I was wiped out yesterday. Hence the double slice today with not a single slice yesterday. It turned out that my kidney stone situation was a bit more complicated that we originally thought. I had to have a semi-emergency surgery Friday night to preserve my kidney functioning. Although they were both functioning at the time, they were fearful by the size and location of the kidney stones as well as the inflammation and elevated white blood cell count, things could go from stable to dire in the blink of an eye.

Friday night, a very kind Dr. Patel left his family ice cream outing to perform surgery to place stents into each of my kidneys. These stents will help to keep my kidneys draining, decrease the inflammation, and hopefully clear the elevated white blood cell count. They could not remove the stones for fear of pushing infection into the kidneys. I was devastated. But at least I would have some relief. I didn’t know this until 5 minutes before I was wheeled into surgery. Until that moment, I thought the stones were going to be removed. The nurses were curious why my blood pressure was so high. I wonder why?!

I woke up in mild discomfort and fully medicated. The doctor did exactly as he said he would. Yesterday morning, I had pain but it was bearable. About half way through the day, I called Aaron to tell him I was being discharged and to come and get me. We came home and I slept. And slept. And slept. George and Theo snuggled me and it was wonderful.

This morning, I heard my littlest man beginning to wake. I hadn’t really held him since Thursday so I changed his diaper and pulled him into bed with a bottle. We snuggled and my dull pain started to subside. How are babies the best medicine? I was starting to feel so good that I made our traditional post St. Patrick’s Day breakfast before exhausting my energies and returning to the comfort of my bed.

The doctors have warned me against being sedentary right now. It’s easy to reach for the comfort of the bed or couch rather than be up and moving around. I am trying to balance resting so I can heel with movement to prevent blood clots. It’s a hard balance when discomfort starts to creep in.

Unfortunately, I’ll be scheduled for another surgery in a couple weeks to remove the asteroids currently residing in my kidneys. I’m hoping that a nephrologist referral will help to get down to the cause of the repeated stones and hopefully prevent them in the future.

Until then, I will be limiting my beloved coffee and tea, chugging water, and heeling best I can. Luckily Aaron, my FIL, and the kids have been taking care of me and each other. And for that I am forever grateful.