Friday, December 5, 2008

It's A Stone

I got a call about 8:30am yesterday that the doctors office had finally gotten everything approved to have my CT scan done. They wanted to get it done that morning so I agreed to be there at 10:15 and try to get it over with. Not knowing and wondering was getting to be a pain. Got in pretty fast, the CT scan was nothing. Laid me on this table and the lower part of my body went in this big round hole on this big white machine. It wasn't one of those whole body things. It was over in 15 minutes and I was on my way. They said the doctor would call if they found anything.

Had a lunch scheduled with my managers and some vendors at Olive Garden at noon. Just as we were finishing up my phone rang and it was the doctors office. I had to answer. The nurse told me I had a kidney stone. And that it was 7mm in size and that I needed to be at the Urologist at 2pm. I was relieved to know it was a stone. I was a little worried at how fast she was wanting to get me in to the Urologist. 7mm seemed big to me. Actually, that's just a little over a 1/4 inch in diameter. Since I was just up the street from that doctors office I waited a few and headed on over. Didn't know what they were going to do. Had to fill out paper work there and wait probably an hour and a half before I went back. First thing they do as I'm walking down the hall is give me a cup and told me to pee in this. Got that over with then went to a room and waited on the doctor.

When the doctor came in he asked a few questions and I explained the "how it started after I was running" story. He said that made total sense. That the running makes the stone move around and causes a little blood to pass. He said my stone was too big to actually pass down the tubes so they would need to crush it by doing what they call lithotripsy. This machine uses extracorporeal shock wave technology to break the kidney stone into small pieces so it can pass out your system. Not a major deal, just an outpatient thing. He said mine did not hurt because kidney stones usually don't cause pain until they start passing down the urinary tract tubes and mine was just sitting there. He said there was no immediate rush to get it done like right now, but it had to be done, otherwise over long term you would have kidney damage because of the blockage. So, long story short, I am scheduled for December 15th to have the procedure done. He said no running for sure as this causes the stone to move around. So, at least I still get to go to Memphis. I was worried that I was going to have to sit home and use a strainer all weekend to see if the stones pass. I still get to enjoy the race.

So, me and my stone are headed to Memphis for the weekend!

3 comments:

Susan said...

I hope to see you and your stone along the course, cheering!

ShirleyPerly said...

Glad you now have a definitive answer. Stay warm and have fun at the race!

Tammy said...

Wow a stone I hope it doesn't hurt to much. I just went through a big thing as well, had reconstructive surgery when thinking I had a UTI I was fighting with for a month. It was a bigger problem than I expected but after my surgery and 6 weeks of recovery, which seemed like forever, but I'm back and ready for rock in 2009.

Hang in there the 15th is around the corner and you'll be back up again. Have fun in Memphis!!!