Wanna hear about my kidney stone removal? This update is not for the squeamish.
I woke up Thursday @ 4:30am and took a shower. My friend, Carter, showed up early. I couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight. I haven't had caffeine or alcohol for three weeks.
We get to the hospital and I get checked in. In the pre-op, I'm trying to make small talk with the anesthesiologist and ask her where she went to school. I think she misinterprets like I'm questioning her abilities. "UCSF" she says. "Cool", I say and then ask, "How long does the training take?" "Twelve years," she replies.
She finishes putting in my IV after giving me a local and then walks away. Shortly thereafter I say, "Excuse me,"
"Yes?" she asks.
"My IV is leaking". There's fluid seeping out on the top of my hand with a little blood.
"Oh, that's not uncommon. We'll fix it in the OR."
"Uh, OK."
She comes by to check on the IV and realizes it's really leaking and says she should fix it now. She removes all the tape and is checking to make sure everything is tight while moving the needle around that is inside my hand and pulling the skin. She looks at me and asks me, "Is this freaking you out?"
"No," I say and ask. "is it freaking you out?"
She gives me a dirty look. Whatever.
I wait until we're in the OR and say, "hey, I was just messing around. You guys are doing s great job." I black out shortly thereafter.
I wake up in post op later. It took 1:10 in the OR. I'm not nauseous at all, but my gut is really bugging the hell out of me. They removed a 5mm rock that was in the Ureter, the tube leading from the kidney to the bladder. Afterwards, they insert a tube to keep the Ureter from swelling and closing off.
A nurse comes and asks me if I'm feeling OK. I say I'm really uncomfortable and we both agree it's probably the stent, the tube they put in me. It feels like someone left their watch in there.
She asks me if I'm hungry. I haven't eaten for over 12 hours and I tell her that I can eat. She asks me if I'd like a percocet, which makes me delighted. I can barely sit still.
She comes back with a hot ham & cheese sandwich and a couple of orange juices and tells me I can have the pill after I eat. So, I'm cool with that and I start eating. The thing is all that food acts as a buffer. I realize they don't want me getting sick, and neither do I, but it takes 45 minutes for the pill to kick in! I'm so uncomfortable the whole time. I keep trying different positions in the bed, but nothing works. It's so bad that they keep asking me if I want to watch TV. I can't because I need all my concentration to deal with this. I keep thinking about how lucky I am to be alive and all the people in the hospital who are worse off than I am.
*Now the scary part, I have to go to the bathroom. They've put a couple of liters of saline in me and now it has to come out. I start making my way to the bathroom and one of the nurses hands me one of those plastic bottles.
Man's worst nightmare. There's blood coming out of my dick. I have stains on my legs and my gown. I go to pee and all that is coming out of me is red. It burns like a urinary tract infection. Also, the bladder contracts when you go and normally you don't notice, but the stent tube is against the bladder opening so I feel the contraction at the same time. My mouth is wide open and while I'm not screaming in pain, it feels like something big is coming out of me. I look in the bowl and there's nothing but red with a few pieces of tissue floating around.
Finally, the percocet kicks in as I'm getting into the wheelchair to leave and I am so relieved. Carter's waiting in the car for me and I'm so grateful for all his help. He drove me home after my knee surgery last June and after I had my wisdom teeth out in college.
The ride home sucks, big time. I can feel every bump in the road in my gut on the way home. We make it to Cathork (my apt) and I immediately pop a Vicodin and do a bongoloid. Carter pokes around in the studio for a while and I'm just starting to feel better. I get changed into normal clothes. We go to the Brite Spot diner for some chow. They have the best turkey burgers ever.
The ride home is again uncomfortable. Once home, I decide I'm not going anywhere and I get set up on the couch for some serious drug taking and movie watching. My Dad called, which was cool. He went through the same procedure the day before but he's not having any troubles with his stent. Misti calls from work and passes around the phone. It was cool that everyone cared, but I got tired of telling the story after a while. It's like talking to relatives on Christmas day. It feels good, but you get burnt after the third or fourth person.
Yesterday, I went to the pharmacy and the doc upped my Vicodin by ten. I went to the $.99 to get a few things, but decided that was going to be the extent of my moving around. My pee had started to clear up, but I noticed it got darker again after all that activity.
Janet came over last night and royally kicked my ass at Scrabble. She got two seven letter words and her final score was 413! We watched Akira, but we'll have to see it again because she fell asleep halfway through.
Things are getting better, but I'm still needing to take the meds and throw in a little bongatronic action. I'm really glad I bought some Amsterdam grade before this happened. It's really helped me with naseau and sleeping.
I go to the doc's office Wednesday morning to get the tube out. I just hope that the two days of work prior to that aren't too bad. I was hoping to get a lot done during this time, but it's looking like I will have to rest most of the time. I did make some Ghiradellie double chocolate brownies yesterday. I might have to get some milk.
Moral of the story, drink lots of water and watch your salt intake. Also, never take healthcare or your friends for granted.
I woke up Thursday @ 4:30am and took a shower. My friend, Carter, showed up early. I couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight. I haven't had caffeine or alcohol for three weeks.
We get to the hospital and I get checked in. In the pre-op, I'm trying to make small talk with the anesthesiologist and ask her where she went to school. I think she misinterprets like I'm questioning her abilities. "UCSF" she says. "Cool", I say and then ask, "How long does the training take?" "Twelve years," she replies.
She finishes putting in my IV after giving me a local and then walks away. Shortly thereafter I say, "Excuse me,"
"Yes?" she asks.
"My IV is leaking". There's fluid seeping out on the top of my hand with a little blood.
"Oh, that's not uncommon. We'll fix it in the OR."
"Uh, OK."
She comes by to check on the IV and realizes it's really leaking and says she should fix it now. She removes all the tape and is checking to make sure everything is tight while moving the needle around that is inside my hand and pulling the skin. She looks at me and asks me, "Is this freaking you out?"
"No," I say and ask. "is it freaking you out?"
She gives me a dirty look. Whatever.
I wait until we're in the OR and say, "hey, I was just messing around. You guys are doing s great job." I black out shortly thereafter.
I wake up in post op later. It took 1:10 in the OR. I'm not nauseous at all, but my gut is really bugging the hell out of me. They removed a 5mm rock that was in the Ureter, the tube leading from the kidney to the bladder. Afterwards, they insert a tube to keep the Ureter from swelling and closing off.
A nurse comes and asks me if I'm feeling OK. I say I'm really uncomfortable and we both agree it's probably the stent, the tube they put in me. It feels like someone left their watch in there.
She asks me if I'm hungry. I haven't eaten for over 12 hours and I tell her that I can eat. She asks me if I'd like a percocet, which makes me delighted. I can barely sit still.
She comes back with a hot ham & cheese sandwich and a couple of orange juices and tells me I can have the pill after I eat. So, I'm cool with that and I start eating. The thing is all that food acts as a buffer. I realize they don't want me getting sick, and neither do I, but it takes 45 minutes for the pill to kick in! I'm so uncomfortable the whole time. I keep trying different positions in the bed, but nothing works. It's so bad that they keep asking me if I want to watch TV. I can't because I need all my concentration to deal with this. I keep thinking about how lucky I am to be alive and all the people in the hospital who are worse off than I am.
*Now the scary part, I have to go to the bathroom. They've put a couple of liters of saline in me and now it has to come out. I start making my way to the bathroom and one of the nurses hands me one of those plastic bottles.
Man's worst nightmare. There's blood coming out of my dick. I have stains on my legs and my gown. I go to pee and all that is coming out of me is red. It burns like a urinary tract infection. Also, the bladder contracts when you go and normally you don't notice, but the stent tube is against the bladder opening so I feel the contraction at the same time. My mouth is wide open and while I'm not screaming in pain, it feels like something big is coming out of me. I look in the bowl and there's nothing but red with a few pieces of tissue floating around.
Finally, the percocet kicks in as I'm getting into the wheelchair to leave and I am so relieved. Carter's waiting in the car for me and I'm so grateful for all his help. He drove me home after my knee surgery last June and after I had my wisdom teeth out in college.
The ride home sucks, big time. I can feel every bump in the road in my gut on the way home. We make it to Cathork (my apt) and I immediately pop a Vicodin and do a bongoloid. Carter pokes around in the studio for a while and I'm just starting to feel better. I get changed into normal clothes. We go to the Brite Spot diner for some chow. They have the best turkey burgers ever.
The ride home is again uncomfortable. Once home, I decide I'm not going anywhere and I get set up on the couch for some serious drug taking and movie watching. My Dad called, which was cool. He went through the same procedure the day before but he's not having any troubles with his stent. Misti calls from work and passes around the phone. It was cool that everyone cared, but I got tired of telling the story after a while. It's like talking to relatives on Christmas day. It feels good, but you get burnt after the third or fourth person.
Yesterday, I went to the pharmacy and the doc upped my Vicodin by ten. I went to the $.99 to get a few things, but decided that was going to be the extent of my moving around. My pee had started to clear up, but I noticed it got darker again after all that activity.
Janet came over last night and royally kicked my ass at Scrabble. She got two seven letter words and her final score was 413! We watched Akira, but we'll have to see it again because she fell asleep halfway through.
Things are getting better, but I'm still needing to take the meds and throw in a little bongatronic action. I'm really glad I bought some Amsterdam grade before this happened. It's really helped me with naseau and sleeping.
I go to the doc's office Wednesday morning to get the tube out. I just hope that the two days of work prior to that aren't too bad. I was hoping to get a lot done during this time, but it's looking like I will have to rest most of the time. I did make some Ghiradellie double chocolate brownies yesterday. I might have to get some milk.
Moral of the story, drink lots of water and watch your salt intake. Also, never take healthcare or your friends for granted.
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
i'd say at least it's over but it's not quite yet i guess.
hit me up if you need something.