So, as some found out in chat, I've had a decidedly busy couple of weeks on the medical front. On Friday the 23rd of Jan, I went to the hospital for a nephrostomy - installation of a neph tube and dye tests/scans and was supposed to be done in a couple of hours and go home with a neph bag while they figured out what to do next.
Well, they went to insert the neph tube and found a kidnet infection so there was no going home, at first they thought 2-3 days in the hosp but once the cultured the infection they discovered that the only antibiotics that would work were IV only so I had to stay for a full week. While I was there they triied to do the neph scan of the ureter again but saw blockage. A couple of days later, they tried to stent the ureter but were not able to get through the blockage. Meanwhile the discharge from the neph tube turned to a normal color (no more pus) although volume wise it is not producing anywhere near the amount that the other kidney is (based on the volume of urine that I produce).
Finally, I was discharged on the 30th (Fri) and my doc wants to try again on the stent in a couple of weeks after the "dust settles" and hopefully the kidney starts producing more urine.
For me, the neph tube process caused me a LOT of pain but according to the radiologist who did it, that was probably because my kidney was a bit higher in my body than most people and he had to do a lot of manuevering and pushing against the ribs to get to my kidney. Either it was just that or that plus pain from the infection but I had some pretty bad chest/rib pain for most of the week.
So, now we'll have to wait and see what happens in the next few weeks.
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