continued. I feel truly "older" now. I think I have/had 8 appointments (doctor/dentist) this month and that doesn't count whatever is added after I have surgery on Thursday. More on that in a minute.
Monday, I saw a specialist about the gall stones which were found in every CT scan for the kidney stone. The urologist office especially felt it was important to have it checked out. So I met with a Dr. Jordan who was an interesting character. He told me that I will probably "die and go to heaven with my gall stones." The gall bladder looked fine except for the stones and lots of people have stones and never have any trouble with them. He reviewed the symptoms with me and gave me his card and said to call him if they ever become problematic and he would be happy to remove the gall bladder. So, good news and checked!
Tuesday I saw the PA at the urologist and they said everything was looking good--no infection or blood in my urine. I go back tomorrow to find the results of the stone and possible things to prevent another one of that type growing again.
Wednesday, Gary and I met with my vascular surgeon (who wants to have a vascular surgeon? If you need one, you would want one, I guess---like having a urologist!) We discussed options and it happened that he could fit me in this Thursday or we could do it in October after our vacations/family wedding. We decided to go ahead and have surgery on Thursday and move into the healing part of this whole experience. I have already been mostly in "sick" mode this summer so I guess I will finish the summer that way This is a bypass surgery to go around the blockage of "cement" in my artery. He decided to use an artificial tubing for the bypass which for my particular repair works "just as good as" using a vein. He said that I had many good veins he could use, but this allows for a simpler surgery and recovery and also keeps my veins for any future needs. Once a bypass is done, I have to be watched the rest of my life to make sure that it is working properly. They usually do, but for some people they might fail after a year or after 10, there is no way to predict. So I guess I really do now have "my" vascular surgeon on my regular yearly or however often they require. Fortunately, I have felt very comfortable with the staff at the clinic as well as the doctor so that is good. This surgery is about 2 hours long and I will have about a 2 day stay in the hospital and then PT and recovery 3-12 weeks. You will be hearing more about this, I am sure.
Also on Wednesday, I had a follow up with "my" hematologist as well. He was excited to learn about the two kidneys/2 ureters situation and told me that I was just a fun mix of genetic oddities. I haven't told him that I don't smell. Our family doctor in Hong Kong told me that made me "even more interesting!" Doctors find odd things interesting. Anyway, even though my white blood cell issue is a benign condition usually, he feels they need to track it every three months along with some other tracers in the blood to make sure that it stays in my "normal" low range and doesn't drop back into the severe low like it was at the beginning of the year. So for the next few years, I will see him once or twice a year and do blood tests with his office every three months. Learning new things about my body and how it works (or doesn't work) every appointment.
And that was a wrap for last week's visits.....no photos although Dr. Schlieder did show me the pictures of my artery and the blockage and drew me a nice picture of the artery and why they couldn't place a stent. Fun stuff! And these are minor things compared to what so many people have to deal with every day!
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