Finally, something went as planned

[drwex]

tl;dr - home from the hospital. Having three "procedures" in a week is exhausting.

Went back to the hospital today for what was billed as an "internalization" of the stent. That is, removing the external hardware (YAY) and leaving the stent in place. However, they kept writing the order as "stent placement".

I went through four different people until I talked to the actual doc who was doing the procedure and got a real answer. He pulled up the imaging (x ray I think) and showed me that the stent that had been placed on Friday wasn't actually the final one. Basically, it was one piece with the external hardware. Faster to do and slightly safer than the intended stent, the one-piece also had the salient value of being within easy reach if anything goes wrong.

So the plan was to use the existing stent to thread the wire down, then you remove the existing stent, leaving the wire, which you then use to guide the new stent in place and then finally take the wire out. What could go wrong? Yeah. I was awake for most of that. I finally passed out (this is a "sedation" procedure not a general anesthesia) after the new stent was in place and before they started sewing me up.

They did warn me there was a small chance that if things bled too much I'd still have an external tube for 24 hours to drain that, but apparently my kidney cooperated and I've just got a bandage. And I'm told I'm going to "leak" often (their word).

To top it all off, I get a new vocabulary phrase: "stent pain". This is the wholly inadequate descriptor for the feeling of having my insides trying to rip themselves out when I pee. I can't decide if this is more or less bad than the "you've been kicked in the balls" feeling I had with the previous stent. Have I mentioned how hilarious my life is these days?

All of this said, and with much more still to be done, I am deeply aware of how much privilege I have in this situation. I can't imagine trying to do this with no insurance, or if English wasn't my fluent language or if I had other physical ailments.

Oh, did I mention that one of the X-rays the tech marked up as "severe spinal degeneration visible"? Yeah, I'm going to have to deal with that at some point.

Comments

[reedrover]

I'm glad things are finally going the right direction. But eeek on the x-ray commentary!

[caulay]

I'm glad to hear that something finally went right on this whole thing. Sorry to hear about the pain, you have my sympathies.

[corylea]

Very sorry to hear that you'e still having so much pain. And that X-ray result sounds awful. I'm so sorry that you have all of this to deal with!

[drwex]

Yeah, I'm going to have to figure out who to talk with about that.

[drwex]

Thanks. I'm starting back up on the advil and we'll see if that controls it. If not, I will talk to the urologist about other options.

[drwex]

Thanks. I feel like these are all things I can deal with, given time. People will just have to get used to me making noise when I pee. Fortunately, work has single-user toilets.

[reedrover]

Not to summon shadows, but an accidental scan of a now-deceased friend was what showed that he had cancer in his spine (that ended up also being in his brain). So any time I hear about people stumbling on health evidence, I get all spun up on their behalves.

[make_your_move]

Yay for it finally going right.

I hope the pain lessens soon.