Working On Catching Up With the Blog

Rereading my last post on July 6 just made me smile.  I thought that I knew what the plan was, but little did I know how July was going to unfold--maybe unfold is too calm and predictable of a word--maybe unravel would be better.

It had its high points, its unexpected twists and turns, and ongoing health issues still to be resolved.  It was eventful for the first month of my 7th decade of my life--one I won't likely forget.

So, starting back on July 7th--my Monday pre-op appointment at the urologists....

Another Happy Doctor

Although I had scheduled an appointment for Thursday morning, since we arrived on Tuesday night, I reached out on Wednesday to see if I could get an earlier appointment.  They called back at 1:30 and invited me to come over for another CT scan and a consultation.

This was the same PA I had seen years ago which was nice.  He also still works with the same surgeon as I had before--also good.  He came out to get me from the waiting room and already began telling me how cool it was to see the two ureters on my right side in the CT scan.  He said, "Where are the medical students when you need them?" and other such comments. They hadn't received the medical reports from Washington yet, but he thought it looked like the tubes were running nicely parallel to each other which is actually more rare.  Frequently, they start as two tubes at the kidney but then merge before entering the bladder.  He changed one of the medications, double up on another, and ran a urine test.  He said that they would discuss my case on Thursday morning when the surgeon was in the office but his plan was surgery next Wednesday with the goal to blast the stone and remove the pieces.  He is not sure why it couldn't be done during the first surgery, but he is hopeful it will work.

We are scheduled to leave on a vacation on Wednesday but that is on hold at the moment. When I mentioned it to the doctor, he made a face and then asked where.  I told him the Oregon coast and he expressed his concern about the closeness of a hospital if needed.  We will see.  I am trying to avoid thinking about it until we know what is happening.  I can't travel too far if they can't remove the kidney stone on Wednesday.  Even the stents remaining will cause me discomfort like a bladder infection until they are removed which is usually 10-14 days after the stone is gone.

The urine came back with infection markers so they added an antibiotic to my list and so it sits--a stone, two stents and a surgery date on Wednesday. I mostly lay around, read, take naps, and drink LOTS of water. I had a dentist appointment, two doctor's appointments, temple appointment, and theatre tickets which all had to be rescheduled (and yes, I played the "I am in the hospital in Washington with a kidney stone" card to get the Hale Theatre to change my ticket with less than 48 hour notice. )

And I go in tomorrow for my pre-surgery appointment....and that is my current life!

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!

Tacoma Trip-Going Home--NOT!

As mentioned, I was flying home on Saturday evening.  Friday night I had gotten my stuff organized and packed so that we could fit in all of the fun possible before heading to the airport....breakfast, maybe a quick stop at a local park on the Puget Sound and then on to the airport.  More of those little grandmother moments to pack in..........

I have said this before and probably will say it again many more times in my life--I had a plan (see above), it was a good plan, it met the criteria of getting me home for Sunday in Syracuse, but then life stepped in and happened outside the plan.

It went like this:

About 3:00 am, I woke up with stabbing pains in my right lower back.  I had felt this before and recognized that it was the kidney stone---you know the one sitting calmly in my kidney which was picked up in the CT scan in March. My family practice doctor had suggested that I let my urologist know (who even wants to have their "own" urologist) and see what he would want to do to monitor the situation. However, by the time he (Carl-my family practice doc) and I had this conversation, I was pretty tired of checking on "stuff" and decided that since my kidney was functioning well and the kidney stone was not blocking anything--why bother? We already had a follow-up scheduled for  the thyroid ultrasound (which by the way came back fine.  I have two small benign nodes which require no further monitoring.) So, at 3:00 am, the answer to the "Why bother?" became a bit more relevant.  The kidney stone had definitely begun moving down the ureter.

At first, I assumed that it would pass.  Over 10 years ago when my other kidney stones happened, I had brief episodes of pain and/or vomiting over a 2 week period before things went terrible.  So I expected the same thing would happen here.  It would go away and I would for sure go see my urologist when I got back to Utah.

Except it didn't go away and around 4:00 am I started throwing up and feeling very sick as well as the burning stabbing pain of the stone.  By 10:30 am, Tosha drove me to the ER in Tacoma, about 25 minutes away.  This was the same hospital that Ava was at just 2 weeks ago--a weird coincidence which gave Tosha knowledge of where to park, etc.  It was a miserable ride for me, but I think it was harder for Tosha to have to drive and also watch me be so sick.

Let me say that the people we met and who worked with us at the Tacoma Hospital were all great and super friendly and kind---but their ER is a very "interesting" confusing place, especially if you are sick and out of it like I was.

I wish we had pictures to help explain the layout but words will have to do.  I had grabbed my wallet but brought nothing else as I expected medications and to be sent home.  Tosha wheeled me to registration, they took my ID and insurance card and then we were sent to Room D to see a provider (they don't call anyone doctors anymore it seems, because there are so many different types of medical personnel) for triage.  The ER had two separate waiting areas joined in the middle by the registration desks.  The triage area was behind a door on the side of one of the waiting areas.  As you entered, there were five curtained areas--A-E and then one single room F where you sat to wait.  Within a few minutes, the nurse had taken a bit of a history and they had placed an IV for medication and gave me something for pain and for nausea. Since I have neither an appendix or ovaries, she said it is highly likely that it was a kidney stone, but sent me off to get a CT scan literally within 3 minutes of entering the triage area.  That was amazing.

We then came back to the triage area where you could see and hear everyone coming and going.  After a short period of time, they took us back to the waiting area--in fact to the far side waiting area which was much quieter and said to wait and someone would call us to come and speak to a provider.  After another not too long wait, they called my name and directed us to some glassed in "rooms/niches" at the end of the other waiting room.  Literally the rooms were totally glass so you could see everyone in the waiting room and they could see you as we sat waiting for a provider to come and discuss next steps.  It was an odd feeling.  At this point, I am still in the clothes I came in and Tosha is wheeling me around in a wheelchair. A new provider came in and told me that yes, I did have a kidney stone, and they were going to keep me for awhile to stabilize my pain and nausea, but I needed to wait a bit for a bed.  And after another short wait, I was finally moved into an actual ER bed in a room with actual walls and a glass door.

I am not sure how long that all took.  Tosha might know.   It seemed like we were moving around doing stuff pretty quickly but it was just an odd cycle in and out of rooms. And the glassed consulting niche in the ER will always be memorable.

Later that evening, they decided they were going to do surgery the next day and hopefully laser the kidney stone.  They gave me the option to go back to Tosha's or stay and I opted to stay.  My body was not ready for another drive to their house and then back again for surgery.  It was a good option since I sill wasn't keeping things down anyway.  IV pain and nausea medication was awesome.

One sweet experience occurred Saturday night. Tosha was able to reach the full time missionaries in their area who reached out to the missionaries serving near the hospital and they came and gave me a priesthood blessing.  I think this might have been the first time in my life that I received a priesthood blessing from people I didn't know at all.  They were so young and so kind.  They handle everything exactly right.  The young elder who sealed the anoiting of oil and pronounced the blessing did so in a very deliberate and thoughtful manner.  He didn't just say the common phrases, but seemed to seek to say that God wanted him to say. Gary and my dad both give blessings like that and it made me feel comfortable and confident in the things he said. Twice he said in different words to not worry about complications, that the Lord is mindful, and promises to send me peace if I seek it--even in the complications. Now, I am not one that worries much about "complications," but I thought about that a lot that night and what that might mean for me and what I was experiencing. More about that later.

So, I missed my flight, had to cancel my 5th Sunday presentation (well, postponed until September), and spent Saturday night in the Tacoma General Hospital.

Not my plan for finishing my trip to Tacoma.....