Finding My Way

Well, after another three days of H-E-double hockey sticks, I went to the Urgent Care today. I made an appointment and arranged a ride. I figured it would be a long visit, and it was.

About 3 hours, total.

That included getting a CT-Scan next door in the imaging lab. Found a small stone on the image, and was prescribed antibiotics. The doctor wanted to give me something called “Flowmax” but it kept flagging because of my allergy to sulfa drugs. So far, so good, I guess.

I picked up the antibiotics on the way home. I drank 86 ounces of water today so far. Right now, I’m enjoying some concentrated cherry juice in Pellegrino over ice. The cherry juice, while high in sugar, also fights inflammation. I need that right now.

The doctor wants me to see a Urologist.

I think that’s probably a good idea, myself. In fact, I’m wondering why it’s been since 2011 that I’ve seen one. At that time, I was told that I tend to dehydrate in this climate (E Tennessee) with the heat and humidity. I think it’s the humidity but I’m perspiring as well, so I dehydrate. I’ve been attentive to how much water I drink since then, and can pretty much pinpoint when I’ve skimped on the water and gotten another infection.

But these stones are another thing.

I wonder if I’ve had them for years and didn’t know about it.

I’ve had backaches since I moved here (Tennessee) and attributed them to scar tissue from extensive back surgery in 1999. Apparently, that isn’t the cause. And possibly never was the cause.

Doctors like to think they are very learned. They don’t like patients telling them what’s wrong with them (the patient). The doctor wants to make your diagnosis. If you as a patient ask for a particular medication, you are medicine-seeking and not to be trusted or taken care of. The doctor might actually fire the patient if possible.

I’ve gone so far as to print out information from websites and ask for specific tests to get to a diagnosis that I knew in my heart was correct, but I generally don’t tell my doctor the name of the dis-ease or condition.

It took over 12 years to get to “Fibromyalgia,” and seven or more years to get to “Insulin Resistant.” There was a blood test for the latter. The former was much harder to diagnose and have the doctor put it in my chart. She wanted to say I had “chronic fatigue” which is another symptom of Fibro. But the final test on “trigger points” made the diagnosis clear.

I’m still working on a thyroid diagnosis. 

But this kidney thing came out of left-field.

A while ago, an article came across my desk about “foamy urine” or “bubbly urine” and it caught my eye because I often have that. I read it and about advancing kidney disease.  The author also discussed dialysis and the course of kidney disease in the article, which sounded pretty nasty.

The author recommended a cleansing protocol and I followed it. My urine stopped foaming. I figured things were OK.

After I was told I had kidney stones – maybe 2.5 weeks ago – I wondered if that protocol caused something to dislodge. But now, thinking back, I wonder if I’ve had them a lot longer than that.

I had other symptoms, which I haven’t mentioned, but I read a fellow’s post about his experience on Saturday night and it was so like my own, I knew for sure that was what was happening. I wasn’t thinking, so I didn’t keep the URL for his post. I would link to it, if I had. If I run across it again, I’ll edit this post to include a link.

Other reading I did included finding out that there are 4 kinds of stones: Calcium stones are the most common; then there are uric acid and cystine stones, which are both fairly rare; and finally, there are struvite stones, which come from repeated infections.

Each type of stone needs to be treated differently. I’m afraid that I have the struvite type.

My new urologist will be assigned soon. I spoke to a friend earlier and she told me who she sees, and maybe I’ll be assigned to him, too. We’ll see.

More will be revealed, I guess.

Meanwhile, flush with water, take my antibiotic, and keep my nether-regions clean.

See ya on the flipside!