The visit to the urologist to remove a kidney stone was not the quick and easy process I expected. An anticipated quick trip that would last no more than two hours turned into an all-day affair, beginning around 10:15 and finishing up just before 5:00 p.m. In hindsight, it was simply a matter of managing expectations, both on my part and on the part of the urologist’s nurse. Not a major deal, just a much longer experience than I’d planned.
It was fortunate that my IC had decided to put the loveable beast in doggie day care. And it was fortunate that we had asked my sister-in-law to be available to pick him up in the event we were longer than expected. It was almost noon by the time I had been directed to outpatient check-in in the hospital, where the procedure would be performed; I had assumed it would be done in a “surgical” suite in the urologist’s office. However, I believe I was wheeled into the hospital’s procedure room—where, thankfully, I was sedated—some time after 2:00 p.m. I was taken from the post-op recovery room to the holding room for soon-to-be-released patients around 4:00 p.m. We left for home around 5, after my IC went to get three prescriptions filled at the pharmacy located in the medical center building. I had told the staff of the hospital I wanted Walgreen’s in the Village to handle any prescriptions; unfortunately, Walgreen’s shut down their pharmacy for the day (and perhaps longer) when they could not secure sufficient staff to keep it open.
Ultimately, all seemed well. I was given a couple of pain pills and another prescription for who knows what and given advice on ways to minimize discomfort, etc. And I was advised to call the urologist’s office on Monday to set up an appointment later in the week (Tuesday, I hope) to remove the stent inserted into my ureter. We’ll see. All in all, I feel fortunate that I was able to get in when I did and that I did not experience excruciating pain that can accompany problems with kidney stones.
That was yesterday. Last night, though, things changed. I woke repeatedly during the night with an urge to pee. When I got out of bed, the urge amplified a thousand-fold; I was afraid I would not make it to the bathroom. Fortunately, I did. But just barely. Between these bouts, I had bizarre dreams involving a failure to reconcile financial records. During trips to the bathroom, I felt certain these financial records would cause a financial institution to come crashing down. I moaned during the night. I kept my IC awake. I kept myself awake; just not coherent enough to make any sense of the records. Bizarre, indeed.
Finally, I woke up this morning around 9:00 a.m. I’ve had a glass of water, but no coffee. I’m not sure why, but coffee sounds unappealing to me today. Food sounds rather unappealing, but I would make an exception for chicken-fried steak drenched in gravy and covered with medium-grind black pepper. And jalapeños, of course.
Back to the kidney stone. It was 4.4 mm in size; apparently pretty big for a kidney stone. I do not know whether the doctor simply scooped it out or whether he blasted it with a laser. I guess I’ll find out something early next week. I should have inquired while I was in the recovery room, but I was incoherent at the time.
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I started writing this post last night. I finished it just now, about 10:15 a.m. It strikes me as being deeply boring. Such is life. My life.
