Happy Birthday Hans

Kidney what???

It has been a LONG two weeks. It all started on May 17th. I have yearly check ups with Dr. Taylor, a urologist. I have had kidney stones in the past but it seemed to only happen when I was pregnant. I went to my appointment, already knowing what they would find. My left side has been hurting but I wanted to put off the inevitable. I had my x-ray and then went into a room waiting for Dr. Taylor. He came in and we discussed that I had kidney stones in my left side. He initially didn't want to do anything about it, wait until I was dying and then we will see. I wasn't crazy about that idea. I know the pain they cause and I wanted to avoid that at all cost. This was a Wednesday and he said if it is still bothering me on Friday call his office and they will set up a time for surgery that weekend. Well the days went by, the pain didn't stop. I called his office and guess what? They were closed, how convenient. I phoned the hospital and they told me to come through emergency. I did and I was all alone, not fun. They got me right in, started the IV and gave me pain medication. They phoned Dr. Taylor and he decided it would be best to get a CT scan to see the exact size. They also took a urine sample to see if there was any infection. Well lucky me, the stone was large and I also had blood in my urine. I was admitted and sent up to 3C. Guess who works there? ME!!! I was not a fan of being admitted to the floor I work on. I don't like people I know and work with taking care of me. It is embarrassing. I didn't end up going for surgery until Saturday. I left the unit around 9:30am. I was wheeled into the recovery room and I waited there for about a half an hour. I get nervous, I hate getting put under. The OR room is cold and scary, I hate it. Finally they rolled me into the OR room, they were very nice and put me at ease. They put the mask on my face and luckily the anesthetic didn't hurt going into my IV this time. I woke up in the recovery room needing to pee really bad. They put me on the lovely bed pan and out came pure blood. I was wheeled back to 3C and Dr. Taylor came in and told me my ureter was very constricted with lots of scar tissue. They had to cut away at the scar tissue and stretch out my ureter to get the kidney stone out. In the process of all this I got a tear somewhere so they have to keep the stent in for two weeks. AWESOME! Well needless to say, I was in a lot of pain, crying like a baby. It was awful having people I work with see me like this. I know how I am with some pt.'s, it can't be that bad right? Well it was and I hated calling for drugs. I stayed all Saturday and was getting Demerol all day and night. It was helping me and when Sunday morning came the drugs stopped. I believe that my nurse figured that my surgery wasn't too serious and why should I be needing all these drugs. Well, she came in told me we were going to try Torodol and Tylenol #3's and send me home. I knew deep down I wasn't ready to go but who am I to argue. I know this place is a get them in and out kind of place. Well, I got my prescriptions and was on my way home. I still felt like crap, more like death but whatever right? I went right to bed and didn't move. Kyle came to bed and I was in so much pain but didn't want to bother him. Around 7:00am I couldn't take it anymore, I started to hyperventilate and my face got stuck in an odd position and my hands got so contracted. Kyle woke up and called my dad to stay with the kids. He took me to the Raymond Hospital and they got me right in. The pain in my hands was almost overriding my kidney pain but not quite. They got me to breath into a paper bag but it wasn't helping. They finally had to give me Versade to relax my body, it worked wonders. My hands and face were back to normal. The doctor came in and assessed me and decided to admit me. This was early Monday morning and I didn't get discharged until Friday afternoon. I was basically in for pain management. I seriously thought I was going to die, it hurt so bad. It is now June 3rd and I am finally starting to feel normal minus this dang stent. It makes me feel like I have to pee every 10 minutes. I have an appointment to get it out June 7th so we will see how that goes. Here's to hoping...