Finally, the day arrived when I met with my urologist. It was a Friday. I liked the fact that he was less than 5 minutes from my house. However, I didn't like the hour long wait just to see a nurse whose name happened to be Ms. I Hate My Job So I'm Going To Take It Out On Sick People. I waited another 10 minutes in a tiny cold room. Doctor arrived. A man of very few words and when he did speak, I couldn't understand him very well. His accent was so thick that I had to say Excuse me? or I'm sorry? or What did you say? quite a lot. I even looked to the nurse for an interpretation. Not a good sign.
He whipped out the stethoscope for a few seconds. Mumbled something about my CT scan and left. He came back to say my kidney stone was too big to pass. Anything over 3mm would be difficult to pass. The average was 5mm. Mine was 7.6mm. Yeah! I had to come back on Monday with an x-ray. Our visit lasted no more than 5 minutes.
The next Monday, I went to the Diagnostics Center to get an x-ray and then to the doctor's office. After waiting an hour and a half, I had the pleasure of meeting the oh so friendly nurse and then the doctor I can hardly understand. He viewed my x-ray and seemed confused. Apparently, he couldn't read it very well. He left to make a phone call into radiology to discuss the matter. He mentioned Lithotripsy for Wednesday. What? Did I know what was going on? Barely. He didn't speak much and never answered my questions.
Lithotripsy he said as he returned into the room. He handed me a pamphlet. But it may not happen because of what I think I see in the x-ray. What do you see? I'll call you he said. The visit lasted no more than 7 minutes and I was just as confused and in just as much pain.
I quickly gathered and fed the kids lunch while searching for someone to watch my kids. Time was ticking by quickly and I had to be at the hospital soon. I brought the kids to the urologist to get my paperwork and then dropped them off at a friend's house. I got every red light in town and had the pleasure of watching construction. I finally made it, although 7 minutes late, and hoping they still took me. My paperwork stated to be on time or else they would cancel the procedure. I was cleared and while I waited, I decided to look at my paperwork..the paperwork I received last minute for a last minute procedure. Of course I come across two pages of all the food/medications I can not ingest within 72 hours of the procedure. Riiiiiight! My urologist...he's awesome.
For the next two hours, I was interviewed, examined, stuck with needles, x-rayed and prepped for the procedure the next afternoon. No...the nurse tells me it's in the morning, not the afternoon like my doctor had informed me. Didn't I tell you my doctor is awesome? So now I panic again because I had arranged afternoon child care, not morning, and A was supposed to be with me at the hospital. Now he has to rearrange his schedule again. But it turned out fine. It was just another example of how I was not informed...and this was the actual time of the procedure!
I told the nurse of my last minute paperwork and how I was unaware of what I couldn't ingest. She wanted exact times of when I last had anything on the list. I had a few things and it was difficult to pinpoint times. But it boiled down to a questionable few hours so we were going ahead with the procedure. She then talked me through the procedure, from the moment I arrive to the recovery process at home.
I was nervous.
Coming up...the hospital procedure performed by non other than Dr. I Gave You The Wrong Time For Your Procedure.
He whipped out the stethoscope for a few seconds. Mumbled something about my CT scan and left. He came back to say my kidney stone was too big to pass. Anything over 3mm would be difficult to pass. The average was 5mm. Mine was 7.6mm. Yeah! I had to come back on Monday with an x-ray. Our visit lasted no more than 5 minutes.
The next Monday, I went to the Diagnostics Center to get an x-ray and then to the doctor's office. After waiting an hour and a half, I had the pleasure of meeting the oh so friendly nurse and then the doctor I can hardly understand. He viewed my x-ray and seemed confused. Apparently, he couldn't read it very well. He left to make a phone call into radiology to discuss the matter. He mentioned Lithotripsy for Wednesday. What? Did I know what was going on? Barely. He didn't speak much and never answered my questions.
Lithotripsy he said as he returned into the room. He handed me a pamphlet. But it may not happen because of what I think I see in the x-ray. What do you see? I'll call you he said. The visit lasted no more than 7 minutes and I was just as confused and in just as much pain.
Tuesday. The urology receptionist called at 11:30 am and told me I had to pick up my paperwork at the office before I go to my appointment at the hospital. WHAT?! Apparently, I had to go in for pre-op at the hospital that afternoon at 1:30pm. They were prepping me for my scheduled Lithotripsy procedure on Wednesday afternoon....as in tomorrow. I was so happy to be the last one to know what was going on...at the last minute.
I quickly gathered and fed the kids lunch while searching for someone to watch my kids. Time was ticking by quickly and I had to be at the hospital soon. I brought the kids to the urologist to get my paperwork and then dropped them off at a friend's house. I got every red light in town and had the pleasure of watching construction. I finally made it, although 7 minutes late, and hoping they still took me. My paperwork stated to be on time or else they would cancel the procedure. I was cleared and while I waited, I decided to look at my paperwork..the paperwork I received last minute for a last minute procedure. Of course I come across two pages of all the food/medications I can not ingest within 72 hours of the procedure. Riiiiiight! My urologist...he's awesome.
For the next two hours, I was interviewed, examined, stuck with needles, x-rayed and prepped for the procedure the next afternoon. No...the nurse tells me it's in the morning, not the afternoon like my doctor had informed me. Didn't I tell you my doctor is awesome? So now I panic again because I had arranged afternoon child care, not morning, and A was supposed to be with me at the hospital. Now he has to rearrange his schedule again. But it turned out fine. It was just another example of how I was not informed...and this was the actual time of the procedure!
I told the nurse of my last minute paperwork and how I was unaware of what I couldn't ingest. She wanted exact times of when I last had anything on the list. I had a few things and it was difficult to pinpoint times. But it boiled down to a questionable few hours so we were going ahead with the procedure. She then talked me through the procedure, from the moment I arrive to the recovery process at home.
I was nervous.
Coming up...the hospital procedure performed by non other than Dr. I Gave You The Wrong Time For Your Procedure.
1 comment:
I am so sorry, what a mess. I hope all went well. Can't wait to hear about the procedure.
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