I'm hanging out in the hospital again, stay number 3 since starting chemo. I just completed my 4th round of chemo on the 21st of July. I actually received a slightly smaller amount of chemo during round 4 due to my two prior hospitalizations so I was hopeful that I wouldn't end up here this time. Let's back up a little bit so you get the story here, I was scheduled to come in this Friday, August 1st, and have a procedure completed by my interventional radiologist and my urologist, in this procedure they would attempt to place a stent by inserting a loop via my bladder and a hook via my nephrostomy tube hole and meeting in the middle of my ureter.
On Thursday, I was asleep on the recliner on our couch and turned over. Apparently my nephrostomy tube had been hooked in the recliner in my sleep and when I turned over it pulled the tube a pretty good amount. I have done this before so, although it hurt, I just pushed the tube back in to where it should have been. I went on with my day and traveled out of town two hours to pick up my son who was with his grandparents. The pain increased throughout the day on Friday and on Saturday I decided that I was going to have my son stay with his grandparents because it hurt too bad and I wasn't going to be able to care for him. My husband drove me back to Indy where I took medicine and went to sleep.
I called the on-call doctor to see if there were any additional things I should be doing to alleviate the pain, or any warning signs I should be watching for. We discussed options and I went to sleep for the night. On Sunday I woke up and was physically unable to walk to the bathroom without being in immense pain. I looked at my nephrostomy tube bandage and saw that it had green/yellow drainage on it. I decided it was time to call the doctor again. We discussed the immense pain and new drainage, he decided it was time to direct admit me to the hospital. I have to say that was an interesting thing on a Sunday. Admitting isn't open on Sunday so I just came in, picked up the phone, and they told me which room to go and check in to.
Sunday was full of tests, medications, and attempting to nap. I was able to eat until midnight, but after that I couldn't eat or drink just in case urologist or the interventional radiologist decided to do a surgery on Monday to attempt and place the stent and/or repair any damage I might have done when I pulled the tube. I knew the tube was still in tact because it was draining.
Monday afternoon they took me down to meet the interventional radiologist, he reviewed my files with me and said he was going to attempt to place the stent but that he would be placing another nephrostomy tube until Tuesday when he could verify if the stent was working properly. He showed us what the nephrostomy tube was suppose to look like when inside, which is a pig tail:
On Thursday, I was asleep on the recliner on our couch and turned over. Apparently my nephrostomy tube had been hooked in the recliner in my sleep and when I turned over it pulled the tube a pretty good amount. I have done this before so, although it hurt, I just pushed the tube back in to where it should have been. I went on with my day and traveled out of town two hours to pick up my son who was with his grandparents. The pain increased throughout the day on Friday and on Saturday I decided that I was going to have my son stay with his grandparents because it hurt too bad and I wasn't going to be able to care for him. My husband drove me back to Indy where I took medicine and went to sleep.
I called the on-call doctor to see if there were any additional things I should be doing to alleviate the pain, or any warning signs I should be watching for. We discussed options and I went to sleep for the night. On Sunday I woke up and was physically unable to walk to the bathroom without being in immense pain. I looked at my nephrostomy tube bandage and saw that it had green/yellow drainage on it. I decided it was time to call the doctor again. We discussed the immense pain and new drainage, he decided it was time to direct admit me to the hospital. I have to say that was an interesting thing on a Sunday. Admitting isn't open on Sunday so I just came in, picked up the phone, and they told me which room to go and check in to.
Sunday was full of tests, medications, and attempting to nap. I was able to eat until midnight, but after that I couldn't eat or drink just in case urologist or the interventional radiologist decided to do a surgery on Monday to attempt and place the stent and/or repair any damage I might have done when I pulled the tube. I knew the tube was still in tact because it was draining.
Monday afternoon they took me down to meet the interventional radiologist, he reviewed my files with me and said he was going to attempt to place the stent but that he would be placing another nephrostomy tube until Tuesday when he could verify if the stent was working properly. He showed us what the nephrostomy tube was suppose to look like when inside, which is a pig tail:
This is what the tube should look like. When I pulled it on Thursday that loop opened up and the pointy end was stabbing me from inside my kidney. It was horrific! The X-ray on Sunday confirmed that is what happened. So, they were able to do the procedure to stop that pain on Monday evening.
On Tuesday morning they came in to let me know that I had a staph infection again (still?). They said its possible the internal wound that was causing the staph infection had not closed up yet and caused it again. I will be here a few more days while they try to determine which antibiotic to fight the staph infection with. I'm hoping that doesn't entail going to the infusion center for ten days again but we shall see.
The stent placement was successful, however, my bladder was retaining urine. When they cut the nephrostomy tube approximately 1 1/2 liters of urine drained out. They were worried that the urine would continue to drain and leak outside my kidney so they placed a foley catheter for the next few days to allow the nephrostomy tube hole time to heal. The interventional radiologist wants me to work with urology on the bladder retention issues now also. The big win is the stent is placed and hopefully I will get the foley catheter removed soon too.
On Tuesday morning they came in to let me know that I had a staph infection again (still?). They said its possible the internal wound that was causing the staph infection had not closed up yet and caused it again. I will be here a few more days while they try to determine which antibiotic to fight the staph infection with. I'm hoping that doesn't entail going to the infusion center for ten days again but we shall see.
The stent placement was successful, however, my bladder was retaining urine. When they cut the nephrostomy tube approximately 1 1/2 liters of urine drained out. They were worried that the urine would continue to drain and leak outside my kidney so they placed a foley catheter for the next few days to allow the nephrostomy tube hole time to heal. The interventional radiologist wants me to work with urology on the bladder retention issues now also. The big win is the stent is placed and hopefully I will get the foley catheter removed soon too.
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