Good News: No kidney stone detected!

We went to see another of our favorite doctors today (Dr. Cleveland) just to be on the safe side and make sure John was not developing another kidney stone "event." For the last couple of weeks he has had pain off and on in the right side of his back. And he says it feels exactly the same as the pain he had for several weeks leading up to the terrible pain of the stone trying to pass from the kidney to the bladder. We cannot take any chances with John passing a stone because he only has one kidney (as most of you are fully aware by now) and the one he's got has a tube that has a narrowing (genetic) that would probably prevent him from ever passing one completely. Last time he was 100% blocked and had to be rushed to outpatient surgery. We certainly didn't want that to happen again. So we went and had an ultrasound done. It showed no stone and no inflammation or swelling of the kidney. He also has none of the other symptoms associated with a stone. So we are just going to assume at this point it may be body pain associated with the chemo.

John's mind is not completely put at ease because he says it feels exactly the same as last time. And Dr. Cleveland said sometimes a stone is not detectable. Sometimes they are very difficult to detect. It could be there and not be showing up, but there is no evidence of one and he did not want to put John through a bunch of extensive tests or do anything invasive unnecessarily. So if any other symptoms develop or the pain worsens, we'll just go back for another visit. But it looks like he is fine for now.

I love Dr. Cleveland. He always makes me feel so smart. When John was about to go in for his kidney stone procedure, I was asking all kinds of questions and Dr. Cleveland thought I worked in the medical field. I said, "No, I just try to take good care of my husband and learn all I can so I can look out for him." We had already told him how we met (match.com) and he just looked at John and said, "You really met her on the Internet?" (We had told him because one of his kids was dating someone from the Internet and he was worried; we were trying to put his mind at ease that sometimes it's a great way to meet!)

Then today Dr. Cleveland asked if we knew what drugs John was getting in his treatment. I rattled off, "A combination of Fludarabine, Cyclophosphamide, and Rituxan...oh yeah, and Lumiliximab, which is the experimental drug they are studying in his clinical trial. It's a monoclonal antibody like Rituxan." He looked at me and said, "You like saying that, don't you?" (I think he meant Lumiliximab because it sounds so silly; like a word right out of Dr. Seuss.) Although I would have preferred never to have heard of any of these drugs, I laughed and said, "Uhuh, and I can even spell all of them. Are you impressed?" He laughed, looked at John, shook his head and said, "The Internet, huh?"

Of course, John and I both know that the Internet was just a tool in God's hands. He knew I'd be doing online shopping and He made sure John was there so I could find him.

Comments

Ashley said…
My dad was plagued with kidney stones for a long time until a male nurse in the ER gave him some advice. He took Magnesium and B6 supplements every day and he hadn't had a kidney stone since. Dad took him up on his advice, that was 5-6 years ago and none since! Talk to your dr. as your husband only has the one kidney, to make sure its ok. But its worth a shot if its something he has to deal with regularly.
Shari said…
Thanks for the advice, Ashley.