Not nearly as cute as the kids, sorry. I had an impacted wisdom tooth extracted this morning. For some heinous reason, the oral surgeon gave me codeine rather than one of the lovely -cet drugs (percocet, darvocet, you know, the Good Ones). I slept through that part, or I'd have asked him why. Anyway, I've fasted for testing four times in the last two weeks, have lost five pounds, and I am ravenous.
But now that I can eat, I can't keep anything down, not even the Phenergan. I swear, when this is all over, I am going to park my rear at Barnhills Fry-For-All Buffet and refuse to leave until they run out of food.
Had the follow-up for my C/T Scan on Thursday. In the sage words of the N-doc, "It is what it is."
Yep, it's a kidney stone. A huge, honkin', wedged-in-there-tightly stone. We discussed options: live with it, monitor it, and wait until it causes infections or blockages to do something *insert furrowed brow and tilted head, here*, OR (my favorite) see a Urologist about breaking it up to get it out.
Luckily, the Urologist (who we will call the U-doc) had an opening for 1:30 that same day. Yay. I met with him, and told him that while Joe is not a source of constant pain, I would rather evict him now than allow the little squatter to wreck my pad. So to speak. The actual wording was more along the lines of, "Are there any drawbacks to performing a lithotripsy at this stage?"
He said it's borderline for the lithotripsy to work (should have been referred to him sooner), and may actually take two procedures, but that would most definitely be his recommendation. As in, post-haste. As in, can you come to the surgery center Monday morning? We talked shop a bit. Made arrangements. Got a list of foods to avoid, and picked up the magnesium citrate for Sunday.
The irony of trying to remineralize my bone density after weaning, while fasting for tests, and avoiding all the foods that will remineralize bone density is not lost on me. It'll be funny later. Right now, not so much.
On the drive home, I was just so very thankful to be able to address this now, when *my* reason and logic have more bearing on my own medical decisions than those of a central board. An oversight committee would have looked at my doctor's report (nothing wrong here) and the radiologist's report (nothing wrong here) and determined that there was nothing wrong here and I was, quite simply, a troublemaker; appeal denied.
It's not fiscally plausible to cater to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who thinks the professionals are wrong. Two or three of those on file, and you're looking at a recommend for a psych eval. Dang. But that's where we'll be in a very short time, once we have Centralized Health Care put in place.
So, yeah, we're going to be in debt for another couple of years. But I'll be in debt with two good kidneys, at least. And a team of doctors who will listen to what I have to say and work with me, rather than focusing on how I saw the images, or where I got the idea that having something in my kidney is a bad thing.
I'm going to go see if I can slip another Phenergan down without my body noticing. And then, get some rest.
Kiss those babies!
~Dy
18 comments:
Hang in there!
When I had my wisdom teeth out, I drank LOTS of milkshakes. (We lived - literally- across the street from a McDonald's.) Marc would get one and add liquid vitamins so that I was getting *something* healthy from them.
I'm praying Monday will come quickly!
I am *so glad* that you are able to get this all addressed and taken care of! Hang in there... it can't go on like this forever!
And when I was in college, I got tonscillitis and strep at the same time. I couldn't swallow anything! I'm scrawny to start with, so I got scary-skinny. I lived on Slim-Fast shakes for several days. Not ideal, but got the job done. Would something like that help? Or smoothies? V-8 juice?
Oh, I would love to have milkshakes! Or smoothies!
Unfortunately, no dairy until we can analyze the stone to see what's causing it. No dairy, and no oxalates (which includes dark greens, tomatoes, and a whole host of other things we normally eat).
I got a bit of rest, though, and that seems to help. It's just a matter of bad timing for several things to happen at once, since recovery for each of them is contraindicated. BUT, on the bright side, I'll soon be parked at the buffet, finding my five pounds back. :-)
Oh man that really sucks. I hope your surgeries go well, you can start eating normally again and this nevver happens to you again. You're a brave woman for putting up with all this pain.
oh Dy, sending hugs and prayers that you will be feeling much better soon. I'm sorry that you have had to go through all of that. But very glad that your pain will soon be over and you will have a healthy kidney again.
Kathy
Hi Dy, I love reading your blog regularly. You are a great writer and keep us laughing. Prayers and Hugs for your surgery and recovery. Caroline
I fear centralized health care. I guess a lot of people will opt for black market medicine when that happens.
I'll be praying for your surgery and recovery!
Hi Dy,
I hope your lithotripsy goes well.
For the record, I live in Canada, with state funded health care & had lithotripsy a few weeks after delivering my first child.
I developed kidney stones during the preg. The lithotripsy obviously had to wait until the baby was born.
Our system treated me extremely well, complete with consults with some of the region's top obstetricians (from BC Women's Hospital, the nation's top obs hospital & a research & teaching facility) and urologists on what to do with the stones during the last trimester, while keeping me reasonably comfortable & the baby safe.
My treatments were all prompt and top notch. And of course free :-)
Just another perspective. I know state medical care is a hot button issue though LOL.
Oh & my tip for the actual lithotripsy, if you start feeling something, start moving. They'll up your meds if you start wiggling around :-)
Oh & btw, I've been kidney stone free since then with few major diet amendments, except cutting meat way down. I can have some meat now & then but too much animal protein will trigger probs. Some changes in my consumption of fluids, some herbs, and magnesium supplements have kept things healthy now for 14yrs.
Best wishes :-)
I am so glad you followed your instincts. I live in Boston, MA home of the BEST hospitals in the world and I can not imagine what you have gone through with these small town doctors.
God Speed,
Robyn
I do have some of the sweetest blog readers in the world. Thank you, guys.
Robyn, oddly enough, we're not seeing the small town docs. ;-) The only real idiots I've run into were the DO I've been seeing (who is a bonafide idiot) and the radiologist who read the original u/s (no clue what his problem is).
The N-Doc is amazing, and he did his studies through the Mayo Clinic, a place I would be willing to crawl to on my hands and knees to get treatment from. The U-doc seems just as on top of things as the N-doc. I feel confident in Monday's procedure, and in the care I'll receive.
Hornblower, I know Canadians love their health care. :-) However, even in Beloved Canada, I would not have had the options I have here. Doctors everywhere make mistakes. Your doctors caught your stones. My doctor did not. Nor did the first radiologist. My paper trail said, quite clearly, "There is nothing wrong with this woman!"
When a patient's record shows two independent physicians both saying there's nothing wrong, the possibility of getting a "third" doctor to look at something other than the paper trail is nil. Especially in State funded health care. At least here, for now, I have the right to take my films and go elsewhere. I have the right to negotiate the terms of our contract so that I will benefit from it.
And, as we know, nothing is actually free. You guys pay for it all year long, whether you use it or not. ;-)
I'd love to visit Canada some day - some of my favorite invisible people are up there. But I wouldn't want to live there. Nor do I want to emulate Canada's health care. (And it's okay - I know many Canadians feel the same way about the US. It's okay that we each love our native countries.)
Oh you poor thing! I'll be thinking of you Monday. Good luck!
I'm glad you are feeling better but I have to clear up a misconception you have about single-payer health care. If you are willing to pay you can always go to another doctor. There are private doctors in Europe and Canada that one can opt to go to outside of the national health care (Europe) or single payer (Canada) system. You could take your films and go elsewhere in Canada too, if you were paying out of pocket (which is sounds like you are doing here -- you went out of your insurance?)
It's fine if you prefer our patchwork insurance, and it's great you have the financial option to go out of your insurance network, but you don't have the facts right about single payer at all.
And we pay all year round too. Plus, you are VERY lucky if you can negotiate the terms of your insurance. We don't have that option at all through our employer-funded insurance. In Canada, you can pay extra for holistic coverage, acupuncture, etc., you don't only get limited options.
Glad your feeling better. Sorry they didn't give you the Percocet.
Anon,
I posted your note because I appreciate your tone, and do feel that you're opening a dialogue worth pursuing, but in the future, please know that I won't post a comment that doesn't include a name.
It's about midnight, and I've got to be up and out in a few hours, but I'd love to know more.
What I've heard from those I know living in Canada and Europe is that going outside the system is a) prohibitively expensive and b) even more frustrating than working within the system.
I know you have to get permission to use a midwife instead of an OB, and even then, your case is monitored and that "priviledge" can be yanked based not on what the midwife and client feel is best, but on a committee-based scale.
I know that the waiting list for many things gets so long that it isn't worth pursuing, even for life-saving procedures.
I know that a great many Canadians who need it done *now* cross the border into the US to get care.
I know that in the US, where the State has taken over providing health care, you get situations like the woman in Oregon who was told they won't cover her cancer therapy, but they will assist her with suicide.
You get Arizona's state-funded health care, which won't fill cavities. They just pull the teeth.
And, as the gov't and the insurance companies grow stronger and larger, choices will become fewer, more expensive, and more difficult to obtain.
As far as us, in the US, paying all year, too - we pay for coverage if we choose to have it. (We have, on more than one occasion, opted not to carry health insurance, b/c there were no policies available that met our needs.) We pay for care as we need it. (And yes, we do go outside the network - a bargain isn't a bargain if the product is lousy, kwim?) What we don't pay is extra taxation for care we may not need, nor for insurance we may not choose to have. Right now, 40% of Americans don't even pay Federal Income Tax. Canadians do have that extra tax burden, and that's where I pointed out that it's not "free". Nothing is free. It's a question of how it's paid for, by whom, and when. That's all I meant by that.
Anyhow, that's all I've got for now. But I am interested to hear more on this. Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Dy
"It's fine if you prefer our patchwork insurance, and it's great you have the financial option to go out of your insurance network, but you don't have the facts right about single payer at all."
OK, a bit more.
I sense a bit of snark with regard to our "financial option" in this bit. Am I misled? Because if that's the case, you don't know our history. We're in a good spot *now*, but we haven't always been. As a matter of fact, we've almost never been before. And yet, we've always put our health care on the priorities list. Sometimes you have to pay on it for a while, but it's not an "option". You do what you have to do to take care of business.
I don't prefer our "patchwork insurance". I don't think health insurance is a good deal for patients or practitioners at all.
The cost of practicing medicine has risen tremendously along with the rise in the prevalence of insurance coverage. The insurance companies are making a killing, and it's not by saving us money.
Health Insurance, as it exists in the US, began as a tax loophole. Now it's considered an inalienable right. That's quite a paradigm shift.
I'd be the first in line for a health insurance company that worked like an auto insurance company. You pay for your maintenance, tires, paint jobs, etc., and we've got your back if you wreck something. That'd be great. I don't know that it will happen, but yes, that's definitely something I'd sign up for.
Dy, I hope your procedure is going well today!
Midwifery is covered here in BC & I didn't need anyone's permission to use one or to have a home birth. That's the things that's sometimes confusing about Canada - health care is administered by the province's so coverage can vary a bit from region to region. Not sure about what you mean about the case being monitored - it isn't here. Midwives are licenced in BC and can attend home or hospital births. The only time it get sticky is if women are going over 42weeks or if there are big red flags during the preg. They are the primary care providers to mom (& infant for the first 6 weeks of life) unless the dyad is tipping into high risk territory. Of course high risk is up for discussion though I have to say that generally they're looking at evidence based practice so truly, it is based on the attempt to keep everyone as healthy as possible & to the extent possible, ensure good outcomes.
Just wanted to clarify that :-)
I'll be thinking of you today.
The health insurance question is an interesting one. We were just without employer coverage for awhile, so I got to see things from the other side of the fence (I've always just taken insurance for granted). Having done it both ways, I do think that if everyone (and that is a key, key word) had health insurance like car insurance, that would be a very good thing. The normal "maintenance" health care would go down in price because we would all shop around. The big stuff that no one can afford would be covered.
The problem is that I don't think it would work if some people were covered for maintenance care and some people weren't. It messes with the market pricing. For example, while we were without health insurance we were unable to get the vaccines we wanted for our kids, because the cost to take Josiah to the doctor for a check up and one shot was nearly $1000.
I am quite sure that if insurance didn't usually pick up that tab, the price wouldn't be that high. Parents wouldn't stand for it. :)
All that to say that I think you're right that health insurance would be great if it were like car insurance. I'm just not sure how we'd ever get to that sort of system from the system we have now. What do you think - could it ever happen?
Great blog all the best
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