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drwextl;dr This is normal. Everything will be fine. We just have to do it All Over Again. I haz a new surgery date in mid-July.
I went to see the urologist again for a follow-up to the previous saga. I still like her, despite her being, essentially, responsible for things going pear-shaped last time. Herewith some things that are the new normal:
It helps to realize that the bladder isn't just a bag that fills up with urine and empties via gravity though that's a big part of it. It's a complex muscular system. Shockingly, complex muscular systems do not like having pieces of plastic in them.
So when I pee and feel like I've been kicked in the balls? That's "normal" because the now-emptied bladder contracts around the plastic. When I pee and feel like someone is squeezing my kidney? Also normal, because the bladder has muscles that close up the ureter to prevent urine from going back up the tube into the kidney - remember that this is the part of kidney stones that actually hurts. Guess what happens when you have a big piece of plastic keeping the ureter open?
That blood in the urine? Also normal - there's a lot of plastic inside my kidney now and as the doc helpfully pointed out even if you do nothing but stand still and breathe your kidney moves up and down a couple inches. This causes it to rub against said plastic and... yeah. She likened it to how sometimes your gums bleed when you brush them.
The rigid cramped abdominal muscles? Not exactly normal, but she's seen it before. Basically, my body is aware (even though I can't consciously feel it) that something internal is damaged and the muscles are "splinting" to try and prevent further damage.
Physical activity is encouraged, but not strenuous. I have SO many fewer spoons now than I used to. Being in pain is tiring. You're all shocked to hear this, I know. So what happens next?
Technically, since the first procedure failed I'm now a candidate for the ultrasound but she doesn't like it and doesn't want to do it. She pointed out that it still means I have to pass the stone remnants, itself a painful process, and because it's done without direct observation, you have to hope that the entirety of the stone has been removed. By comparison, the "lazors up yer peehole" method involves direct observation, and reducing the stone to dust and small grains of sand, which can be passed without even noticing.
It does mean I have to have the stent swapped out. My current one is big and supports healing; the new one will be smaller and come out a week or so after the operation. In an office procedure. So, yay healing but also see above.
The earliest this could be done would be 30 days after the initial procedure. Given her schedule and mine that would run us into July 4th and that seems like a bad plan. Given that doing this on a Friday led to problems she'd like to do it mid-week so we've got a date for July 17th. I'll bring as little as possible; she'll bring the good drugs and hopefully things will go well this time. I'm not super-optimistic but there don't seem to be a lot of good options otherwise.
With reasonable luck this'll be my last health update for about 7 weeks.
I went to see the urologist again for a follow-up to the previous saga. I still like her, despite her being, essentially, responsible for things going pear-shaped last time. Herewith some things that are the new normal:
It helps to realize that the bladder isn't just a bag that fills up with urine and empties via gravity though that's a big part of it. It's a complex muscular system. Shockingly, complex muscular systems do not like having pieces of plastic in them.
So when I pee and feel like I've been kicked in the balls? That's "normal" because the now-emptied bladder contracts around the plastic. When I pee and feel like someone is squeezing my kidney? Also normal, because the bladder has muscles that close up the ureter to prevent urine from going back up the tube into the kidney - remember that this is the part of kidney stones that actually hurts. Guess what happens when you have a big piece of plastic keeping the ureter open?
That blood in the urine? Also normal - there's a lot of plastic inside my kidney now and as the doc helpfully pointed out even if you do nothing but stand still and breathe your kidney moves up and down a couple inches. This causes it to rub against said plastic and... yeah. She likened it to how sometimes your gums bleed when you brush them.
The rigid cramped abdominal muscles? Not exactly normal, but she's seen it before. Basically, my body is aware (even though I can't consciously feel it) that something internal is damaged and the muscles are "splinting" to try and prevent further damage.
Physical activity is encouraged, but not strenuous. I have SO many fewer spoons now than I used to. Being in pain is tiring. You're all shocked to hear this, I know. So what happens next?
Technically, since the first procedure failed I'm now a candidate for the ultrasound but she doesn't like it and doesn't want to do it. She pointed out that it still means I have to pass the stone remnants, itself a painful process, and because it's done without direct observation, you have to hope that the entirety of the stone has been removed. By comparison, the "lazors up yer peehole" method involves direct observation, and reducing the stone to dust and small grains of sand, which can be passed without even noticing.
It does mean I have to have the stent swapped out. My current one is big and supports healing; the new one will be smaller and come out a week or so after the operation. In an office procedure. So, yay healing but also see above.
The earliest this could be done would be 30 days after the initial procedure. Given her schedule and mine that would run us into July 4th and that seems like a bad plan. Given that doing this on a Friday led to problems she'd like to do it mid-week so we've got a date for July 17th. I'll bring as little as possible; she'll bring the good drugs and hopefully things will go well this time. I'm not super-optimistic but there don't seem to be a lot of good options otherwise.
With reasonable luck this'll be my last health update for about 7 weeks.
