Did you miss me? I know at least Mike did, so thank you for you concern Mike. Here is the whole (boring) story of why I was absent for so long. I was lazy! That's not entirely true, but it all goes back to my back pain I was experiencing last spring/summer. Turns out it wasn't anything to do with my back, but the pain was from a kidney stone aka urinary calculus.
I had been to the doctor a few times about the back pain and eventually he sent me for a x-ray which showed nothing. I had some pain in the back again, but it wasn't as painful as before, but this time I had some blood in my urine. I pretty much knew then it was a kidney stone, but I'm no expert. I went back to the doctor and he sent me for an ultrasound which showed it was a kidney stone. They went back and looked at my previous x-ray and it showed the kidney stone too which they missed the first time. Thanks a lot!!
The doctor sent in a referral to see the urologist. He marked it "urgent", but it still took me two months to get in to see him. I had my appointment with the urologist on Nov 17th. I had to go for another x-ray before I saw him though. Anyway, when I met him he said the stone was too big to be passed the old fashioned way, so that left two other ways to get rid of it. He was originally going to use lithotripsy which is a shockwave treatment meant to break up the stone. That was the x-ray was for, but it didn't show up on the x-ray. It was probably hiding behind a pelvic bone.
That left an ureteroscopy which the doctor guides a fibre optic cable up your existing "plumbing". This is a day surgery option meaning you go to the hospital, they put you out, do the procedure, and you go home the same day. I've only been in the hospital twice, once when I was born and later when I diagnosed with my diabetes. The plan was to go in and place a stent in my ureter and then laser the kidney stone into smaller fragments, so they could pass. The stent dilates the ureter and allows the stone fragments to pass into the bladder. The stent would have to stay in there for a week, then it would have to be removed. This would require going back to the hospital to be put out again. I got lucky and they removed the kidney stone via basket extraction and no stent was needed.
My original appointment for all this was April 24th. I don't want to have to wait five months! Somebody cancelled their appointment, so I went in on Nov. 22nd. A five month wait turned into five days. I took it because I didn't want to wait five months, I just wanted to get it over with ASAP. My parents came up on Monday and my mom took me to the hospital and stayed with me cuz that's what moms do. My surgery was at 7:40 am, so I had to be there at 6 am. It went pretty smooth I guess because I was in the room ready to go at 7:40 am.
When they put the "gas mask" on me I was thinking this stuff smells funny and how come it's taking so long to work. Of course next thing I know I'm waking up and a nurse is telling me that my surgery is all done. The doctor was hanging around the recovery area waiting for the next patient and he told me it all went good and they got the stone out and didn't have to put in the stent, so I happy to get some good news. I got wheeled back upstairs to the day surgery unit and I could leave soon as I felt able. They make you drink a lot of water because you can't go home until you go to the bathroom. Yeah, one side effect is that it will burn when you urinate, but luckily that went away fairly quickly.
My back was hurting a bit because having the thing in my ureter can bring on pain similar to the kidney stone pain. I asked for a pain killer and I was given the options a Tylenol 3, something I don't remember, or a morphine suppository. I said "Hell no!" to the suppository. I already had something shoved up my penis and didn't anything going up my ass. Leave my orifices alone! I got the stuff I don't remember put in my IV and it worked. I also got a bit nauseous probably from the anesthetic, but got a shot of something and didn't puke or anything, so it was all good. After that I went to the bathroom and got dressed because I wanted to get out of there and get home. I hoping to go home earlier, but didn't leave until 2:30 pm.
Once at home I just laid around and was super lazy in general for pretty much the rest of the week. Another side effect of the procedure is you'll have blood in your urine for a few days after. It was always scary to look in the toilet and see red because it's not supposed to be that colour. Anyway, I survived the whole thing and have an appointment to go back to see the doctor in two months. They can analyze the kidney stone to see what it's made from because it could be caused by certain things in your diet. I'll let you know what happens!
I was planning on writing this a lot sooner, but I was super lazy and not really doing anything the whole time besides watching stuff on TV or my PMP. Yeah, I finally got my replacement for the one I broke, but that will have to wait for another post. I haven't been at work for 7 days days and I'm almost looking forward to going back because I've been doing nothing the entire time. I'm bored! I wish I could seen my kidney stone or gotten a picture of it.
I had been to the doctor a few times about the back pain and eventually he sent me for a x-ray which showed nothing. I had some pain in the back again, but it wasn't as painful as before, but this time I had some blood in my urine. I pretty much knew then it was a kidney stone, but I'm no expert. I went back to the doctor and he sent me for an ultrasound which showed it was a kidney stone. They went back and looked at my previous x-ray and it showed the kidney stone too which they missed the first time. Thanks a lot!!
The doctor sent in a referral to see the urologist. He marked it "urgent", but it still took me two months to get in to see him. I had my appointment with the urologist on Nov 17th. I had to go for another x-ray before I saw him though. Anyway, when I met him he said the stone was too big to be passed the old fashioned way, so that left two other ways to get rid of it. He was originally going to use lithotripsy which is a shockwave treatment meant to break up the stone. That was the x-ray was for, but it didn't show up on the x-ray. It was probably hiding behind a pelvic bone.
That left an ureteroscopy which the doctor guides a fibre optic cable up your existing "plumbing". This is a day surgery option meaning you go to the hospital, they put you out, do the procedure, and you go home the same day. I've only been in the hospital twice, once when I was born and later when I diagnosed with my diabetes. The plan was to go in and place a stent in my ureter and then laser the kidney stone into smaller fragments, so they could pass. The stent dilates the ureter and allows the stone fragments to pass into the bladder. The stent would have to stay in there for a week, then it would have to be removed. This would require going back to the hospital to be put out again. I got lucky and they removed the kidney stone via basket extraction and no stent was needed.
My original appointment for all this was April 24th. I don't want to have to wait five months! Somebody cancelled their appointment, so I went in on Nov. 22nd. A five month wait turned into five days. I took it because I didn't want to wait five months, I just wanted to get it over with ASAP. My parents came up on Monday and my mom took me to the hospital and stayed with me cuz that's what moms do. My surgery was at 7:40 am, so I had to be there at 6 am. It went pretty smooth I guess because I was in the room ready to go at 7:40 am.
When they put the "gas mask" on me I was thinking this stuff smells funny and how come it's taking so long to work. Of course next thing I know I'm waking up and a nurse is telling me that my surgery is all done. The doctor was hanging around the recovery area waiting for the next patient and he told me it all went good and they got the stone out and didn't have to put in the stent, so I happy to get some good news. I got wheeled back upstairs to the day surgery unit and I could leave soon as I felt able. They make you drink a lot of water because you can't go home until you go to the bathroom. Yeah, one side effect is that it will burn when you urinate, but luckily that went away fairly quickly.
My back was hurting a bit because having the thing in my ureter can bring on pain similar to the kidney stone pain. I asked for a pain killer and I was given the options a Tylenol 3, something I don't remember, or a morphine suppository. I said "Hell no!" to the suppository. I already had something shoved up my penis and didn't anything going up my ass. Leave my orifices alone! I got the stuff I don't remember put in my IV and it worked. I also got a bit nauseous probably from the anesthetic, but got a shot of something and didn't puke or anything, so it was all good. After that I went to the bathroom and got dressed because I wanted to get out of there and get home. I hoping to go home earlier, but didn't leave until 2:30 pm.
Once at home I just laid around and was super lazy in general for pretty much the rest of the week. Another side effect of the procedure is you'll have blood in your urine for a few days after. It was always scary to look in the toilet and see red because it's not supposed to be that colour. Anyway, I survived the whole thing and have an appointment to go back to see the doctor in two months. They can analyze the kidney stone to see what it's made from because it could be caused by certain things in your diet. I'll let you know what happens!
I was planning on writing this a lot sooner, but I was super lazy and not really doing anything the whole time besides watching stuff on TV or my PMP. Yeah, I finally got my replacement for the one I broke, but that will have to wait for another post. I haven't been at work for 7 days days and I'm almost looking forward to going back because I've been doing nothing the entire time. I'm bored! I wish I could seen my kidney stone or gotten a picture of it.
4 comments:
Glad to have you back Keef.
That doesn't sound like a fun way to get 7 days off work.
Although the x-rays, shockwave, and laser bits sounded cool. The rest not so much..
Well, I didn't need the whole 7 days off, I just took that many just because.
I missed you too, glad it went OK after all that. You know that after 10 minutes back at work you'll be wishing you had taken just a few more days off...
Cam - Ya, I know. I came back and it was a big mess. It's like stuff just doesn't get done if I'm not around. What's up with that?!
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