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