A Barometer of Health – Part 3

 (This is a continuation of yesterday’s blog)

After having two lithotripsy treatments to remove a staghorn kidney stone in 2012, I was beginning to feel more like my old self. 

My son Danny had been encouraging me all year to be sure to register for the 2012 Orlando Open.  If I successfully competed in that event, I would have an automatic invitation to compete in the 2013 PDGA World Disc Golf Championships.  He wanted me to participate in that tournament, as he had gone to Worlds in 2012 and he wanted us to go together in 2013.

Being a more cautious, one step at a time person, I figured, first things first, and decided to see how I did in the Orlando Open that fall.  I prepared pretty well for the amount of throwing and walking I would have to do, and for my first tournament, I was pleased with the outcome.

So again, talk in our home centered on going to Worlds in 2013.  We needed to register for that event in March of 2013 before the tournament was opened up to any registered member of the PDGA (Professional Disc Golf Association) rather than just those who qualified for it.

There were a few times when I still didn’t feel quite right, like something was still wrong internally, but without being able to put words to the symptom, it was hard to figure out what doctor to go to or what to tell him or her when I got there.  My energy level was beginning to come back, but some days I still seemed extra tired.

So, in March of 2013 we signed up for Worlds and paid for our hotel room.  Travel arrangements would be made closer to the event. 

It was later that month that I went back to my urologist for a follow-up exam following the removal of the kidney stone I’d had the year before.  They did an ultra sound of the kidneys which indicated that more tests were required.

Three weeks later I returned to the urologist’s office to have another CT scan, and this time they were able to administer the contrast medication.

 

The great thing about my urologist is that those tests are done right in their offices and an initial reading is made immediately.  As we were looking at the films together, my urologist discovered that I had no kidney function on my left kidney!

Wow!  That was a shocker.  I immediately was sent back to the Same Day Surgery Center to have a stent put in place to see if he could get kidney function to return.  That attempt proved to be unsuccessful, and in fact caused me great pain for about a week. 

At that point my doctor was very concerned and put me in the hospital immediately to try and discover the source of the pain.  I probably had 20 different tests over the course of ten days, not to mention daily blood testing and nothing obvious showed up except for the fact that I was extremely anemic, and in a lot of pain.

Ultimately, after seeing a plethora of doctors, they decided that my kidney was the source of all the problems and so surgery was scheduled to remove it.  I was told the procedure would be done laparoscopically with four small incisions, through which the organ would be removed.

Five hours after the procedure began (which we had been told would be a two-hour operation) the kidney was removed.  It was very infected and enlarged which meant that the surgeons could not remove it through the small incisions.  Instead, a large incision was required so that they could remove the kidney and clean out the abdomen of all the infection.  I awoke later with 65 staples in my abdomen and side.

However, the very next day, when I got out of bed, I knew I was better.  Oh, I had plenty of pain from the incision, but inside….I felt great.  The thing that I knew was wrong but could never describe was GONE!

Prior to the surgery I had told my doctor that I had planned a trip to Worlds.  Could I still go if I had this surgery?  Of course, he based his decision on the anticipation that I would have four small wounds, and so he told me Yes!  

After the outcome of the unexpected complicated surgery, I just didn’t know what would happen.  At my one week post- surgery check-up, my urologist told me that I could still go as long as I wasn’t in any pain.

The question was….could I be ready in time?  My side had to heal, I had to be able to twist my body, I was very weak after the surgery, and I hadn’t been on the disc golf course in over a month prior to the surgery.

As with most things in life, I decided it would be best to take this challenge one day and one obstacle at a time.  Come back tomorrow for the final episode in this story!