Having another Kid!

I'm guessing anyone reading my blog (hello.........is anyone out there in blog land after my long hiatus?) already knows that I am having "TWINS." If you don't know, don't get excited. They aren't the kind of twins anyone WANTS to have. They are kids....sort of. I have kidney stones.

I suspect I've had them moving around for months. I had lower back pain several months ago at night but by morning the pain was gone. Since I have fibromyalgia, I tend to attribute pain like that to my muscles. Then, in late October, I had something unusual go along with it. NOTE: If you haven't had a kidney stone this may be TMI (too much information). I started having blood in my urine. Not normal.

I went to the doctor's office and had a urine test done. I saw a nurse practicioner who put me on antibiotics for a urinary tract infection and said to let her know if it wasn't better in 10 days or something. I took the pills. The bleeding stopped, but about a month later started up again. The pain continued to come on & off at night. Since I've had a kidney stone (albeit 18 years ago), I kept thinking lower back pain with some pain in the pelvic area sounded like a kidney stone, not a UTI. I mentioned this to the Nurse Practicioner, who again said to take another round of antibiotics for this, but if it was better, then we knew that was the problem. And I did. And it did get better. For awhile.

About 2 weeks ago the pain and the bleeding started up again. I called the clinic and they told me to come in and see a nurse. They did the urine sample. The doctor read the results & back on an antibiotic. I told the nurse I suspected a kidney stone. She said....you know...call us if it doesn't get better. She also said I'd have to see a doctor to ask about getting a referral to a specialist. Ugh. Why didn't they schedule me with a doctor when I called?

Here is the problem with kidney stones and diagnosing them: they only hurt when they are moving. They can be in your kidneys just relaxing having a good ol' time and you never know it. Then one day you go from feeling fine to being in labor without an epidural. With my first stone, I'd never had a baby & the man doctor said this pain was worse than labor. Apparently he'd never had a baby either. I had no epidural with my first born. I didn't even get demmorhal (spelling very likely way off there). I got Nubane. I'm not sure what it is but I'm guessing it's Tylenol with a $50 price tag. With the kidney stone, they gave me demmorhal & I was HAPPY!

Back to this stone, or stones. That was on a Thursday that I saw the nurse. I took my 7 days of bactrim. Mind you, I've been on so many rounds of antibiotics for upper respiratory crud that there is no way my immune system can handle much more of this. On Saturday, a week after I saw the nurse, I woke up around 4 or 5 with really bad lower back pain. I KNEW this time it was a kidney stone. I also knew that there was nothing I could do about it, so I just took ibuprofen. I also knew my husband had not been out of the house is weeks except to go to work and was hoping to ride his motorcycle for a bit that day, so I didn't tell him I was hurting in the morning. Really, I wasn't to the point of tears, but it was bad enough that I could not rest. When he got home I was still about the same, so had him take me to the ER. Several hours later, a CT scan, 4 pokes to find a vein that would give blood, and I was sent home with the diagnosis of 2 kidney stones on the left side that are moving and 2 on the right side that are just in the kidney not obstructing anything. They also gave me some Lortab (hydrocodone, like Vicodin, but it has part of my name in it--LOL). And if I wasn't already feeling like an old man with urinary issues and kidney stones, they put me on FloMax. You know, the stuff they advertise for older men to help with those issues. And another round of Bactrim, because guess what? I was STILL infected!

It's been a week. I had pain on Sunday after coming home from the hospital, but it subsided until Friday. I had slight pain on Friday. Today I've had some sharp pains on my right side, more like where my ovary is. The Lortab isn't doing much for that, but maybe at bedtime it will. I've also spent the week doing some more TMI stuff (such as having to strain my urine, which means....well, I'll let you figure out what it means!).

Sounds like I'm complaining. Maybe I am, but I don't mean it to sound that way, really. I will take having a kidney stone over what several of my dear friends have gone through with cancer just this past year. It is painful. It isn't fun, but it isn't going to make me go through chemo, I'm not going to lose my hair and throw up daily from it, and it won't take my life. And really, the time to just be at home is kind of nice! Thankful for good friends who've helped tote my kids when they needed to be toted and to my parents for toting ME when I needed to be toted!

I haven't named the twins yet. I guess I should say quads, but since I'm only planning to birth 2 at a time, I'll go with twins. Open to suggestions. ha, ha! I see the urologist on Wednesday, so if I haven't birthed them by then, I hope he will figure out what to do next.

Wishing you a kidney stone free kind of day!