Sunday, April 26, 2009

Bad news, good news

Bad news
  • Steve had kidney stone-related trouble throughout the night.
  • The pain was terrible -- up to an eight on a 10-point scale.
  • His symptoms required an early morning visit to the emergency room.
  • A CT scan this morning showed a 3-mm stone sitting on top of his bladder.

Good news
  • The same scan showed that his right kidney is now free of stones. (A tiny 1-mm stone is hanging out in his left kidney. We pray that one stays put for a long time.)
  • The pain meds worked quickly in the ER.
  • He didn't need to be catheterized. (Being catheterized is in Steve's Top 10 List of Things He Dreads.)
  • This was the shortest ER visit in the history of Damm ER visits. We were in around 6:45 a.m. and out by 8:45 a.m. I think it helped that (a) Dr. M called ahead for us; (b) we knew what the problem was; (c) the triage nurse was efficient; and (d) the Plano Presby ER was the least crowded we've ever seen.
  • He can continue pain meds at home -- probably for the next 12 to 24 hours, until the stone is gone.
  • Katie scored a morning with the Smith family, and Cooper gets to hang out with the Starnes family for a few hours.

1 comment:

  1. So glad the good news out weighed the bad news. So sorry that there are more kidney stone problems. hang in there. Sending love and prayers!!

    Love,
    Natalie
    www.believeinmandy.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete