Back in hospital... Again

Well, here I am back at the regional hospital. I came back last evening not being able to pass urine properly again. Actually let's go back one day. On Friday I had a 450ml fluid sack drained. This fluid sack was pushing my bladder to the left and obstructing the ureter even with a stent in place. After this was drained I was urinating like a champ again. Then yesterday afternoon I started having the same problem again.

I went back to the ER and explained the issue. It was decided to have a CT scan done to take a look at whats going on. The fluid had reaccumalated over the time that it was drained and yesterday. On the CT scan it was pushing on my bladder and making it look like a banana.



Owen

I spent the last week in Hospital, and then back today...

Last Sunday evening I ended up at the ER because I hadn't urinated all day, and something just felt wrong, I'm not going to go into details because I'm certain I have already written on this, but the problem was that my ureter from my kidney to my bladder (which is generally where the ureter is unless there are some serious problems) had collapsed and urine was backing up into the kidney. My creatinine had sky rocketed, so I was fitted with a nephrostomy tube and bag to drain the urine from the kidney, and later a new stent was installed.

Fast forward to after the stent was put back in and the drain bag clamped off. I was now able to urinate on my own, but there was an issue, it was hurting to do so, at first it wasn't all that bad and I let my doctors know, I guess this would have been Friday, 5 days after being admitted to hospital. I was started on an antibiotic called ciprofloxacin on the Saturday with two doses per day, things seemed to be improving. Monday though I was told what I had would not be resolved with the cipro and I was taken off it. That was yesterday.

This morning when I woke up I was in a tremendous amount of pain in my urethra area, and was almost keeled over, it was very, very bad. I had blood work this morning so while there I went to the transplant clinic. I arrived at the hospital at about 8am, and I was there until about 3pm. It made for a very long day. Why was I there so long? I ended up need an ultrasound. During the stent insertion a sack of fluid was found to be in the general area of the kidney pushing up against my bladder and moving it to the left. It is thought that this may have been what caused the ureter to close up after the stent was removed, the ureter was squished/stretched against the bladder.

Most times these sacks of fluid will just be absorbed back into the body, if it doesn't it will need to be drained.

Owen

Tentatively scheduled for stent de-removal tomorrow

I'm currently tentatively scheduled for stent de-removal tomorrow sometime, no time was given and I haven't seen the urologist today yet to confirm or ask any questions I may have. Such as will this stent be a perminant stent this time? If it's only a temp what are the chances of this happening again? How soon can I leave after having the stent put in? Will I need a catheter right after to make sure urine isn't still backing up into the kidney? Things like that. I guess if worse comes to worse I will be able to ask these things right before the procedure. I'm not sure if I will be under general anesthesia or local, my bet is on local since they mentioned it being done in X-ray interventional.

The other option besides a new stent would have to be done in Halifax from what I understand, and that would involve surgically increasing the size of the ureter.

I'm not sure which I would prefer.

Owen

I have a new hole!

I now have a tube going to a drainage bag to my kidney to drain any produced urine. The good news is that I still seem to be creating all kinds of urine. So it doesn't appear as if the kidney has been damaged all that much in the last 24 hours. I will be in hospital for a few days while my creatinine goes down, it's already gone down about 100 points from a peak of over 550 this morning.

The current plan is the urologist doesn't think he will be able to get a new stent in via the bladder, that their best bet is to enter the new hole they made to drain the kidney and enter the ureter from the top to open it back up and insert a new stent. There have been rumblings that they may send me back to halifax to have this done since the surgeons there are more familiar with the inside workings of the kidney and ureter.

Right now, just like most other things when in hospital it is a wait and see. The good news though is that it's really a mechanical problem that can be fixed mechanically and not infection or rejection of the kidney.

Owen

And so it begins

Well, it finally happened, after just over 4 weeks of fantastic results I'm having my first issue. This issue isn't specifically with the kidney however, the problems seems to be an obstruction in the ureter going from the kidney to my bladder and any urine the kidney makes is just stuck at the kidney. This is not good, I haven't urinated since about 10am this morning, and I'm shaking, my creatinine has sky rocketed to 450 when just this Friday it was 121.

I've been in the emergency department since about 7pm, I waited in the waiting room for about an hour, as of writing this (but not posting since the Internet is blocked in the ER) it is 2pm, so I've been here for 7 hours. In those 7 hours I've had multiple ultrasounds and not one, but two catheters.

The plan I have been told is that I'm going to be admitted, and then in the morning I will be sent down to x-ray interventional to have a drain bag attached directly to my kidney to remove the fluid that has built up.

The next step after that is to figure what is causing the blockage, my guess is that I will need a new stent put in. None of the above sounds like it will be fun, but it's what I have in store in the next day or so.

Owen

PS: The student doctors name is Thor.

Stent removal - Verdict: Not so terrible

Today at 3pm I had my stent removed. Since I found out that I was going to need to have this removed I have been searching the net for what to expect. I have read horror stories of it being very painful to others saying that it really wasn't all that bad.

I have to say other than some discomfort and tense nerves it really wasn't all that bad. Just like every other removal (I though the central line was the last) I built it up to be more than it actually was. At the moment it is hurting to urinate a little, but that is to be expected. After the procedure was completed I walked out right away, go dressed and I was on my way. The whole procedure didn't take more than 10 minutes at the most.

Owen

Stent removal tomorrow...

During a transplant the doctors at the Victoria General always insert what is called a stent in the ureter between the transplanted kidney and the bladder. Tomorrow I will be having that removed at 1pm. It's apparently a simple procedure, the don't make any new holes or anything to remove it, they use a hole I already have.

What they do is insert a camera and grasper into my bladder via the urethra. Picture below is a picture of director of fine movies Christopher Nolan using the same camera they use to shoot The Dark Knight Rises.

Of course the screen isn't attached, that would just be silly, its left outside so that the doctor can see what is going on inside me. Well they insert the camera along with a grasper (this is pictured below) through my urethra and then simply pull the Stent. I won't be put to sleep for this, but I do get some numbing cream from what I have read, maybe an IV with pain killers

Well that is my day for tomorrow, I can't say that I'm really looking forward to it. Yay me!

Owen

PS: Tomorrow marks 4 weeks post transplant, last creatinine level was 123!