The Continuing Kidney Chronicle
It ain't over until the kidney stone sings.
A while ago, I went in to see yet another urologist, Dr. H---. There's nothing wrong with Dr. L--, who I like quite a lot, but Dr. L-- is an hour away and Dr. H-- is much, much closer. I made the appointment solely to establish myself as a patient with Dr. H--. I know that eventually I'm going to have to see someone about the continuing kidney stone crap, and it's a lot easier to see someone you're established with than it is to get in when you're new. In point of fact, it had taken more than a month to get a new patient appointment with Dr. H--.
And then the pain started up.
To recap: after having four painful operations in the space of two months, Dr. L-- declared me =almost= stone free. I still have one stone in each kidney, but both are lodged in the tissue and Dr. L-- said he can't remove them without damaging my kidneys. However, they aren't blocking anything, so they're just something we have to keep an eye on. I was having twinge-y pain in my left kidney, and Dr. L-- said he had no idea why this was. The x-rays and scans showed no blockage. Perhaps it was just an after-effect of all the operations. The pain wasn't debilitating, and it always died away, so it didn't seem any big deal. Okay. I made a new patient appointment with Dr. H-- in order to get started with him.
About three days before this appointment, the pain came back and settled in. Rather than twinge at me and go away, the pain dug in and stayed. And stayed. And stayed. It was (is) like a nagging, nasty itch that never recedes. On a scale of 1-10, the pain never went higher than 3 or 4, but it also never went lower than 1. Ibuprofen didn't dent it. Norco helped, but I don't like taking that steadily. I keep hoping it would go away, but it never quite does. Additionally, when I go to the bathroom I can feel in it my left side, as if the ghost of a stent were in there.
With this in mind, I went in to see Dr. H--. He looked over my records and my charts and agreed that the stones shouldn't be causing a problem but they bore watching. I told him about the pain, and he said we should investigate further. He ordered a new x-ray and an ultra-sound for me, along with a 24-hour urine collection for testing. And we made a follow-up appointment for late January.
A 24-hour urine collection kit has to be ordered from a lab, which sends it in the mail. When I got home, I called them. The next day, I went over to the hospital with the x-ray and ultra-sound orders. The x-ray was in-and-out quick, but it turns out you have to call a special number to make an ultra-sound appointment. I did this, and fortunately got an appointment for Friday (tomorrow) after work. I have to drink 24 ounces of water an hour beforehand.
Meanwhile, though, the pain continues. It's always ALWAYS there. This makes my life difficult in a number of ways. I mean, it's PAIN, and it never ever lets up. As I've observed before in this blog, constant pain is tiring. And Norco, for all that it's an opiate, keeps me awake for some reason, so when I give in and take it, I can't actually sleep. So it's either pain and fitful sleep or no pain without any sleep. (Seriously--I can't even doze on the stuff, so if I take it before bed, I'm awake until it wears off.)
Today I couldn't stand it any longer. I called Dr. H--'s office and asked if they had any openings for earlier. They did, and set me up for one this coming Wednesday.
Tomorrow I'll do the urine collection and the ultra-sound. I hope they can figure this out.
comments
A while ago, I went in to see yet another urologist, Dr. H---. There's nothing wrong with Dr. L--, who I like quite a lot, but Dr. L-- is an hour away and Dr. H-- is much, much closer. I made the appointment solely to establish myself as a patient with Dr. H--. I know that eventually I'm going to have to see someone about the continuing kidney stone crap, and it's a lot easier to see someone you're established with than it is to get in when you're new. In point of fact, it had taken more than a month to get a new patient appointment with Dr. H--.
And then the pain started up.
To recap: after having four painful operations in the space of two months, Dr. L-- declared me =almost= stone free. I still have one stone in each kidney, but both are lodged in the tissue and Dr. L-- said he can't remove them without damaging my kidneys. However, they aren't blocking anything, so they're just something we have to keep an eye on. I was having twinge-y pain in my left kidney, and Dr. L-- said he had no idea why this was. The x-rays and scans showed no blockage. Perhaps it was just an after-effect of all the operations. The pain wasn't debilitating, and it always died away, so it didn't seem any big deal. Okay. I made a new patient appointment with Dr. H-- in order to get started with him.
About three days before this appointment, the pain came back and settled in. Rather than twinge at me and go away, the pain dug in and stayed. And stayed. And stayed. It was (is) like a nagging, nasty itch that never recedes. On a scale of 1-10, the pain never went higher than 3 or 4, but it also never went lower than 1. Ibuprofen didn't dent it. Norco helped, but I don't like taking that steadily. I keep hoping it would go away, but it never quite does. Additionally, when I go to the bathroom I can feel in it my left side, as if the ghost of a stent were in there.
With this in mind, I went in to see Dr. H--. He looked over my records and my charts and agreed that the stones shouldn't be causing a problem but they bore watching. I told him about the pain, and he said we should investigate further. He ordered a new x-ray and an ultra-sound for me, along with a 24-hour urine collection for testing. And we made a follow-up appointment for late January.
A 24-hour urine collection kit has to be ordered from a lab, which sends it in the mail. When I got home, I called them. The next day, I went over to the hospital with the x-ray and ultra-sound orders. The x-ray was in-and-out quick, but it turns out you have to call a special number to make an ultra-sound appointment. I did this, and fortunately got an appointment for Friday (tomorrow) after work. I have to drink 24 ounces of water an hour beforehand.
Meanwhile, though, the pain continues. It's always ALWAYS there. This makes my life difficult in a number of ways. I mean, it's PAIN, and it never ever lets up. As I've observed before in this blog, constant pain is tiring. And Norco, for all that it's an opiate, keeps me awake for some reason, so when I give in and take it, I can't actually sleep. So it's either pain and fitful sleep or no pain without any sleep. (Seriously--I can't even doze on the stuff, so if I take it before bed, I'm awake until it wears off.)
Today I couldn't stand it any longer. I called Dr. H--'s office and asked if they had any openings for earlier. They did, and set me up for one this coming Wednesday.
Tomorrow I'll do the urine collection and the ultra-sound. I hope they can figure this out.
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