I Know - Where Have I Been?

Well...

I was feeling really sick a few months back. That, combined with continued stress (husband not finding a job, company that I work for bought out by another company), gave me what I thought was a bad back.

In February, I received some pills for my bad lower back. I thought that would take care of the problem.

Nope.

The pain came back again in June, and I knew something wasn't right. So I went off to the doctor's office. I was again prescribed some pills for the pain, but this time, the doctor thought it would be a good idea to have some blood work done, as I hadn't had a physical done in quite some time.

The urine test came back - blood in the urine.

Not gushing, mind you. But just enough to have the doctor's office calling and leaving me messages.

To make a long story a bit shorter ;-), I went to a urologist, who told me my kidneys weren't in good shape. Especially the left one. Now, I've known for 7 years that my left kidney was smaller than my right. Didn't think anything of it, except that it was strange (threw me for a loop). Since the doctor didn't say anything about it, I didn't think there was a problem.

Meh.

Anyway, I've already been through 2 minimally-invasive surgeries as I write this. The first one was to insert 2 small stents (which circumvent logjams in your arteries or wherever) on the ureters (which are the tubes that lead from the kidneys to the bladder).

As he figured would happen, the right kidney's flow through the ureter improved a bit; the left one did not. In fact, the left kidney is only functioning at 11%; it also is so crappy that keeps introducing infections into my body, which might explain why I've had so much pain in my abdomen over the years).

Anyhoo, the bottom line is, once he sees the larger stent that's now on my right ureter working fabulously well (being positive is the only way to be!), he'll then take out the left kidney.

Yup.

I'll be a 1 kidney person, probably by the end of this year.

To which I say - fine. If the left kidney is barely functioning, and it's operating like an infection machine, it's not doing a friggin' good thing. Obviously, though, the doc wants to make sure my right kidney is working at 110%, since it'll be the only one left.

So that's where I've been, you stalwarts who've insisted on keeping track of this blog. (And more power to you, because it's been...what...3 or 4 months since I last posted?) I'm also going to be working on getting my high blood pressure under control, which I desperately need to do. (I'm not going to even tell you the numbers at the last same-day surgery; just know that they were too high; something I've never had to deal with in the past, although there's plenty of hypertension on both sides of my family.)

Hopefully, I'll post a little more regularly, like 2-3 times per month. It's all going to depend on how I feel, when hubby gets a job, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Only positivity here, though! Prayers, good thoughts, crossed fingers and toes are the only things allowed, lol.

I've felt like the female Job the past few months: If it's not one downer thing, it's another, lol. But, as you can tell, I'm very optimistic about life and stuff.

Why?

Because. It's as good a reason as anything else.

Much love,

Nancy