That darn kidney stone

Well, I'm finally almost done with the whole kidney stone nightmare!!! Next Monday The urologist is going to remove the stent and I will officially be done with this whole nightmare!!! Monday will be three months to the day since I had the stent placed. I haven't been blogging much lately because I didn't want to be negative, but after thinking about it I really want to be able to look back and remember this because hopefully I'll be able to look at it and realize that I'm strong and I can make it through some pretty tough things.

First I need to say that the stent and stone are soooooo painful. (Especialy when i was pregnant) Sydney was always kicking me in the kidney and settling onto my bladder which would send both into spasms...very painful spasms that would send me to my knees many times. Looking back now it all seems like a nightmare that was never going to end. I'm amazed sometimes that I didn't fall into a major depression since I've been unable to do much of anything for almost three months.

I think that poor Alaura suffered so much through all of this too. Poor baby went from having Mommy all to herself to having a mommy who couldn't pick her up, play with her or hardly even get off of the couch. Now, I tried many times to get out and be involved with her, but anytime I did I payed for it for a couple days after with HORRIBLE pain and ALOT of bleeding. I don't think I slept more than 3 or 4 hours a night before Sydney was born. I'd get up and pace the living room trying not to cry out of pain and frustration and sheer exhaustion. It was so hard to have to lean on others to help me. Thank goodness for my amazing ward. They set up play dates for Alaura and brought us meals a few nights each week for over 2 months.

I can't even begin to explain the pain that I was in constantly...First I feel like I had a horrible bladder infection for the entire 3 months, and my back feels sooo bruised. If I have to go to the rest room (about every hour or two) first I start to feel a sharp pain in my kidney that gets harder and harder, then my bladder starts spasming in time with my kidney and if i don't get to the rest room immediately I'll pee my pants because of the pain and the force of the spasms. Honestly there were a few times the pain was so bad I'd fall to the ground...needless to say I wouldn't make it to the rest room.

I don't know if anyone's had blood in their urine before, but it's kinda nerve racking to me. Now you have to understand, my pee isn't pink or even just red, it's the darkest red you can imagine without being black. It reminds me of a really dark fruit punch almost. I've scared many nurses when they ask for urine samples...LOL.

After Sydney was born the pain lessened some because she wasn't kicking me and everything wasn't being stretched so much anymore. Seriously, I could feel the stent pulling on my kidney the larger she got. Then they blasted the stones on the 17th. Sydney was one month old and one day. Eric had to leave town for some training for a couple days and poor Camie had to come and help out with Sydney. Thankfully Amanda was able to take Alaura for the night so I didn't have to worry about her. Brenda Miller a lady from our ward took me to the Hostpital. I brought Sydney with me because I wanted to be able to nurse her as long as possible (I wasn't supposed to nurse to for a little while after the anesthesia wore off and I was in the hostpital for 8 hours, and I hadn't been able to pump very much milk in the 3 days I had notice prior to the blasting) When I got there they had me sign in and go get blood work done, and some x rays, then I got dressed into the wonderful hostpital gown and nursed Sydney. Camie cam at 2:00 to relieve Brenda and to keep me company until 4:00 when I was supposed to get the lithotripsy (blasting) As she came in the nurses had me moved to the prep room because they were closing the wing of the hostpital I was in.So we were crammed into a little space behind some curtains.

I once again nursed sydney while they started hooking me up to the IV. The Anaesthesiologist came in and talked to me about the drugs they were going to give me (and what they weren't going to give me since I was nursing. Let suffice it to say that I was in more pain so I wouldn't be loading Sydney up with a bunch of drugs she didn't need) then he gave a shot of something...my head started feeling really weird, and I felt dizzy, so Camie took Sydney. "So we're blasting a stone on your right side and placing 2 stents" I almost went in to a panic "No, you're blasting two stones one of each side and REMOVING a stent" I thought I was gonna be sick. Suddenly the nurses came in and started prepping me, and the urologist came in to talk to me about what was going to be done. And he said the same thing!!!!! I wanted to cry!!!! They were talking about puting in two HORRIBLE stents!!!! Then he looked at the xray "oh, you're right two stones and a stent removal. That's why we have xrays!!!" Before I had a chance to catch my breath they were wheeling me away and I left Camie there with both babies. It took everything in me not to cry. When I got into the OR they had me move from the bed to the machine they were going to be using. It's kinda scary looking. The part that you lay on is kinda like a thin water bed. Because they have to send the ultrasound waves through water. The anesthesiologist put the drugs into my IV and I was out. I woke up an hour later in recovery by my self feeling really groggy and the urologist was there. "Everthing went well, but the large stone didn't break up as small as i hoped so I didn't take out the stent. But we blasted both stones so that's a fair trade." He said goodbye and left. It was a while before I was able to talk to a nurse (my throught was soooo dry ans sore from the tube they had to put down it) she had me sip some water and after about a hour had me try to use the rest room. So they helped me sit up and I got soo dizzy I almost passed and I it took everything in me not to start throwing up. I finally got up and sat on the little potty they brought by my bedside. I went pee and I don't think there was anything in there but blood!! It was horrible!!! And my back felt like someone took a bat to it. I was bruised and cold and tired and alone. I wanted to cry, but I was afraid if i did I wouldn't be able to stop. After 10 min someone finally walked into my cubicle and helped me back into bed. I was really hurting but they couldn't give me anything very strong for the pain, so I toughed most of it out. around 5:00 or so they told me to start getting dressed because my Mother in law was going to be there soon to get me and take me home. So I got dressed and sat on the hard commode seat and waited. Unluckily poor Lynette got lost, and didn't know where to come get me. So I sat there alone and hurting wishing someone would come help me into the bed for 30 min or so. Then they brought me a wheel chair right as Lynette came in. They wheeled me out to her car and she drove me home. I got in the house and sat down on the couch. She hung out for a few minutes holding Sydney, then headed home. Camie was there and told me that Leyna had gotten a hold of Sydneys poopy diaper and got it all over her hands..."but other than that we were ok" she said. Poor thing. Thank you thank you thank you Camie for helping out with that and everything else!!!

Camie stayed the night that night. Sydney and I were in my room Leyna was in Sydneys and Camie slept in Alaura's bed. Sydney had a really bad cold that night and I was up trying to hold her the whole night. It was an awful night and I did cry...alot. around 6:00 in the morning I got up and took Sydney to Camie and (woke her up) and asked her to please take her so I could get some sleep. Camie stayed and helped out for a while longer and Took off an hour before Eric got home. Luckily Alaura and Sydney were both pretty good.

It took about three days before I could walk upright and not hurt really bad. But I'm on my way to recovery now. My family's coming on Friday night and we have Alaura's birthday party saturday and I get me stent out on Monday and we're going to Disneyland Tuesday and Wednessday. I'll let you know how it all goes....