CAT scan, one urine test and 1 bag of IV saline solution. It was determined that I had a virus and a massive bacteria infection in my bladder (which I think I have had for the entire time.) In the middle of all of the bad news and procedures, we were also told that the second kidney stone was gone. That was the high point of my week. It meant that I really could get better and that all of the pain and days of discomfort over the past four weeks had actually been worth something. I couldn't make it to school that night as I still was running a fever and all of the other illness stuff but I was so happy to know I was really finally maybe getting better.
We did cancel Thanksgiving dinner at our house with our kids and my dad and Karla which was sad.
However Thanksgiving morning was the day that I woke up and actually felt like I was better both from the virus and the infection. I spent most of the day by myself but I actually found myself singing "I'm Human Again" out loud several times during the day as the evidence of healing was everywhere.
I didn't sit around a Thanksgiving dinner table and tell what I was grateful for but I was very grateful for health and medications to fix things when things go wrong. The other thing I have been so grateful for is Gary. He has been amazing! He has taken care of his life (which is quite full already) plus the running around with Jena, plus making sure they ate, and spending time just sitting with me watching TV for awhile. He took me to appointments even through the pictures in the urologist office gave him "the willies". He kept life moving and happy even as I laid on the couch for days on end. Jena and Ben also looked after me bringing me water or juice. And of course the other kids were always checking in by phone or text. Families are awesome. No one should be sick alone.
And now it is December 1 and I would say that I am almost back to normal and NORMAL is good. It is amazing how our bodies work when they are working right.
And that is the final end to the story of the kidney stones. Whew! (Well, actually there is one more short little tale to be told. It will be in the next post: "A Bowl of Soup".)
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