Urologist Pre-opt Appointment

Monday, I met with Terry, the nurse practitioner at the urologist. He was excited to tell me that in addition to two ureters, I have two separate kidneys on the right side, one on top of the other.  The kidney stone itself is in the lower bottom of the lower kidney. For those of you keeping track, that means I have three kidneys.  Gary suggested I donate the kidney with the stone since it was "extra."  Doesn't work quite like that.

Then, I met with the nurse who handles the surgical paperwork for Dr. Reynolds.  I was set for surgery on Wednesday to blast the kidney stone (lithotripsy).  However, as we went through the paperwork and my current medications, she noticed that I was taking baby aspirin.  This is a new medication for me due to the problem I have developed in my left leg--a narrowing of one of the arteries in that leg.  I didn't know (and they didn't say anything about it when I was having surgery in Washington), but they prefer you to be off of it for 7 days prior to surgery, especially in places like the kidneys which are blood filled.  Aspirin is a blood thinner and can make it more risky to stop bleeding during a surgery. So immediately, she reached out to Dr. Reynolds who confirmed that he wanted to reschedule me for the following Wednesday.  Another week with two stents and a kidney stone did not sound appealing!  However, I appreciated their caution and care. So surgery was set for July 16th.

I had a few more visits to the urologist that week--one for a pain shot to relieve some of the kidney stone/stent pain I was having--that was one nice restful day in the middle of all of this.  I had to do another urine test and they changed antibiotics to provide extra support AND

I was given permission to head to our Oregon Trip--shortened by a few days since I had to get back for another urine test on Tuesday, the 15th for surgery on the 16th.  So our trip which was going to be from July 9 to the 18th got trimmed to July 10 to the 15th and we missed going to Richland and most of the Oregon coast things, but we did make it for some of the highlights...an great blessing in the middle of this craziness of a kidney stone.