Multi-Care Tacoma General Hospital

Sunday, I ended up having surgery in the mid-afternoon. My doctor was Dr. Kaur.  He was a friendly doctor who assured me that he was very good at patching people up so that they could travel.  He did his residency in Honolulu which required patching many travelers to make the flight back to the main land.  Flying from Hawaii you don't want a kidney stone breaking lose somewhere. He was suggesting I wait at least a day or two before flying or driving home. 

One of the concerns we had was that we knew that on the left side, my ureter was smaller than normal because of my earlier experiences with kidney stones.  I told them that my doctor had said that nothing bigger than a 4 mm stone could pass. (Most people can pass stones under 6 mm) This one measured around 3.5 mm, so should be small enough to pass, but it was on the right side so it was a bit unknown. The doctor decided to operate to try to blast the stone so that I could return home.  The other option was to "wait it out for awhile" but since I was from out of town, we all voted to do the surgery and try to move things along.

Surgery proceeded and I woke up to a delighted doctor who told me that I was unique in that I had two ureters on my right side.  That was the good news.  He told Tosha that he had first scoped one and didn't find the stone, so had to pull over an x-ray machine to find the stone and that is when they discovered the other tube.  This occurs in about 1% of people in the world.  It doesn't usually cause problems unless people are prone to frequent UTIs (I am not.) or if you happen to have a stone in one. The doctor told me that the tubes were a bit twisted and he was unable to get a visual on the stone itself in the second tube, so rather than risk further damage of the tube, he put stents in both tubes and finished up.  He said I needed to see my doctor as soon as I got home to decide on the next step of treatment.  No one seems to think it is going to slip its way out on it own (but I am still hoping for that.) 

I ended up moving into a hospital room and staying a second night, because both my breathing and my blood pressure were off for a few hours after the surgery. (the complications mentioned in my blessing along with the whole two tube thing.) Other than getting up to go to the bathroom every hour or so, I did okay during the rest of the stay in the hospital and I was discharged around noon on Monday to go back to Tosha's house.

We spent a quiet afternoon sitting outside watching Ava and Cooper play in their pool (Niki was at his friend Oscar's house for the day.).  I also took a 3 hour nap....

Cooper with his butterfly catcher net

Ava jumping on the trampoline

Tosha did an amazing job taking care of me in-between life and work. She missed a pool party and had to reorganize a work thing on Monday.  She brought me stuff from her house and a yummy smoothie which was perfect after finally eating breakfast on Monday morning. She watched me sleep, asked questions when I was too sick to care about anything, and make sure that I had whatever I needed. And we had some laughs in the middle of it all. (Ask her about the underwear situation.)

Meanwhile, Gary was not having fun with me in the hospital in Seattle while he was in Utah.  He thought those days were behind us, but surprise! Anyway, even though flying would have been faster, I couldn't imagine getting on a plane with a kidney stone still traveling my ureter.  I know the pain can go from 1-100 in a split second and I didn't want to be stuck in a plane or even an airport.  So sweet Gary and Jena hopped in the car and drove the 13 hours from Syracuse to Tacoma on Monday, June 30.  They arrived in the evening in time to celebrate Tosha and my birthday with a surprise cherry pie and ice cream.

So, after all was said and done, I along with Gary and Jena got to spend the evening together with Tosha and her family on her birthday after all...and we got a few more hours of being together in Washington.

Tuesday morning, we left around 6:00 am and made the drive straight through to Utah arriving home by about 10 pm---we made a lot of bathroom stops along the way.

The famous Umatilla Bridge of Giberson fame---

Entering Utah at last.  

Tosha and family were amazing to take care of me when I was sick, but nothing beats your own bed and your own bathroom when you don't feel well.

One little weird side note: In 2014 when I had two kidney stones back to back and was sick for about 6-8 weeks with bladder and kidney issues, I sat in the blue recliner in our TV room for so many nights and often during the day with ice packs and heating pads.  It somehow was the most comfortable spot for me during that time. Now that particular chair is gone--broken for a few years, we had left it for Jessica and family to use and then got rid of it as we started the remodel.  However, when I walked into our house that Tuesday night, I immediately "missed" that chair and I felt like I wasn't quite home yet.  I love our remodel, but it reminded me of the power of memories--and the things we surround ourselves with-- even something like a recliner.  We need to make our environment a cozy and happy spot for us and for those we share it with.

Fortunately, my bed is great and the recliner in our bedroom is serving as that best comfortable spot as I continue to deal with the reactions to the stents and a bacteria infection.

Home Sweet Home--and There is No Place Like Home!