Logan - Kidney Stone Surgery - October 17, 2012

Logan, prepped and ready to head off to surgery.

Well, as an update to a few posts ago when I told you all about Logan having a kidney stone and spending the night in the Spencer Hospital....he got to have another hospital stay, this time in Sioux Falls, along with a surgery.  I'll back-track a bit...

A few weeks ago, Logan spent the night at the Spencer Hospital because they found out the severe pain he was having in his stomach and back was a kidney stone.  After a night in the hospital and getting his pain under control (or at least what we thought was under control), they sent him home, and we tried to go about our normal lives while HOPING Logan would be able to pass that kidney stone on his own.  Days and days went by of straining his urine to check for the stone, but...no stone.  He was able to go to school most of those days, but did have some periods of pain that seemed to be more of a nuisance than anything.  As the week went on, the pain seemed to get worse, causing him to double over and vomit.  Finally, Jeff and I had had enough of seeing our child in pain, so we were advised to head to Sioux Falls where there would be a pediatric urologist...someone with more expertise on kidney stones in children, which the doctors around here flat out admitted they've not dealt much (hardly any) with.

The whole process of getting to see the pediatric urologist in Sioux Falls was a joke and QUITE FRUSTRATING!  We had to go to the emergency room at Sanford Hospital, and basically start at square one with what Spencer Hospital had already figured out.  We spent the ENTIRE day in the ER before we finally saw the urologist.  He then decided to admit Logan to the Children's Hospital (called "The Castle") and planned to do surgery the following day.  Our stay at the Children's Hospital was not "fun," but was definitely second to none as far as hospital stays go!  It is called a Children's Hospital for a reason!  It was definitely a place to make children feel comfortable in a somewhat scary situation.

The following morning, they came to get Logan for surgery at 5:45 AM.  Surgery started at 7:00, and we got to go back to the recovery room and see him about 10:30.  The doctor showed us some pictures of Logan's urinary tract that he had taken during the surgery, and the pictures proved to us that the stone was never going to come out on it's own, so we made the right decision by choosing surgery for him.  The stone itself looked quite small.  It actually broke up into 4 pieces as the doctor tried to get it, but even if you put the pieces together, it seemed so small, proving just how small one's urinary tract is and why kidney stones hurt so darn much!

While recovery from kidney stone surgery has not been easy for Logan, we at least know there is an end in sight!  After the surgery, they placed a stint in Logan's urinary tract to keep it from scarring shut after the instruments the doctor had to shove up it to get the stone stretched it out.  Logan's pain isn't too terrible, except when peeing, and peeing causes grunting, groaning, whimpering, crying, and sometimes, even screaming.  If you had a 12-14 inch tube in your urinary tract, you would probably want to scream when peeing, too!  I've had the same thing when I had kidney stone surgery and know how much it hurt me, and I imagine it is MUCH worse for a boy...ugh!

Anyhow, that stint can come out for Logan on Sunday night.  I was shocked and surprised that the urologist thinks that is a job for parents to do, but apparently it is.  Jeff will never be able to handle pulling that stint out, so it seems I have been voted to do it.  I dread having to do it, but I also know how much BETTER Logan will feel once that thing is OUT!

We go back to Sioux Falls November 26th to follow up with the urologist, and at that visit, Logan will also see the nephrologist (kidney doctor) to see why he has such high calcium levels in his body (which is what causes stones) and next steps as far as preventing this from happening to Logan again.

Logan can be quite a handful at home sometimes (although he is pure angelic at school), but I want my normal Logan back!  The poor kid has had so many health problems, and I feel so bad for the little fart.  He now has a cardiologist (heart doctor - he has a hole in his heart - not anything major), and endocrinologist (gland doctor - he has hypothyroidism), a urologist, and he is about to have a nephrologist and a neurologist.  The "neurologist" part is really a whole other story for another time, but in short, the meds he was taking to prevent his horrible migraines (which was working quite well) may have contributed to the kidney stone, so now we have to see a neurologist to figure out what to do about his migraines.  It just seems to be one thing after another for this kid!  At least his medical issues are not life-threatening, so we'll take all of these issues over any severe ones, but still...poor kid!

Logan in his room at "The Castle" the night before surgery.

Dismissed to go home!  Leaving "The Castle!"

Boys' Fall Pictures 2012

Every fall and spring, I try to take the boys out and take some semi-professional-looking pictures of them for our living room wall.  Here is what I came up with this year.  I have not edited them yet, so these are the rough drafts.

We also had our family pictures professionally taken a few weeks ago, so hopefully I will have those to share with you all soon!

Landon's 6th Birthday!!

With all the hoopla surrounding Logan and his kidney stone, I have yet to post pictures from Landon's 6th birthday party!  We actually celebrated his birthday twice.  We celebrated on his actual birthday, October 3rd, with just our little family of four, and then we celebrated on the Saturday after his birthday with the rest of our local family!  He REALLY wanted to have a "friend" birthday party this year and invite all of his pals to a party, but since we didn't let Logan do that until 1st grade, we decided we'd better be fair and hold Landon off on that for another year.  Anyhow, while Landon did not get the remote-controlled helicopter he had been wishing for (he will now be asking Santa for that), he did get the cool roller skates he's been wanting!  Also, since Landon chose Legos as his birthday party decoration/cake theme, he got LOTS of new Legos for his birthday, and he and Logan have been busy building with the new Legos everyday!  That is actually one activity that they both LOVE to do, and they will sit for hours and build with Legos and not fight the whole time!  It's win-win for all involved!  :)  Aside from some of those gifts, Landon also was blessed with new football shoulder pads, a neat Hawkeye light up stop light for his Hawkeye bedroom, a new toy motorcycle, some new movies, an Angry Bird sling shot, a night light pillow pet, a Hawkeye pillow pet, and some money to add to his bank account (and I probably forgot a few items)!  What a spoiled little guy!  We are so proud of Landon and what a sweet, smart little boy he has become.  He has his naughty moments, like all kids should, but he is a great kid!  I wish him a wonderful 6th year of life!  We love you to the moon and back, Lanny!

  

Logan's 1st Hospital Stay

Poor Logan has just recently experienced his first stay in the hospital because of his first (and hopefully ONLY) kidney stone.  :(  It broke my heart to see him in so much pain, as I, too, have experienced more kidney stones than I can keep track of, and those suckers HURT!

It started on Thursday morning around 5:30.  He got up to go to the bathroom and cried out for me to come help him.  He said his stomach and back hurt worse than they ever have before, and he started vomiting.  After that, he couldn't lay, sit, or stand.  EVERYTHING was horribly uncomfortable to him.  I said to Jeff, "This looks like how I feel when I get a kidney stone!"  By 6:00, Jeff rushed him off to the emergency room while I got Landon ready for school.  I was then able to join Logan at the ER.  At first the doctors and nurses were playing it off like he had a bad stomach bug, but my "mother" heart knew we were dealing with more than a stomach bug.  Finally, once we were able to get a urine sample from him, they found lots of blood in his urine and decided they had better check for a kidney stone, although the ER doctor assured me kidney stones don't happen in children Logan's age.  Sure enough, the CT scan showed a kidney stone.  My heart broke for Logan.  They think a combination of his family history of kidney stones, and a medication he was on to control his migraine headaches were the culprits.  So now Logan is not taking his medicine that was helping to prevent migraines, and that in itself is going to be a separate journey that we will need to deal with.

Anyhow, they decided to admit him to the hospital because his pain was so severe and he needed IV medications to control it.  He was also dehydrated, so he needed IV fluids, as well.  We spent Thursday night in the hospital, with no luck passing the kidney stone.  By Friday, his pain was under good control.  The urologist decided that if his pain could be controlled by oral pain killers, he could go home and try to pass the stone at home.  Luckily, oral pain killers worked well for Logan, so we came home Friday afternoon.  The urologist said that if he didn't pass the stone by Monday, he would hook us up with a pediatric urologist who will then surgically remove the stone.

Well, we still haven't seen that Logan has passed the stone (we have to strain all of his urine), but as of now (Sunday) he has been in NO PAIN for almost two days!  He hasn't needed his pain killer since Friday night! I don't think he has passed the stone, but since he is in no pain, I am now wondering!  We will call the urologist tomorrow and see what his thoughts are, but we are so happy and relieved to have our "normal" Logan back!  I am praying he passed the stone and we somehow missed it, since surgery is still a possibility, but we are happy for now!

I will update more when I know more!  Here is a picture of poor Logan when he was in the hospital and feeling pretty crummy!