Kidney Stones and Other Fun Stuff ~

I thought I would get everyone up-to-date on the recent happenings with me :o)

At the end of September I found out that I had a 2”x4” smooth kidney stone lodged in my left kidney, along with a few smaller ones. Aimee has affectionately named it “Brutus.”  I met up with some new doctors at Urologic Specialists of Oklahoma. They said due to the size of Brutus, it gave them limited choices and would need to perform surgery on October 19^th.  I check into St. Francis that morning and was prepped for surgery that has 2 parts. 

First was to insert a tube into my left kidney thorough my back (I was completely sedated) then about an hour later off to regular surgery to retrieve Brutus and his buddies.  Doctor was able to remove the smaller ones in the lower lobe of the kidney and then began chipping away at Brutus. I guess Brutus did not like this and decided to shoot itself up to where he could no longer be reached unless they repunctured my kidney and when around ribs and possibly thorough a lung.  Doctor decided that was not the best for me so they finished up and sent me to recovery.

A few humorous things… since my bilateral vocal cord paralysis, I snore (quite loudly) involuntarily when I am asleep. This really scared the anesthesiologist, I heard. Roy calmed him down though. During regular surgery time, I had a tube down my throat so I didn’t entertain them there… BUT I guess I did in recovery.  To the extent that I so vaguely remember the head nurse marching some older lady up to me to apologize to me for making comments about my snoring. I thought that was hysterical. During my stay at St. Francis, in the middle of the night, I was told some of the nurses would peek in to see who was snoring so loudly.  So glad I could entertain everyone. Hahaha.

After surgery I spent a little over 4 days at St. Francis, being released the following Monday. Seems my potassium levels were not cooperating. All is fine now with that.  I am at home recovering, still with the tube in my back, but it is capped and Roy takes very good care of it seeing that I cannot reach it or even see it. I am so thankful for him!

I was told that they would have to do a different procedure to retrieve Brutus now. It is a robotic laparoscopic surgery where they will go thru the tummy this time. Oh joy. Hahaha.  We received the date of the next surgery – November 29^th - longer away than I would like, but I trust in God that he has it then for a specific purpose. This time I will be at the Oklahoma Surgical Hospital at 81^st and Lewis. It used to be called the City of Faith years ago.

People ask if I am in pain… Yes, to some extent. I still have Brutus in the left and a smaller cousin in the right kidney that we will have to deal with when I heal up from this.  Plus the tube out of my back is not really all that comfortable, but it is tolerable. I tire very easily too, but my stamina is building up now day by day. I actually cooked a couple of times this week, and went out with Roy to dinner one night.  Tonight we did go to Wal-Mart for about 35 minutes and that really wore me out, and when we got home, I fell sound asleep for a few hours while Roy prepared a wonderful dinner of pork chops and mashed taters and veggies. I am so thankful for him.

As I always say… None of this has taken God by surprise or snuck up on Him. I know that He is fully in control of all of this, orchestrating every move. I also believe that if God can turn water into wine, he can turn a kidney stone to water. :o)   The battle is real, and not for the cowardly. I am proud to be in God's Army, and that He is my Commander and Chief.  Right now my orders are to Rest and Rejuvenate.

Signed... A Muse of the Remnant