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Kidney Stone Report

The doctor visit wasn’t what I hoped but there’s always a bright side:

  1. It isn’t cancer or worse. Kidney stones can be “fixed”.
  2. It’s happening at home and not when I’m off on the road away from home.
  3. I don’t have a child in high school . . which is how it was last time I had to have kidney stone surgery.

I had planned to go to MO next week because we have rain in our forecast and if it rains, the garden isn’t such a pain for Vince to deal with but who knows when I’ll get to do that now.

The doctor said that anything less than 5 mm, they hope you can pass on your own but realistically, he’s never very optimistic with anything over 4 mm. The stone in my right kidney is 6 mm and is partially blocking the kidney. He would like to do surgery tomorrow but . . he has a broken arm and can’t do surgery til next week. He said if I have fever or severe pain, go to the ER and they will get him and he will do the surgery. His arm has been broken for a while and I could tell he was real tempted to go ahead and schedule the surgery for tomorrow but I assured him I would go to the ER if I had any problems til we can get that stone out.

The other not so great news is . . there’s a 12 mm stone in my left kidney. It isn’t moving and he wants to get it before it starts moving but the right side is the most urgent right now since it’s causing a partial blockage. He will take care of the right stone, get me recovered from that and then he’ll do the left stone.

Neither stone are good candidates for lithotripsy or other busting up procedures so he will go in with the basket, which requires a stint left in place for several weeks. I’ve had it before it’s most miserable. Last time I had it done, it was right before our vacation . . a fishing trip to GA (from KY) in a crappy little cabin on a lake. Vince and Chad had been looking forward to the trip forever so I was a trooper . . we left the day after my surgery and I thought (halfway wished) I was going to die!  At least I can recover at home and not make a 10 hour trip in the car and be stuck in a rustic cabin.

Tomorrow I go back to the eye doctor. Surely I’ll get good news there but I’m not real optimistic about that.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ummm Judy… stop it! Stop falling apart!

    There now will that help ya out?

    Sure sorry you are having to go through all this – keeping my fingers and toes crossed that you bounce back quickly and easily. Saying a prayer too…

  2. If I was there I would just give you a big ‘ol hug! You are right, things could be worse. Just get yourself taken care of and look for betterdays.

  3. Thank goodness for being prepared. I imagine you are covered for everything except fresh milk. Fingers crossed for the eye exam tomorrow.

  5. Thinking of you and wishing you a speedy recovery after surgery next week.

  6. If it’s not one thing, it’s another! Good luck with everything. On the bright side, I can’t wait to see all the knitting progress you’re making with all these doctor visits. 😉

  7. Oh, Judy. My thoughts and prayers are with you. I hope you have a speedy recovery and that your eye exam goes well tomorrow. Take care of yourself.

  10. I hope everything goes well and you have a speedy recovery.
    Thank goodness you are a person who is always well prepared with food…at least that’s one problem off the table (pun intended).

  11. I hope you get a good report from the eye doctor. In the meantime, sit on the porch and watch the chickens. They’ll cheer you up!

  12. Good grief! Don’t fall apart on us now! We need more chicken updates! We need more rodent/little beastie hidden camera pictures! We need more Vince shopping-spree stories!
    Seriously, I hope that you are doing as well as possible and that you don’t need to go to the emergency room…
    Take care.

  14. Get well soon! Your loyal readers will be distraught until you are healthy!!

  15. So sorry to hear of your medical woes, Judy! I hope procedures go well and you have a quick recovery. Take care of yourself!

  16. So sorry Judy. Isn’t getting older the pits? Hang in there – at least you should have plenty of knitting time while you recover. Prayers coming your way.

    • This is one thing I can’t blame on getting older. I’ve had kidney stones since I was in my 20’s.

  17. Wishing you much better news tomorrow. On a side note, hoping to make you giggle a little, one of the pop up ads on your blog was “How to pass Stones fast”. Don’t think they can offer much help here for you though.

  19. Just how do you pass stones fast?? Am sure they hurt, big or small, and pretty inconvenient. Looks like TX will get its needed rain and that’s good for your garden. Here’s hoping you pass the lil stinkers and if not, get good relief with the surgical approach.

  20. My kidney dr won’t even do lithotripsies anymore, says they cause more problems than they cure. Did they suggest a percutaneous nephrolithotomy (going into the kidney through a small incision in your back and removing the stones)? I had it done and I handled it better than the lithotripsies (done by another dr). No stent needed either.

  22. Oh dear… those are big stoned. I know you do things big in Texas, but really?!?

    🙂

    You are so amazing always looking at the brighter side… hope this recuperation goes smoothly and you get to rest home a bit before venturing anywhere…

  23. that should be “stones”… not “stoned”.. not suggesting anything! LOL

  24. I’m sorry that they’re so large they can’t be passed. One of my coworkers just has surgery for his kidney stones and he’d waited too long and had an infection, so I’m glad you’re being proactive about this. I hope your eye doctor’s news is more promising.

  25. So sorry to hear it was not good news regarding your kidney stones. Hope the surgery goes well, and you have a speedy recovery. Also hoping your eye appmt. tomorrow brings good news. You haven’t mentioned if your flashes and floaters are improving? I hope they are. Take care—

  26. Oh no stents…..Boy those suckers hurt was so glad when that thing came out.They are just a painful as stone I think. I’m so sorry you are having this problem again. Seems like if it isn’t one thing it is another. I’m sure you wish there was something you could do to keep this from happening but sounds like you’ve tried everything. My prayers are with you that the doctor gets well fast and this will get taken care of ASAP.

    My prayers are for a speedy recover on both fronts your eye and kidneys.

  28. Hope you have a speedy recovery……good news……you can knit all day

  29. Jeepers, girl! I will definitely be keeping you in my prayers! When you go down, you GO DOWN!! So sorry you are having to endure all this. I have decided that getting older is for the birds……and you aren’t as old as I am (61). JUST STOP IT!! hahaha!

  30. I am keeping you in my thoughts, Judy. I am amazed that you are able to write so much and DO so much through all of this. You are a real powerhouse, a force to be reckoned with!

  31. Prayers are being sent up as you go through this ordeal. Wishing you a speedy recovery and no need for trips to the ER.

  32. Hi Judy, I hope you have pain-free days until the surgery. I have had two kidney problems (no stones….yet) and the discomfort was constant. I can almost feel your pain! Hopefully you are able to do some knitting or sewing amidst this trial. Take it easy, relax, laugh if it doesn’t hurt.

  33. OK…time for you to take care of YOU. Well, for Vince to take care of you. 🙂 You need to do the bare minimum. Those jars will come in handy. Gosh, I sound bossy. 🙂 I’ll head that way if I can help.

  34. Stop it Judy!! You don’t have time for these unpleasant things to be happening to you. Know that you are in our prayers and thoughts and this too will pass. So glad you caught it when you did. Take it easy until the Dr. can do a good job on your operation.

  35. I hope you feel better soon and there is no bad news to come. Hugs.

  36. Hi Judy,
    Love your blog posts! My girls and I tried your raspberry chocolate jam last week, and it turned out just great. We are looking forward to using it after the harvest is over – maybe over some ice cream? :-). Anyway, on to the kidney stones – I had a really bad one about 8 years ago, and discovered that it was a calcium stone and very painful, worse than childbirth. None since, but ever since then, whenever I felt a twinge I would load up on fluids. . . Fast forward to a few days ago, and not sure how it was triggered, but it felt like I was starting to pass another. My MIL mentioned something about taking magnesium citrate, I did some research and found this blog post. I happened to have some on hand, and took the recommended dose – and the pain passed. Not sure if it is for everyone, but thought it was interesting, and I will definitely keep taking the magnesium! Here’s the blog post: http://vitaminpshow.wordpress.com/2006/12/04/show-6-kidney-stones-and-the-miracle-of-magnesium/. Hope that you feel better soon!

    • I’m not sure what works on all stones and what doesn’t but we’ll get these analyzed and see what the doc can figure it out. Sure would be nice if I could stop it from happening. Glad you had good results with yours.

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