Fiercely Independent Pam

Category: About Me

  • Next Steps For a Giant Kidney Stone: A Lesson in Bravery!

    Well, I did one of the bravest medical things I have done- I pulled the rest of the stent for my kidney stone out. I was so frightened that something was going to happen but I feel so much better. I was able to make an appointment with urology for tomorrow to consult about next steps.

    I unfortunately had to switch doctors to make it work, but I was able to get an appointment tomorrow to figure out next steps for the kidney stone which means I am able to take the bus and my power wheelchair, which is crucial right now.

    I will hopefully find out tomorrow how they are going to treat the kidney stone, I’ve been told they are going to set something up to “blast” the stone apart.

    I joke on a regular basis that “They are going to make a nurse out of me yet!” Pulling out the stent is a great example of this. I hope my appointment goes well tomorrow and we can move forward from this stupid kidney stone.

  • Who’s Afraid of a Kidney Stone or It’s Stent?

    Somedays I think I am living in a comedy. How else can all these things happen but to make someone happy. In January, when I went to the hospital, it was found that I had a fairly large kidney stone. They placed a stent and honestly, I didn’t care too much about it except that I was going to have to have follow up care to “blast” the stone at some point.

    Follow up care is delayed because of appointment scheduling and my ability to walk. This whole time since the beginning of January, I haven’t needed to even think about the stone or the treatment.

    Fast forward to earlier this week, I was having symptoms that I thought were coming from a UTI. Now it all makes sense and the burning is coming from the stent that is mostly fallen out. I noticed something that was out of place last night and then it has increasingly come out.

    The urologist on call is going to call me back once she checks my chart, but told me I can remove the rest of the stent myself, as that might help the pain and irritation. I have to admit, I am a little scared to remove the stent, but I will try. I gotta believe it will help with the symptoms.

    How is it that I can’t just function “normally?” Why must something always be an issue. I am finally getting strong enough to stand on my own and I even snuck in a pivot from the wheelchair to my arm chair unassisted, but that isn’t enough, I have to have issues with the kidney stone and stent. Its exhausting.

  • Six Years Ago: My Adventure with Blood Clots Begins.

    I’ve said it before- I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook Memories. Today, it reminded me that six years ago, I was fighting a giant uphill medical mountain. Besides doing a round a plasmapheresis(at the time they believed I had MG- Myasthenia Gravis). It turned out the multiple blood clots were found in my lungs (PE’s).

    The nurse and doctor worked quickly with a heparin drip. Then the reality of things came into focus. I would be at risk for additional clots for the rest of my life and would need to take a blood thinner forever too. I was placed on Eliquis, which requires less work than Warfarin.

    It was a scary diagnosis and I couldn’t do anything but follow the doctor’s orders. I knew having blood clots, especially in my lungs, was bad, but I just wanted to know what then soultion was going to be. Sometimes it amazes me to think about what I have gone through and that I am still hopeful and open to the next medical adventure.

    The good news is that despite going through three rounds of plasmapheresis, doctors were able to dismiss the MG diagnosis and needed to look for other answers. I had a muscle biopsy to confirm that it was not MG. This didn’t help the blood clots, but was still very good news.

    The bad news was a couple weeks later, I developed other clots, this time it was a DVT in my right arm. Since I developed a clot while taking Eliquis, the doctors considered that a failure and placed me on Warfarin and with all the monitoring it required.

    I was happy to find out at least that I could do my own monitoring of my INR for being on Warfarin. I was given a little machine similar to a blood sugar machine that uses a sample of blood. I do this once a week and then the clinic calls me back and gives me instructions for taking the Warfarin for the week. This is a big difference than when my father was on Warfarin and had to go to the clinic every week for a blood draw. So far, (knock on wood) the Warfarin has done its job to prevent future clots.

    Memories give us strength. They remind us what we have been through. For some people finding out they had multiple clots in their lungs might of put them over the edge, but not me- I challenge myself to keep going and not let anything stop me!