If anyone who reads this could pray for me, I am having surgery tomorrow for 3 kidney stones that are coming down but stuck on the right side. About 6 weeks ago I started feeling some pain and thought it might be a kidney stone, but it took awhile for me to confirm that it was a stone and not pain from the Crohn's Disease. After I started getting these certain bladder pains that I always get with the stones, I knew. Well, I tried to just let them pass at home, but that didn't work, so a month later I had an appointment with my urologist and we decided to do ESWL (Shockwave Lithotripsy) to break up the stones, and I was pretty surprised to know that I had not one, not two, but THREE stuck and one of them is a large one that is blocking the flow of urine and causing swelling and lowered kidney function.
To make a long story short, my pain started becoming unbearable and there weren't any meds that I could take at home that could help the pain. I had to go the ER, but they sent me home after "doing what they could" with some IV pain meds because they said they don't admit patients just for pain control. What?!?!?! (Later I found out this is not true; if they would've contacted my urologist, he would've admitted me.) So I'm supposed to just sit at home with 10 out of 10 pain and no one can help me? Yes, that's what happened. Too many miscommunications with the ER not contacting my urologist, and my pain management Dr. not helping because his opinion is that taking extra pain meds won't help anyway and that I just need to get the stones out. Well, the hospital only has this special shockwave machine once every TWO WEEKS so I had to wait! I couldn't believe I had no way of getting help except if I went BACK to the emergency room.... but, by God's grace, I got through the last 5 days just barely, and now surgery is tomorrow morning.
If you could pray specifically that I will not only have a perfect surgery, but also that the stones after being blasted will pass cleanly through without them having to place a stent (a thick wire going up from the bladder to the kidney to help the stone particles pass down) because last time they placed a stent, I had so much pain I ended up in the ICU. Some people don't tolerate the stents and I already had so much inflammation in there from being in the hospital and them trying to "flush the stone out" with IV fluids and it just sat there rattling away in my ureter, yeah, that was NOT fun. The worst pain of my life for about 6 hours. I might've written about it previously but I can't remember. Other things to pray for: perfect pain control when I wake up because of my high tolerance of pain meds since I already have to be on a continuous level for my back problems, no anxiety before the procedure, safety throughout the procedure and for everyone treating me to be empathetic, kind, and fantastic at their job! Also, I am in quite a bit of pain right now at home and am praying that God will just take the pain away and let me rest tonight before the procedure.
Thanks so much for anyone who is able to pray, I know God is with me and I am trusting in Him to take care of me!
Showing posts with label kidney stone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kidney stone. Show all posts
Monday, June 3, 2013
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
I'm back!
My surgery went excellent! Thank you all so much for your prayers. God did amazing things and took such good care of me, and so did the dr.'s, nurses, and my hubby! I am recovering well at home and the stone was easily shockwaved into dust- my dr. told my husband that it literally broke up in the first few minutes so they didn't have to keep "shockwaving" me, which meant less pain! The anesthesiologist was great and really listened to my issues and what I needed as an individual, so that was also a big help.
The only thing now is that I'm having crazy pain in my tooth/jaw area that stared a couple days ago. I thought I narrowed it down to being an issue with one tooth, but I went to the dentist and got x-rays and an examination, and I have no cavities or issues that would be causing the pain in that area. So my dentist said it could be my bottom wisdom tooth that's pushing against the other teeth now and causing pain in different places.... or that I'm clenching my jaw at night. I'm beginning to think it's the first thing. Different parts of the right side of my upper & lower jaw will start hurting terribly, and my pain meds of course do not help enough. I just took advil (even though I'm not supposed to because it can cause intestinal bleeding, and I already have crohn's disease) to see if it will help because I am desperate! Like I keep telling people, if it's not one thing, it's another! I hate it. But I will trust God to help this resolve somehow!
Again, I am soooo thankful how everything went yesterday. I just really wish I wasn't wasting my pain meds on trying to get this stupid mouth pain better. When people like my nurses always say "wow, you are way too young to have so many health problems going on!" I always say that I'm hoping to be like Benjamin Button but with my health, only getting better with age! That would be cool, haha. I can picture my husband and I on some vacation on a tropical island when we're like 80 enjoying the time of our lives and looking back on all the illnesses we had and how much better we're doing even though we're old geezers. Hey, I can hope, can't I?! ;-)
The only thing now is that I'm having crazy pain in my tooth/jaw area that stared a couple days ago. I thought I narrowed it down to being an issue with one tooth, but I went to the dentist and got x-rays and an examination, and I have no cavities or issues that would be causing the pain in that area. So my dentist said it could be my bottom wisdom tooth that's pushing against the other teeth now and causing pain in different places.... or that I'm clenching my jaw at night. I'm beginning to think it's the first thing. Different parts of the right side of my upper & lower jaw will start hurting terribly, and my pain meds of course do not help enough. I just took advil (even though I'm not supposed to because it can cause intestinal bleeding, and I already have crohn's disease) to see if it will help because I am desperate! Like I keep telling people, if it's not one thing, it's another! I hate it. But I will trust God to help this resolve somehow!
Again, I am soooo thankful how everything went yesterday. I just really wish I wasn't wasting my pain meds on trying to get this stupid mouth pain better. When people like my nurses always say "wow, you are way too young to have so many health problems going on!" I always say that I'm hoping to be like Benjamin Button but with my health, only getting better with age! That would be cool, haha. I can picture my husband and I on some vacation on a tropical island when we're like 80 enjoying the time of our lives and looking back on all the illnesses we had and how much better we're doing even though we're old geezers. Hey, I can hope, can't I?! ;-)
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Surgery today
I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've written anything! My health has not been good. The prednisone gives me crazy insomnia (so you think I'd have time to post a blog, right?) but I get so tired from not being able to sleep that I get into this half-asleep sort of daze and can't get anything done. I've also gained too much weight from pregnancy-like cravings from the medicine, and my face has swollen slightly due to what they call "moon face" from the drug... it reaaaaally doesn't help the moodiness to look in the mirror and see myself overweight. I have been slim all of my life so I am not used to it, and I feel so unhealthy, but hopefully I will be off of the medicine in a month or two as I taper down, and I can start walking again and eat less.
Today at around 12 noon I will be arriving at the hospital to get my largest kidney stone busted up into tiny pieces so it will be easier to pass. The surgery is called Shockwave Lithotripsy. My dr. is NOT going to place a stent this time, and I am praying and trusting in God that I will not wake up in any kind of major pain that can't be controlled. If you read this, please pray that the procedure goes perfectly, that my pain is controlled, that all the dr.'s and nurses do their jobs correctly and compassionately, and that I can go home on the same day, as scheduled and not have to stay in the hospital due to any complications or pain issues! I am so thankful for everyone and anyone who can send up a prayer for me. Although this past month has been one of the hardest for my husband and I healthwise, financially, physically, and mentally, we trust that God will bring us out of these hardships and that he has "plans to prosper and not to harm us, to give us hope and a future" (scripture from Isaiah).
I hope to be visiting your blogs soon and saying hello as I have met some really neat people through here. I better get some sleep, as it is 3:30 a.m. and I need to wake up at 10 at the latest! Bye for now!
~Melissa
Today at around 12 noon I will be arriving at the hospital to get my largest kidney stone busted up into tiny pieces so it will be easier to pass. The surgery is called Shockwave Lithotripsy. My dr. is NOT going to place a stent this time, and I am praying and trusting in God that I will not wake up in any kind of major pain that can't be controlled. If you read this, please pray that the procedure goes perfectly, that my pain is controlled, that all the dr.'s and nurses do their jobs correctly and compassionately, and that I can go home on the same day, as scheduled and not have to stay in the hospital due to any complications or pain issues! I am so thankful for everyone and anyone who can send up a prayer for me. Although this past month has been one of the hardest for my husband and I healthwise, financially, physically, and mentally, we trust that God will bring us out of these hardships and that he has "plans to prosper and not to harm us, to give us hope and a future" (scripture from Isaiah).
I hope to be visiting your blogs soon and saying hello as I have met some really neat people through here. I better get some sleep, as it is 3:30 a.m. and I need to wake up at 10 at the latest! Bye for now!
~Melissa
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Long Time, no speak
Wow have I been through a whirlwind since I last wrote 2 weeks ago. I ended up in the hospital getting surgery to remove one of my kidney stones. It turned into a huge disaster similar to what happened when I had a stone removed 2 years ago. My body couldn't tolerate the stent that was placed in the ureter (between the kidney and the bladder) to make sure that there was no swelling after surgery, and I woke up in the most EXTREME pain I have ever been in. Long story short, my urologist ended up pulling out the stent and the catheter while I was wide awake, and I was screaming and crying for over 4 hours without any relief as they maxed out all different kinds of IV meds and made sure I didn't stop breathing. I spent the night in the ICU that night because of how much they had to give me. I also wasn't able to see my husband for 5 days- almost no communication at all- because he ended up getting the worst stomach flu he's ever had in his life, probably from taking me to the ER that first night (a nurse told me it had been going around). It was horrible not having my best friend, my partner in life, there with me like he had been the last time I was in the hospital. But I know it wasn't his fault. Luckily my parents were there by my side most of the time and a HUGE support, and I had many family members, friends, and church members praying for me & visiting.
I still have two stones (one in each kidney) that haven't started coming down yet, so if they'll stay up there, I can get them "shockwaved" (broken into little pieces by basically beating my body to bruises) in an outpatient procedure. Unfortunately, I think one of them might be moving because I'm having more pain & irritation on the left side of me and in my bladder now. But I just have to take this hour by hour, day by day.
In this post, I'm not going to go into the details of my hospital stay, or the issue of my urologist leaving for vacation that weekend and therefore leaving me with an incompetent, horrible hospitalist dr. (because there were NO OTHER urologists who work at this hospital!) who decided to tell other dr.'s and nurses that I was a "drug seeker" just because I have tons of health issues and have a higher tolerance for pain meds because of my back problems. Huuuuuuge story about her sometime in the future.... here's one little preview: She decided to discontinue ALL of my medications (for crohn's disease, pain, EVERYTHING I was taking at home); she apparently likes to take patients off of all of their meds and "start over" because SHE knows what's REALLY wrong with the patient... and it took my nurse over 3 hours that night to go through my chart history, find all of the meds that I was on, and get them all approved again by the new hospitalist on call that night. Do you know what happens if you stop your crohn's meds like Prednisone? You can die.
Anyway, back to the pain after surgery and the day after surgery...What happened was I had inflammation and fluid build-up in the kidney from after surgery that was causing more pain and bleeding. There are so many details and there's just not enough time to write it all here. But I needed pain meds to manage this pain and observation to make sure the other stones weren't coming down and that the inflammation wasn't causing any blockage.
I will say that God did some amazing things, and breakthrough came. Many advocates (nurses and advisors who happened to know my dad- he is a teacher at the adventist school and the hospital is adventist, so he knows tons of people and has taught their kids- and the truth about who I really am) came to my side and defended me, and I ended up getting rid of the crazy dr. (after hearing many stories of the crazy things she's done, I hope she gets fired... we are writing a letter and one of the heads of the hospital who we know has already written her up). She was replaced by great doctor who listened, understood, and gave me what I needed to recover at the hospital. My urologist came back from vacation on Monday, and that's another story in itself also.... because I had told him about my body having horrible pain from the stent last time I had a stone removed, but things were not ready for me post-operatively like they should've been.\\
I will end with this quote:
"I find beauty in not only the beautiful things in life, but the bittersweet and sad as well. To me, there is something poignantly lovely about the human experience from its splendor to its grief. God created all our emotions, not just the happy ones, and for His good purposes. That's why a good cry can feel so good. And hitting our limits forces us to look outside ourselves for a Savior. It is in the plea, when we're at our end, that we can find that which is truly life-giving. Personally, my moments of deepest grief, deepest pain, have resulted in the most beautiful seasons in my heart. I've met God more intimately in those moments than in all the other pleasant ones combined. What isn't completely lovely about that?"
~ Leslie, http://topofthepagewithleslie.blogspot.com/
I still have two stones (one in each kidney) that haven't started coming down yet, so if they'll stay up there, I can get them "shockwaved" (broken into little pieces by basically beating my body to bruises) in an outpatient procedure. Unfortunately, I think one of them might be moving because I'm having more pain & irritation on the left side of me and in my bladder now. But I just have to take this hour by hour, day by day.
In this post, I'm not going to go into the details of my hospital stay, or the issue of my urologist leaving for vacation that weekend and therefore leaving me with an incompetent, horrible hospitalist dr. (because there were NO OTHER urologists who work at this hospital!) who decided to tell other dr.'s and nurses that I was a "drug seeker" just because I have tons of health issues and have a higher tolerance for pain meds because of my back problems. Huuuuuuge story about her sometime in the future.... here's one little preview: She decided to discontinue ALL of my medications (for crohn's disease, pain, EVERYTHING I was taking at home); she apparently likes to take patients off of all of their meds and "start over" because SHE knows what's REALLY wrong with the patient... and it took my nurse over 3 hours that night to go through my chart history, find all of the meds that I was on, and get them all approved again by the new hospitalist on call that night. Do you know what happens if you stop your crohn's meds like Prednisone? You can die.
Anyway, back to the pain after surgery and the day after surgery...What happened was I had inflammation and fluid build-up in the kidney from after surgery that was causing more pain and bleeding. There are so many details and there's just not enough time to write it all here. But I needed pain meds to manage this pain and observation to make sure the other stones weren't coming down and that the inflammation wasn't causing any blockage.
I will say that God did some amazing things, and breakthrough came. Many advocates (nurses and advisors who happened to know my dad- he is a teacher at the adventist school and the hospital is adventist, so he knows tons of people and has taught their kids- and the truth about who I really am) came to my side and defended me, and I ended up getting rid of the crazy dr. (after hearing many stories of the crazy things she's done, I hope she gets fired... we are writing a letter and one of the heads of the hospital who we know has already written her up). She was replaced by great doctor who listened, understood, and gave me what I needed to recover at the hospital. My urologist came back from vacation on Monday, and that's another story in itself also.... because I had told him about my body having horrible pain from the stent last time I had a stone removed, but things were not ready for me post-operatively like they should've been.\\
I will end with this quote:
"I find beauty in not only the beautiful things in life, but the bittersweet and sad as well. To me, there is something poignantly lovely about the human experience from its splendor to its grief. God created all our emotions, not just the happy ones, and for His good purposes. That's why a good cry can feel so good. And hitting our limits forces us to look outside ourselves for a Savior. It is in the plea, when we're at our end, that we can find that which is truly life-giving. Personally, my moments of deepest grief, deepest pain, have resulted in the most beautiful seasons in my heart. I've met God more intimately in those moments than in all the other pleasant ones combined. What isn't completely lovely about that?"
~ Leslie, http://topofthepagewithleslie.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
help
I just spent all of last night in the Emergency room trying to get help for this horrible kidney stone. I barely got any. Then they sent me home 8 hours later. Now, I am finally at home, and the pain is just getting worse again. This is horrible. I don't have anyone that can help me, not even a hospital. Please pray for me.... I might need to have surgery to get this thing out, but the Dr.'s need to LISTEN TO ME.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
I promise, I'm not this girl... (also, some good news!)
Promise!!! ;-) I saw this video today and HAD to post it. I told my husband that I would never become a crazy cat lady. If I was single, well, that might be another story... just kidding! So here's the good news: I finally passed my latest kidney stone today! To say it was painful is an understatement. But, by God's grace, I didn't have to go to the emergency room for management of the pain. It is really nice to not have to go to the hospital every time... hospitals are not fun, unless you've just had a baby! Kidney stones are not cute, they don't look like mommy or daddy, and they definitely don't have cute little clothes to put on their tiny bodies. Hey, I'm not in too much pain now, it's okay to laugh! lol. Really though, I will spare all of the stone pictures and details in case there might be someone who doesn't want to see a stranger's kidney stone on her blog (and why wouldn't you wanna see that?!?!)
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