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!"
No comments:
Post a Comment