Getting Younger

Just to recap, I have a blockage, probably a birth defect, in the tube that drains my kidney into the bladder. This kidney is doing 17% of the total job. They wanted to put a tube in to bypass the blockage and see if the kidney would take up a bit more of its fair share of the job - determining whether they should remove the blockage or remove the kidney. A simple, ten minute procedure it was meant to be.

On Friday, ten days ago, they tried, and failed, four times to place the tube. The blockage was too effective. I came home with the gift of peeing out blood and razor blades. I thought this was rather gruesome at the time, but it was nothing compared to what was to come. The next day I felt like my kidney was beginning to swell up. By the time it hurt so much that I couldn't stop the tears, the girls were in bed, and Naomi could take me to the hospital. 

They hoped that the blockage had just swollen up a bit from the poking and prodding, trapping some urine in the kidney, and that things would sort themselves out. They were wrong, once again. A rather massive infection had developed and they had no choice but to punch a tube through my side into the kidney, draining the fluid. No anesthetic. Unspeakable pain. 

A brackish mixture that looked like old coffee and sewage seeped out. A rather shocking amount. Since then it has clarified to strawberry lemonade and now, for the most part, things look as they should. The drainage tube will remain in place until they do another scan and schedule surgery. This will take at least a month. Health care is great here, unless you are in a hurry. 

I came home on Thursday, a bit earlier than expected. It is really good to be home. When I got here I felt like I was a 95 year old. Now I am down to, maybe, 80. Getting younger every day. Kind of depressing though because in the hospital my only job is to recover. Now that I am home there are a lot of things I want to do - I feel a lot of responsibility. 

Claire has been a huge help, especially for Naomi, but she is heading back to Switzerland today. Not sure how thing will work out once she is gone, but I am at least getting closer to being self-sufficient for the most part.