Kidney Update – Warning, more gross stuff

I embarrassed myself a bit at work yesterday—namely by showing up. I honestly thought I felt well enough to come in, but after being there a couple hours it soon became clear to me that I was not going to make it. Several coworkers noted my ginger steps and my pale pallor. My co-homeroom teacher happened to come into the bathroom as I was emptying evidence of my surgery into the urinal. Fortunately he’s a guy’s guy and was able to laugh about it rather than run from the bathroom to look for another bathroom to throw up in. 

Somehow I managed to drive myself home. I spent most of the rest of the day reading, sleeping, or listening to NPR on the recliner while wrapped in a blanket. This morning I felt worse than yesterday morning, but I think I’ve found the perfect combination of painkillers, antihistamines (opiates make me itch), and coffee that I may be able to make it to work tomorrow.

It looks like running is out of the question as walking and standing seem to exacerbate the pain of the stent holding open my right ureter. I woke up several times last night with some pretty gnarly pain, but as of right now I’m feeling much better. I am, however, thinking that a run’s probably not the best idea until they pull that plastic piece of tubing out and I can not longer feel sharp jolts of pain coming from my side.

In the meantime I can keep reading and typing blog posts in my more lucid moments. I might even try to do some planning for school. With Laura working there’s no one to proofread my typing or tell me that my writing’s too gross to publish so I apologize to anyone I offend with my tramadol-induced typos and lack of couth.

May, 2015 Update
I didn't make it back to work for several days, and stent inside of me never became more comfortable. The only thing I did for about a week was to read The Hunger Games trilogy. The night before I was finally suppose to have the stent remove, a stomach bug found its way inside me gastrointestinal track. A night spent of vomiting, the subsequent removal of the stent (please Lord, never again), and I have been relatively free from kidney stone issues for the past four years.

 

Paying attention to my sodium and oxalate intakes have helped, and avoiding processed foods, the kind that make Americans the highest consumers of sodium in the word, is a reasonably healthy diet. 

Stoned

Warning--contains realistic, gross medical stuff

It's official--my kidney stone is free from my ureter. What? you ask. A kidney stone? In your ureter? Contrary to popular opinion, kidney stones don't start to become an excruciatingly, knife inside your back, angry squirrel gnawing on your pelvis kind of pain until a pinhead-sized piece of pain leaves the kidney enters the urinary track.

What does this have to do with running? It's not unusual for runners to have blood in their urine (hematuria)--usually it's caused by an empty bladder smacking against itself, and it will clear up after a few days of abstaining from exercise and hydrating better in the future.

A kidney stone, however, isn't going anywhere unless it makes its way out of the ureter and into the bladder. The first time I had a kidney stone it found its way out on its own--this time, not so much. I've been waiting for it to make its escape for almost three weeks now and this morning I decided I was sick of waiting--my kidney was blowing up like a urine-filled balloon and it was time to pluck that puppy out of there.

On the way to the hospital we stopped to vote for the school board members (this was 100% Laura's idea). The Kidney Stone Institute didn't open until 8 a.m., so we had time. On our way out of the polling place, an elementary school, Laura ran over a cone. The poor cone got caught under the fender, scraping and thumping as we drove along.

While Laura wondered aloud what was causing such a terrible noise coming from underneath her car, the assistant principal appeared in the rear view mirror, waving his arms and signalling us to stop. He was dressed in a suit, so I offered to climb under the car and pull the cone out.

He saw I was wearing my Get Lucky 21k sweatshirt and asked if I'd been on a run. Laura said, "Actually, I'm taking him to the hospital."

"Oh, are you hurt?" he asked as I wrenched the orange traffic cone from the underside of the sedan.

"No, just a kidney stone," I replied, nonchalant-as-I'll-get-out.

He wished us luck and as Laura apologized for her negligent and reckless driving, I was hoping luck wouldn't be involved as Dr. Portis did this a couple hours later:


Ureteroscopic stone removal
(warning--kind of gross)I'm not gonna lie--I felt way better after they pulled that thing out--though the drugs probably helped too. I also got to miss work (although I graded papers and wrote part of a unit plan anyway) and read part of Running Times. Then I spent a little time with Laura while she worked on some school stuff. We took a pause from our work and ate the crock pot beef stew I made yesterday (good thing I put it together yesterday).

The surgeon said I could run (well, he didn't say I couldn't run), but right now there's a little stent hanging out in my ureter for a few days. It makes my back pretty sore and turns my urine pink, so I'm not sure if I should be running. I guess I'll have to call the Kidney Stone Institute tomorrow and see what Dr. Portis thinks.