Category: Health

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Are you ready for Christmas?

Day 5 of the Blog-a-Thon
Day 3 of #getitout

Are you ready for Christmas?

7 Days until Christmas and 12 days until my surgery. Everyone keeps asking “Are you ready for Christmas? Do you have all your shopping done?” I wonder how we got here? Where Christmas turned into a mad frenzy of go here, go there, buy, buy, buy.

Doing it a little different

This year we’re having a relaxed Christmas. We are not having the big traditional spread. Big traditional spread means we work harder and longer to prepare enough food to feed our extended family and 3 more of equal size. We then eat leftovers until we can’t stand it. Why? Seems really wasteful, not just of money and food, but of time with the family that we’ve traveled to see.

We’re taking our kitchen time and trading it in for some floor time with the kids, maybe a nap or a walk in the snow together. Seems to me like a no brainer. (If you don’t really like your family anyway, this plan won’t work for you.)

So yeah, I’m ready for Christmas.  Ready for eggnog and playing with new toys that are the best ever, at least until next week. Ready to relax and enjoy my family.

Now, am I ready for day 12? NO. But with 12 days to get things together, I will be.

 I have a plan

 Day 1: Kitchen cabinets -seems like a silly place to start, but I’m use to my kitchen, I’m comfortable with it. But today, Day 1 is cleaning (sorting and organizing more than cleaning) the kitchen. Of all the things I don’t let go of freely, control of my kitchen is high on the list.

But when you’re physically not able to do things for yourself, you have no other choice but to let go.

I was surprised the first time I had this surgery.  I was certain I’d just have a day or two in bed and be able to enjoy the rest. I had a much longer recovery time and I wasn’t ready for letting others help me as much as I needed.

Organizing my cabinets lets me surrender control easier. After a conversation with Jennifer Hollander, an organizing professional, I felt much better about tackling the days ahead.  She said that people don’t know how or where to start and then get overwhelmed and quit before they begin. She told me to take it in little chunks.

Chunk one – the kitchen.

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The Current Situation

Day 4 of the Blog-a-Thon

Day 2 of #getitout

The Current Situation:

So here I am again, one side filled with stones. We knew they wouldn’t stay clean, but I was really hoping for a longer time in between.

I‘ve been passing stones again, and it’s sucking the life out of me. Remember the “I can’t do that” declaration? I can’t / won’t just take pain meds and be zoned out.  After evaluation, the doctor and I have decided that a repeat of the previous procedure is necessary.medication

I will be undergoing this procedure on Dec 30. I’m sharing this not for sympathy, but for growth. Talking about pain is not easy for me. I am one of the best at faking not being in pain, but this is the true reason I am doing the blog-a-thon.

I will be chronicling my journey to prepare for and undergo this event.  I have several friends who, like me, don’t discuss their health. It’s almost taboo. I also have friends that turned to social media in times of pain and distress. I am attempting to explore the latter.

Please connect

So do you get kidney stones? Are you a doctor or nurse or somehow in the medical field? Have you used social media to find support? I want to talk to you. Tweet me, Facebook me, or just comment here.  (If sending an e-mail or fb request please tell me who you are.)

Don’t forget to follow the other bloggers in the blog-a-thon, and let me know if you want to join us, I will add you to the list!

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The History:

Day 3 of the Blog-a-Thon

Day 1 of #getitout

The History:

Kidney stones. Ever had one? If you have you would not wish them on your WORST enemy. I get them. Plural. I get them a lot! You see I have Medullary sponge kidney disease.

Meaning? Means my kidneys are stone formers. When this really hit me, it was sudden. I thought I was dying for sure. That first one passed ok. (<– That is relative. It still hurt like hell.)  They got bigger and more frequent. The doctor told me my scans looked like I had been hit with buckshot in both kidneys.

Standard Treatment

I was offered medication to comfort me. (Knock me out and keep me from losing my lunch.)

In tears I followed my doctor out of the room and begged him to fix me.

I can’t do that

At the time I was passing 3-6 stones a month. They took anywhere from 2 days to a week to move through and get out. He contacted come colleagues in other cities and offered me a solution that involved open kidney surgery and the equivalent of a medial dust buster. They were just going to suck them out. This option was not a good one and he knew it. It was really risky and he knew with my condition that I would be right back to full kidneys within 2-5 years.

He cared enough to find a solution

After talking to more colleagues, he came back with a different idea and one that could be done right here in Evansville. I would not have to travel to a larger city.  They proposed a ureteroscopy with lazer lithotripsy to be done. This is a “standard treatment” for stones, but only when they are in the ureter. They proposed that they extend the ureteroscope up into the kidneys. They would then go up into each of the 5 or so pockets in the kidneys and blast the stones away.

The happy ending…

I underwent this procedure with great success. I was mostly stone free and after a longer than I expected recovery, I felt like a 100% new person. Amazing how good you feel when your kidneys have room to actually work!  <– That was a little over 2 years ago…

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Let’s get REAL

No seriously. I am a real person on twitter. I love to have conversations on facebook. I talk about a variety of things in my life, not just about my business.  But I have a few “off the wall” subjects.  These are things I hold to as private and I just don’t feel the need to share.

One of these topics is health. I don’t with the exception of my toe, which was not thought out, tweet or post about my health. I might mention a cough or a headache, but not much else.

So here goes. I am getting real. Real personal for me. I am going to take the next 30-45days to do a few different things.

I am going to blog daily. This is a technique I have seen others use or suggest to help build the blogging habit and to help overcome the fear of content creation. *I encourage you to join me in this 30 day blogathon. You can blog about whatever you want! I am going to need the reading material! J

I am going to blog and tweet about a health matter from the point of the patient.  So Medical fields are more and more jumping into the world of Twitter, Facebook, and youtube to get better connected with their patients.  But here is the thing; patients have been here for a long time. They find each other and use Social Media as a world wide support system.  For the next 30-45 days I am going to actively seek and have conversations with other people that are going through the same or similar situations, as well as doctors in general and doctors in the field, nurses and researchers.

I am going to try to keep a good attitude. <– That is not a promise, just a goal. This is going to be a tough journey for me physically. But mentally to open up and share what I am going through is going to be just as tough. My friend Stacey Shanks who teaches Yoga is always encouraging me to stretch. I in turn am making her stretch mentally.  So now it is time for me to do as I say and hit the downward dog with my brain.  Because she is doing the Blog-a-thon with me , it will be easier to keep the attitude in check. 

I am going to encourage others. I am going to challenge others to do this blog-a-day with me to be a better writer. I’m going to post tips, tricks, recommend books and tweeple to help us all get through this process.

Please comment on this and let me know if you want to join me (include your twitter handle and a url to your blog.)  I will update this post with the people who are on this journey with me.

Name                                                            Blog

Stacey Shanks                                  www.YogaAndLife.com

 BgKahuna                                          www.bgkahuna.com

 Zachary Long                                   www.fenglongphoto.com/blog

Shanna Hall                                        www.healthyfitandsexy.com

Bonnie Schnautz                               www.brenewed.com

 Paula Diaco                                       www.signaramavt.com

Jennifer Tallini                                www.yogawithstyle.com/blog/