I'm not sure why I think you all really care about my kidney. But let's be honest, outside of my little world of the 3 B's (babies, bottles, and baths), it's pretty much the most excitement (and pain) we've had around here since the twins were born.
So last time I posted about the kidney, we were pretty sure I had a 6 mm stone and it was perhaps going to have to be "blasted". So Monday I headed back up to the dr. for an xray and to pray that blasting would not be necessary.
I knew I was in trouble when he walked in the room and the first question out of his mouth was "Well, did you call your mom or mother-in-law to come help you the rest of the week?"
Uh no. No, I did not. Because I really didn't think the procedure thing would happen. And even if it did, I had all hopes that I would recover quickly and Matt & I could take care of it.
Turns out he couldn't see it on the xray. Neither could his colleague. When you can't see it on the xray, you can't just blast it from the outside because you don't know exactly where it is.
So I was scheduled for uterscopic or uteroscopy or some other utero-pain word. Basically (without getting overly graphic), they put you to sleep for an hour or so, thread a small camera with a laser on the end through your urethra up into your kidney and blast it from the inside. Then, for the really fun (read: burn like hell) part, they send you home with a stent that has to remain in place for at least 3 days.
Then he had what he calls his "come to Jesus" talk with me where he told me what I was about to go through would cause pretty signficant pain and numero uno, with 2 infants, I needed help.
(Oh, and did I mention that my doctor looks like Drew Brees minus the birthmark?!? I was more excited about that when I thought he was going to blast me from the outside --- less excited when I found out that it would be from the inside. Then I wanted the old man or woman to take his place. Oh, and the whole Drew Brees thing was disclosed to Matt following my first appointment. He met him prior to surgery and couldn't disagree. )
But besides him being a look-alike of my favorite NFL QB (or really the only QB I could probably name besides the Manning brothers and Romo), he also happens to a nice guy who's a darn good doctor. He's also very honest. Thus, "the come to Jesus talk".
So when I asked him on Thursday morning right before they wheeled me to the OR if he thought I would still be able to host a baby shower on that coming Saturday, I'm pretty sure I saw him roll his eyes. He was like "umm, didn't we just have the CTJ talk? You won't be doing much of anything for at least a handful of days."
Me, still being stubborn, rolled my eyes and said "Well, Dr. K, you don't know my ability to tolerate pain. I think I'll be ok". At this point, I think he just laughed and let it go - and mentioned something to Matt about when she complains about being in a good amount of pain, believe me, she's not exagerrating. So take care of her, or something to that effect. All very interesting side conversation.
And now that I am 3 days post surgery, I would like to say to Dr. K - sir, you were right. I surrender. I barely made it to the shower today. I hurt. I missed the baby sprinkle I was HOSTING. I missed two Christmas parties & ornament exchanges. Huge bummers. (Yup, although I am not proud to admit it, I have thrown a few pity parties for myself). And I haven't left the house except for a 5 minute trip to Walgreens to pick up yet another prescription. The pharmacist calls me by first name now. To be honest, I'm surprised it took this long. That Walgreens has been open well over a year. I should have been on their top clientele list for awhile.
And now for the interesting part, at least to me and my kidney. No 6mm stone to be found. However, they did find a large obstruction in the area between my kidney and urethra, and I earned myself an extra week of antibiotics since it appeared my kidney was swollen and infected. Awesome. See, when I get kidney stones, they are big.
But then apparently, I get kidney stones that don't exist and instead mean blockage? And swelling and infection? What? I don't know. And what causes this? I really don't think my little friend Diet Coke had a role in blocking part of my kidney. At least I hope not. I miss DC.
I'll find out more at my appointment on Monday when they remove this darn stent and hopefully that will make me feel 100 times better. I was on signficant amounts of drugs obviously when Dr. K came to see me so I don't recall much of what he said. I just remember crying because my back hurt so bad (it apparently was spasming (sp?) but I had no idea). So he obviously told Matt the situation, but between the sleep deprivation and then secondhand details, this seems like the best we can piece together at the moment as to what happened.
So obviously it was a different turn of events than we expected. Much worse than the pain though has been my frustration in not being able to care for my kids for the first time in six months. On Thursday and Friday I couldn't even bend down to kiss them or pick them up. Today was a little bit better and I was able to help out more and give a few bottles and actually play with them a little bit.
All I can say is that my husband completely rocks. He has not complained a single time about having to take care of them almost 100% since Thursday. He has only left the house twice by himself since then and that was for quick trips to the grocery and the drug store yet again. I don't know what I would do without him. He is truly my partner in all of this, and I am so grateful. He dressed Q every day like I do, with a matching bow. And he even finished decorating the Christmas tree, which is normally my job.
But I'm willing to bet he's actually looking forward to getting back to work on Monday :)
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