I know this is going to sound SOOOOOO selfish and self-centered, but K's stay in the hospital yesterday has made me absolutely exhausted! Sometimes I think a hospital visit is as hard on the family as it is on the person who actually is there for a reason! Anyway, here is the run-down of yesterday:
We got to the hospital before 5:30am, as we were told to. (Of course, this meant I had to get up by 4:00 in order to be ready in time!) We were sent to a room where blood was drawn and all of the preliminaries took place--all of which took about a half hour--and then we sat and waited beginning at about 6:00. Every so often--take that as reading 'once or twice'--a nurse would show up and do a blood pressure reading, but other than that, we sat and stared at the ceiling, the TV, out the window at the cold, dark world, or each other. FINALLY, at shortly after 9:00, they came to get K to go for his procedure. He was scheduled for the biopsy to be done at 8:30, but I don't think ANYONE knows how to tell time in that place! While I was expecting K to be brought into an operating room, we were, instead, brought to the ultrasound lab and put in a procedure room. (I keep using the word procedure because this illustrates just how trivial everyone seemed to think this biopsy was! And I don't mean to imply that anyone thought it wasn't serious, it's just that they seemed to feel, in the whole scheme of things, that a biopsy is quite routine and not to be considered a major thing.) Once he was settled into the room, we had to wait for them to find a nurse to assist the doctor! Unbelievable! Anyway, the doctor, nurse, and ultrasound technician--this was called an 'ultrasound guided biopsy'--came in and started to get things ready. All this time, I was standing there and NO ONE ASKED ME TO LEAVE THE ROOM! I believe I would have been allowed to stay, but I quickly removed myself--I don't need to see anyone stick a long needle into my husband's back--EVER! So, the procedure took less than thirty minutes, went well, and we were back in the hospital room shortly after 10:00. And then the LONG wait began! We finally left the hospital around 6:00pm--and THAT almost didn't happen because K's hemoglobin had gone down too much when they did his noontime blood work. Thankfully, the count was up slightly at 5:00 when they drew blood--otherwise, he would have wound up staying the night! He was more than thrilled to be able to sleep in his own house last night.
Now, for the results: NONE!!!! And we won't know anything for at least two weeks! The doctor is hoping the holidays won't interfere with getting results back, but he's not counting on it. What we DO know: K's kidneys are only working at 30%--not 70% as we thought. There definitely is damage and the doctor is pretty sure it is from uncontrolled high blood pressure. He also is sure there is permanent damage, although he thinks some of it CAN be reversed. As to how much might be able to be reversed, we won't know till POSSIBLY after the results come back. So, right now I'm going with the good thoughts: there is nothing other than high blood pressure that caused any damage and keeping the BP under control will keep any more damage from happening. I think K realizes that WE will have to undergo a drastic--though gradual--lifestyle change. I almost think this might be harder on me than it is on him, as I have to do the food prep, but it is something we have to do. We have our work cut out for us and the next few months will be very interesting.
Today, K is still doing a lot of sleeping. They only gave him a mild sedative and pain meds for the biopsy, but the emotional beating he took has him unbelievably tired. He also feels as if George Foreman punched him as hard as he could in the left kidney--it is quite difficult for him to get around very easily. But he should be fine by the time he has to go back to work on Thursday. He doesn't have to see the nephrologist on Monday as was scheduled, because there just won't be anything for him to tell. K does still have to go for his physical appointment with the internist on Monday and the nephrologist will be there in the office also, in case the internist needs to talk to him. It all just seems too complicated. I have a feeling K will be coming home with at least one more test scheduled: a colonoscopy! He is NOT going to be a happy camper.
Crazy Tired
