Yaahoooo! Kidney stone extraction successful! Feeling great.
(Disclaimer: I think I am still feeling the effects of sedation. I am not to make any important decisions or sign any papers less than 24 hours after waking up. Therefore, this blog is at risk for some off-center thinking/writing.)
We left for Hershey medical center at 5:45 am this morning after Barb downed two cups of coffee. I was not to have anything to eat or drink after midnight so no sugar or caffeine jump start for me.
We did a fair amount of waiting around, but nothing serious. I went into surgery around 9:30 and woke up at 11:30 am WITHOUT A KIDNEY STONE, CATHETER AND PEE BAG. The procedures I had were: cystoscopy, right ureteroscopy, basket stone extraction and stent placement.
Translation: going through my urethra they grabbed the whole stone (with a basket??) and pulled it out in one piece. No Star Wars laser beams were needed or sonic blasts to break the stone. They were prepared to use a laser, if needed. The stone was sent to a lab to determine type. I won't know the results until I go back next week to have a ureter stent removed. The stent was placed to allow the inflamed ureter to heal without any possible adhesions which could block the flow of urine from the kidney. Don't want that. So, one more trip to Hershey for stent removal. We plan to coordinate that with my oncology visit next Friday during which I will have some blood tests done and discuss future treatments for the pancreatic cancer.
After post op recovery and getting on my feet we headed home at 4:30 pm and I was starving. Had a crazy urge to have a crab cake so we stopped at Martin's Country Market on the way home and bought one (Barb didn't share my compulsion). I had a great supper w/fresh tomato, sweet corn, crab cake, spaghetti.
Last evening we had a delightful "ice tea, pears, crackers and cheese time" with Norman and Darlene Hofer of Freeman, SD. It's always fun to catch up on the haps in SD.
Thanks everyone for your support and prayers today ... and earlier ... and upcoming. You help keep me dealing with the real.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Sunday, August 26, 2012
One week down ... one to go
I am just past the middle of a two-week misery. It's been a very real "deal-with-the real" deal! I am looking forward to relief this Friday when all my plumbing accessories and personal 5 mm kidney stone ("Ricky's Rock") are scheduled to be removed.
This has been a far more wretched experience thus far than I ever imagined. I would have to say the most miserable week of my life. Oh, true, it's not as uncomfortable as a kidney stone blocking the ureter! I'm grateful for that. But it was only yesterday that I stopped taking the tylenol w/opiods and other drugs to help relieve my suffering. And those drugs have some very nasty side effects — dry mouth, drowsy, wooziness, altered mental state, etc. I still have considerable unpleasant "discomfort", but am managing. After today, I think I may start taking the pain killers again.
I have learned more about human anatomy than I ever wanted to know. Bottom line is this: a man's tallywacker was not designed or intended to have a 1/4" rubber hose threaded through it! And a man's bladder is not intended or built to have a stent, hose and balloon in it ... all at the same time!!!
My first cousin Duke (Don Jr.) and Kay Harkcom from Hudson, WI, visited over the July 4 weekend.
We had a great time cooking and eating gourmet meals at home and played board games.
My brother Reed and Susan Schrag drove out to see us the first week of August. We had fun taking in much of Lancaster County. When at the Green Dragon market in Ephrata, Reed and I saw a pig stomach for sale at the New Holland Meat booth already stuffed w/potatoes, onion and sausage. And only $2.99/lb. My brother, Reed, is a master at preparing "sow magen" using our family sausage recipe. He has prepared dozens of them over the years. They require some work. We consider them a gourmet food. They are prepared for holiday meals and special occasions. Anyway, an impulse purchase was made and we took home a Lancaster County "Dutch goose", as it is also called here. The "Dutch goose" name's origin is supposedly when Amish families could not afford a real goose for Thanksgiving they would prepare a stuffed pig stomach instead. I roasted it on my Green Egg cooker/smoker. No, it didn't match up to the ones Reed prepares, but was fun.
We also went to the Leola produce auction. It was very interesting observing buyers of large quantities of produce.
One World Trade Center (formerly called Freedom Tower?? - ambiguous?) at left is "topped out" and scheduled to open late 2013. I'm not sure what the other skyscraper at right is called. Maybe Two or Three World Trade Center.
I had to take a picture of the beautiful varieties of wild rice Becky and Steve brought from northern Minnesota. I think the color difference is largely a result of different roasting times.
On Aug. 16 Burton and Eileen Kaufman from Marion, SD, stopped by as part of a larger East Coast tour they took which included visiting their daughter and son-in-law in Harrisonburg, VA. Barb gave them a tour of the MCC office. Unfortunately I was at work and missed seeing them, but appreciate the contact. Depending on my condition, we hope to connect with Norman and Darlene Hofer of Freeman, SD, who are visiting here this week.
And those are just a few of the highlights of the summer. We are enjoying more moderate temperatures here now. Thank you for your interest in my well-being and following the blog. Any and all comments are appreciated and give the blogger added stimulus to post.
This has been a far more wretched experience thus far than I ever imagined. I would have to say the most miserable week of my life. Oh, true, it's not as uncomfortable as a kidney stone blocking the ureter! I'm grateful for that. But it was only yesterday that I stopped taking the tylenol w/opiods and other drugs to help relieve my suffering. And those drugs have some very nasty side effects — dry mouth, drowsy, wooziness, altered mental state, etc. I still have considerable unpleasant "discomfort", but am managing. After today, I think I may start taking the pain killers again.
I have learned more about human anatomy than I ever wanted to know. Bottom line is this: a man's tallywacker was not designed or intended to have a 1/4" rubber hose threaded through it! And a man's bladder is not intended or built to have a stent, hose and balloon in it ... all at the same time!!!
SUMMER IN LANCASTER COUNTY
Now for some lighter fare, I want to share some of the great experiences of the summer before the stone.My first cousin Duke (Don Jr.) and Kay Harkcom from Hudson, WI, visited over the July 4 weekend.
We had a great time cooking and eating gourmet meals at home and played board games.
My brother Reed and Susan Schrag drove out to see us the first week of August. We had fun taking in much of Lancaster County. When at the Green Dragon market in Ephrata, Reed and I saw a pig stomach for sale at the New Holland Meat booth already stuffed w/potatoes, onion and sausage. And only $2.99/lb. My brother, Reed, is a master at preparing "sow magen" using our family sausage recipe. He has prepared dozens of them over the years. They require some work. We consider them a gourmet food. They are prepared for holiday meals and special occasions. Anyway, an impulse purchase was made and we took home a Lancaster County "Dutch goose", as it is also called here. The "Dutch goose" name's origin is supposedly when Amish families could not afford a real goose for Thanksgiving they would prepare a stuffed pig stomach instead. I roasted it on my Green Egg cooker/smoker. No, it didn't match up to the ones Reed prepares, but was fun.
Sow magen ready for the Big Green Egg.
I started to cut the net. It did not burst from roasting. I forgot to take a pic of the sliced "goose".
We also went to the Leola produce auction. It was very interesting observing buyers of large quantities of produce.
Muskmelon (here more affectionately called cantaloupes) at the Leola Produce Auction.
Buyers (and tourists) sampled the melons.
Produce delivered to the auction by horse or steel-wheeled tractor,
depending on your denominational niche.
Presentation is important.
Ready to do some canning?
Susan and brother Reed on the front steps of Mascot Roller Mills, a water-powered grain mill. We also toured the Ressler home. A fascinating historic place in Lancaster County.
In mid-August we enjoyed a visit by Barb's sister Becky and husband, Steve Hagenah, who drove from their home in Bemidji, MN to PA just to see us.
We went to NYC over a weekend. Stayed one night in a 4-star hotel on Time Square. Parked at St. George on Staten Island and took the ferry to Manhattan.
We visited the National 9/11 Memorial on the site of the World Trade Center. This one of two one-acre waterfall reflecting pools; one at the footprint of each tower.
We purchased a CitySight hop on/hop off bus tour. Other than some overbearing tourguides it is a good way to visit NYC. Ricky and Barb up close w/Lady Liberty. What happened to her flame??
Steve and Becky just before we took a boat cruise around Manhattan.
On Aug. 16 Burton and Eileen Kaufman from Marion, SD, stopped by as part of a larger East Coast tour they took which included visiting their daughter and son-in-law in Harrisonburg, VA. Barb gave them a tour of the MCC office. Unfortunately I was at work and missed seeing them, but appreciate the contact. Depending on my condition, we hope to connect with Norman and Darlene Hofer of Freeman, SD, who are visiting here this week.
And those are just a few of the highlights of the summer. We are enjoying more moderate temperatures here now. Thank you for your interest in my well-being and following the blog. Any and all comments are appreciated and give the blogger added stimulus to post.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Half-stoned and drowsy for two weeks
It looks like I will be pretty messed up for the next two weeks, until the Friday, August 31, procedure to remove the 5 mm uric acid kidney stone lodged half way down my right-side ureter.
I just got off the phone with a urology nurse AND the doctor that installed the ureter stent and Foley catheter. I called in to Hershey this morning about my ongoing severe pain and discomfort at the bladder since the procedure on Friday and they both said the same thing: Take the Vicadin and suck it up! Not what I wanted to hear. I am also taking Ditropan to relieve bladder spasms. Also antibiotic and FloMax. As you can surmise I have generated quite an array of pill bottles. I am somewhat anti-pill and this takes me out of my comfort zone. I took only straight acetaminophen before bed last night and woke up with pain of .... oh .... I'd say a "7" on the pain scale. Not pleasant, so the call to Hershey was made.
So... here are the trade-offs of Pills vs. Pain (no pills)
Vicadin: altered mental state — Whoopee! So now I'm half-stoned.
dizziness — I can't drive the car or operate machinery.
dry mouth — Yup, got that.
dizziness — Yah, that too.
Ditropan: drowsiness — Oh yeh! I might as well sleep through most of the next 12 days.
blurred vision — at first I thought my eyeglass prescription needed to be updated.
dry mouth — This is not fun.
dizziness — Double my fun.
[One would think that with all those characteristics I am now fully qualified to work in the billing office at Smilebuilderz as most of my billing department colleagues exhibit these traits!!!!!] (Just kidding.)
That's enough to deal with for now; along with taking care of the Foley catheter and urine bags: Measuring, straining, cleaning, sanitizing.
So, unless I can get off these pills, I will not be able to perform my duties at work. Work has been an important part of my life since the cancer diagnosis. It give me a sense of purpose and well-being. This hanging around home blazed and blitzed is depressing.
In fact, I am falling asleep in front the computer RIGHT NOWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwwwww.
It's an absolutely gorgeous day here in PA. Temp 79°F and low humidity. Windows and doors are open and the air is clean. My enjoyment of the nice air is not impaired by the fact that I am half-wasted.
I'm going to lay down .... again. Later.....
I just got off the phone with a urology nurse AND the doctor that installed the ureter stent and Foley catheter. I called in to Hershey this morning about my ongoing severe pain and discomfort at the bladder since the procedure on Friday and they both said the same thing: Take the Vicadin and suck it up! Not what I wanted to hear. I am also taking Ditropan to relieve bladder spasms. Also antibiotic and FloMax. As you can surmise I have generated quite an array of pill bottles. I am somewhat anti-pill and this takes me out of my comfort zone. I took only straight acetaminophen before bed last night and woke up with pain of .... oh .... I'd say a "7" on the pain scale. Not pleasant, so the call to Hershey was made.
So... here are the trade-offs of Pills vs. Pain (no pills)
Vicadin: altered mental state — Whoopee! So now I'm half-stoned.
dizziness — I can't drive the car or operate machinery.
dry mouth — Yup, got that.
dizziness — Yah, that too.
Ditropan: drowsiness — Oh yeh! I might as well sleep through most of the next 12 days.
blurred vision — at first I thought my eyeglass prescription needed to be updated.
dry mouth — This is not fun.
dizziness — Double my fun.
[One would think that with all those characteristics I am now fully qualified to work in the billing office at Smilebuilderz as most of my billing department colleagues exhibit these traits!!!!!] (Just kidding.)
That's enough to deal with for now; along with taking care of the Foley catheter and urine bags: Measuring, straining, cleaning, sanitizing.
So, unless I can get off these pills, I will not be able to perform my duties at work. Work has been an important part of my life since the cancer diagnosis. It give me a sense of purpose and well-being. This hanging around home blazed and blitzed is depressing.
In fact, I am falling asleep in front the computer RIGHT NOWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwwwww.
It's an absolutely gorgeous day here in PA. Temp 79°F and low humidity. Windows and doors are open and the air is clean. My enjoyment of the nice air is not impaired by the fact that I am half-wasted.
I'm going to lay down .... again. Later.....
Sunday, August 19, 2012
A new, very real, side show
Hi everyone,
I'm finally back. It's been a great summer. After three 21-day cycles, I took my last chemo pill a week ago. But I did hit a bump in the road Thursday afternoon and night when a pain in my lower right quadrant steadily increased to an excruciating level requiring a trip to the emergency room in Hershey.
We arrived at the ER about 9 pm and I was miserable. On the famous pain scale of 1 to 10, I told therm "12". The ER was packed and they put Barb and me in an ER psych room which offered some peace compared to the hallways filled with ER patients and all the commotion that goes with that. A CTscan was taken and indicated a 5 mm kidney stone lodged about half way down my right side ureter (the tube connecting the kidney to the bladder). I was very happy to hear that. We know what the problem is. It isn't spreading cancer. It isn't appendicitis. There is peace in knowing what ails you no matter how much it hurts.
While I was in a narrow bed in the ER and caught occasional naps, Barb was not so fortunate as the chairs in the room are too high, hard and had useless contours. After a short sleep on a makeshift bed using two chairs, she drove home around 4:30 am. I was given heavy artillery pain killer and checked into a hospital room at 5 am Friday morning.
A urologist stopped by and said uric acid stones are common among cancer patients taking chemo and is quite certain that is what I have. Apparently the kidneys can not keep up with the onslaught of uric acid resulting from the death of so many fast-dividing cells the chemo kills. So the acid crystalizes and turn into "stones".
The stone plugged the ureter which then distended or ballooned when the pee couldn't get through the roadblock on its way to the bladder. That ballooning ureter was my source of pain. So I can add this to my list of chemo side shows.
They said the best way to get rid of the stone is to place a stent in the ureter and catheter into the bladder for a two weeks to allow the inflammation to subside and "clean up" any infection with antibiotics. They said it is too big to pass. They plan to remove the stone in two weeks Aug. 30-31.
I was dismissed at about 1 pm on Saturday after a short tutorial on bagging urine. I was still very uncomfortable but now it was the sensation of having to urinate real badly. I was told that would subside.
When I woke up this morning I was in worse pain than Saturday night. I noticed there was no urine going into the bag so it was obvious there was a urinary retention problem. I called the urologist on call at Penn State Hershey and he said come to the ER to have the catheter irrigated. So at noon today Barb chauffeured me to the ER again as I had buckled over in pain with bladder spasms much like the waves of pain that occur during child birth labor. This wasn't on my wish list either.
A nurse irrigated the catheter and some fairly large blood clots came out. They were blocking the opening into the catheter in the bladder. Whew .... relief. They sent me home w/an irrigation kit in case this happens again.
There is good news in this story. My oncologist, Dr. Nelson Yee, looked at the CT scan and called Barb Friday evening to report that the tumor on the pancreas has not changed since the last CTscan in April. That's fantastic. It's still localized. Barb and I are so glad, happy, ecstatic, overjoyed, about this. I wish to keep it that way, or of course wouldn't complain if it got smaller.
My next oncology appointment is Sept. 7.
This post is way to long and technical but I don't feel like editing it. I'm sure many of you blog followers will find this boring/too much information/too technical/repugnant. I will try to be more philosophic and share some of my deepest innermost feelings in future posts.
My parting wisdom: Be glad for effective pain killers and wonderful anesthetic drugs.
Thanks for your tireless thoughts and prayers for Barb's and my well-being. I believe I am proof they make a real difference ... a "real" I really like and can joyously deal with.
I'm finally back. It's been a great summer. After three 21-day cycles, I took my last chemo pill a week ago. But I did hit a bump in the road Thursday afternoon and night when a pain in my lower right quadrant steadily increased to an excruciating level requiring a trip to the emergency room in Hershey.
We arrived at the ER about 9 pm and I was miserable. On the famous pain scale of 1 to 10, I told therm "12". The ER was packed and they put Barb and me in an ER psych room which offered some peace compared to the hallways filled with ER patients and all the commotion that goes with that. A CTscan was taken and indicated a 5 mm kidney stone lodged about half way down my right side ureter (the tube connecting the kidney to the bladder). I was very happy to hear that. We know what the problem is. It isn't spreading cancer. It isn't appendicitis. There is peace in knowing what ails you no matter how much it hurts.
While I was in a narrow bed in the ER and caught occasional naps, Barb was not so fortunate as the chairs in the room are too high, hard and had useless contours. After a short sleep on a makeshift bed using two chairs, she drove home around 4:30 am. I was given heavy artillery pain killer and checked into a hospital room at 5 am Friday morning.
A urologist stopped by and said uric acid stones are common among cancer patients taking chemo and is quite certain that is what I have. Apparently the kidneys can not keep up with the onslaught of uric acid resulting from the death of so many fast-dividing cells the chemo kills. So the acid crystalizes and turn into "stones".
The stone plugged the ureter which then distended or ballooned when the pee couldn't get through the roadblock on its way to the bladder. That ballooning ureter was my source of pain. So I can add this to my list of chemo side shows.
They said the best way to get rid of the stone is to place a stent in the ureter and catheter into the bladder for a two weeks to allow the inflammation to subside and "clean up" any infection with antibiotics. They said it is too big to pass. They plan to remove the stone in two weeks Aug. 30-31.
I was dismissed at about 1 pm on Saturday after a short tutorial on bagging urine. I was still very uncomfortable but now it was the sensation of having to urinate real badly. I was told that would subside.
When I woke up this morning I was in worse pain than Saturday night. I noticed there was no urine going into the bag so it was obvious there was a urinary retention problem. I called the urologist on call at Penn State Hershey and he said come to the ER to have the catheter irrigated. So at noon today Barb chauffeured me to the ER again as I had buckled over in pain with bladder spasms much like the waves of pain that occur during child birth labor. This wasn't on my wish list either.
A nurse irrigated the catheter and some fairly large blood clots came out. They were blocking the opening into the catheter in the bladder. Whew .... relief. They sent me home w/an irrigation kit in case this happens again.
There is good news in this story. My oncologist, Dr. Nelson Yee, looked at the CT scan and called Barb Friday evening to report that the tumor on the pancreas has not changed since the last CTscan in April. That's fantastic. It's still localized. Barb and I are so glad, happy, ecstatic, overjoyed, about this. I wish to keep it that way, or of course wouldn't complain if it got smaller.
My next oncology appointment is Sept. 7.
This post is way to long and technical but I don't feel like editing it. I'm sure many of you blog followers will find this boring/too much information/too technical/repugnant. I will try to be more philosophic and share some of my deepest innermost feelings in future posts.
My parting wisdom: Be glad for effective pain killers and wonderful anesthetic drugs.
Thanks for your tireless thoughts and prayers for Barb's and my well-being. I believe I am proof they make a real difference ... a "real" I really like and can joyously deal with.
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