(This is a continuation of yesterday’s blog) After being sick on and off for a couple of
years, my doctor finally sent me to have a CT scan done of my kidney. When I arrived at the imaging center, blood
was drawn to determine if there were any obvious problems. Then, into the CT machine I went.
It was explained to me that they would do a series of images
without giving me any contrast. Then
they would give me the contrast and repeat the test for clearer detail
regarding how the kidneys were functioning.
I remember distinctly when the CT tech came to my side after
the first series of images had been done.
She said, “Mrs. Voss, we will not be giving you the contrast. Your blood work indicates that your kidneys
are under distress, and if we gave you the contrast, that would further stress
your kidneys.”
In a way, I felt a bit cheated. I thought that this test was going to finally
give an answer to why I had been feeling so awful for so long. I got up off the table, gathered my
belongings and returned to work.
The following day, I got a call that changed everything.
“Mrs. Voss? This is
your doctor’s office. (Ok! Warning!
Anytime the doctor calls you – it is BAD!) The CT you had yesterday indicates that you
have a staghorn kidney stone. We need
you to visit an urologist right away.”
I’m surprised that I had the wherewithal to ask some questions, such as,
what is that, how is it fixed, how bad is this?
I had lots of questions but of course received no answers.
I was, however, given the name of an urologist to call to
schedule an appointment. I made the call
almost immediately and was asked the usual questions about was I a new patient,
insurance, blah, blah, blah….. When they
asked the reason I was calling, I mentioned that I’d had a CT scan the day
before and they discovered I had a staghorn kidney stone. Things changed very quickly after that.
I was given an appointment for the following day, when I met
with the urologist. After reviewing the
films, and taking some x-rays of his own, he directed me to view the films with
him. There it was, right on the x-ray –
a large object in my kidney, about the size of a thumb. He explained what it was, and then gave me
the options for removal.
The very next day I was in the Same Day Surgery Center
having a procedure called a lithotripsy (ESWL).
I went back to the urologist in one week where they repeated the
x-ray. Magically, nearly all of the
stone debris had been flushed from my kidney except for one, small chunk.
That meant a return to the Same Day Surgery Center for the
procedure to be repeated. The second try
eliminated all the calcified material from my kidney. I was sent on my way, and told to come back
in six months for a follow-up. I was
also told to be on the look-out for any further fevers, or symptoms of a kidney
stone that might have come back.
A few days after the second procedure I was back on the disc
golf course, glad to be able to once again play 18 holes of disc golf. I thought that my problems were over. I was feeling better, though still not 100%. I figured that in time, I would be back to
full strength and ready once again to resume playing the sport that I had grown
to love.
However, I later found out that there was more serious
trouble yet to come. (Come back tomorrow
for part 3.)
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