Entries Tagged with kidney biopsy
November 2nd, 2006
It’s official. It’s a relief to know that I have two diagnoses and two treatment plans now.
The kidney biopsy results apparently led to both diagnoses.
IgA Nephropathy
It’s an autoimmune kidney disease, as I said. The Nephrologist said the prognosis is very good. We have caught it very early — though probably I had it 4 years ago when I saw that Nephrologist who didn’t really run any tests and just dismissed me so I could have caught it even sooner. My kidney functions are still excellent and don’t appear to be damaged yet. She is changing my blood pressure medication to one that will treat both my blood pressure and the IgAN. Unfortunately, this will have to be monitored for the rest of my life at the very least annually if not quarterly to watch for deterioration of my kidneys. Worse case senarios are total renal failure and kidney transplants.
Fibromyalgia
The Rheumatologist is now convinced that my consistantly high SED rate is the result of the IgAN as he’s eliminated everything else it could be in his arsenal and the kidney biopsy proved it’s not vasculitis. He’s given me the official diagnosis of Fibromyalgia and is requesting that my GP increase my sleep med dosage (b/c she prescribed it) and is prescribing water exercise therapy, which I now need to see where my insurance will cover sending me to. Again, I have to go back in 3 months. Unfortunately because of my kidneys, I cannot take any alleve, advil, or asprin to help with the soreness in my muscles or the pain in my hands.
The frustrating thing is that for the most part, there’s not a lot to change from what I’m doing. Just make sure I get more and better sleep at night and get some exercise, preferably water-based since regular exercise aggrevates the muscle pain. Weight loss will also help but without exercise I possibly can’t lose any more without starving myself.
Next Up
I’m seeing a GI specialist next week finally who I’m supposed to discuss the lack of Gallbladder surgery and possible IBS and acid reflux issues. Good timing as the Previcid seems to be no longer working on the acid reflux.
And the GP wanted to wait until after the kidney biopsy to send me to some sort of pulmonary work-up regarding that persistant cough I’m still having, though not as bad or frequent. I’ve got to try to see her next week about a flu shot too. Oy.
So, there’s good news and lots of moving forward finally! Yay!
Tags: IgAN, fibromyalgia, GI specialist, kidney biopsy, SED rate, rheumatologist, nephrologist, blood pressure, wellness
October 19th, 2006
Well, Pugly went to the vet yesterday and they gave him a clean bill of health plus a vacination for kennel cough. He can go back to doggy daycare next Monday. Lucky puppy!
And here I am in the hospital. After 4 hours of being unable to pee, they finally used a catheter to help relieve me of 700cc of pee-pee. Owie. That’s after they inserted long needles into my left kidney eight times; the doctor told my mother it was only three, but they didn’t use any drugs and I was wide awake for the whole thing. They weren’t kidding about making me lay flat on my back for six straight hours and the television channel selection sucks. I didn’t get to eat until nearly 2:30pm and dinner was only so-so. No caffeine until almost 6pm. The only painkiller is tylenol.
Right now I’m just praying for some sort of sleep that will take me until morning as I’m uncomfortable, it’s noisy and my arms ache in addition to my back and head.
And I miss my puppy and kitties. :((
Oh, and today they told me that I can’t pick up or walk Pugly for the next 5 days. Well, I can’t pick up anything over 10lbs for a week or two but no walking the dog for at least 5 days due to possible pulling. So my mom has to do all the walking. *sigh*
Tags: kidney biopsy, the puppy, kennel cough
October 13th, 2006
- Happy Conspiracy Day! Friday the 13th — unluckiest day for the Templars ever, I think.
- I’m having my CT Scan (with contrast) of the lung shortly. The machine at the clinic I was supposed to have it in is “down” so they’ve called and asked me to go to the “Big House” (the main hospital) instead.
- It wasn’t so bad without the contrast, but I’m admittedly nervous after all the talk about possibly shutting down my kidneys.
- I wish I’d brought my lorazepam today.
- I wonder if binding my hands and elbows with Ace bandages would help reduce the pain. Ice cold seems to help.
- Pugly wants to chew on the ends of my knitting needles while I’m knitting and the cats want to play with the yarn — finally a hobby we can all participate in.
More
Tags: discombobulated, knitting, kidney biopsy, CT Scan of the lung
October 10th, 2006
God bless my mother. :D She is already determined to convince the hospital staff that since all of the documentation on the procedure says the minimum amount of time I need to be lying still on my back for observation is six hours and she is a nurse, they should release me after six hours into her care if nothing has gone wrong. That way I can go home and lie still in the comfort of my own bed for the remainder of the 24 hour period and she can take care of me.
Isn’t she sweet?
She actually might be able to convince them to. I wouldn’t put it past her.
However, I’m going to assume the worst and begin making plans for those 23 hours in the hospital.
O.K. Six to eight hours will be spent sleeping at least. That’s a lot of time left over. I don’t think the rooms have DVD players, but then I haven’t really asked. We’ll assume not. They do apparently have wireless Internet. I could see myself wasting some time reading Thursday Thirteens, though I might have to explain to my mother…How long can I knit lying on my back? I can listen to my iPod mini but how rude to do that with my mother there and really that doesn’t give me anything to do actually. It doesn’t engage my brain or my hands. I could play my electronic Suduko game but after awhile those numbers get a little swimmy. O.K. I can catch up on some reading.
It’s unfortunate that there’s no DVD player. I could go get some series season and fry my brain out on it. Ooooo…SQ did send me all of the old Pink Panther movies. *sigh*
Tags: kidney biopsy, hospital stay
October 6th, 2006
Okie…I feel like I’ve been through the ringer the last 36 hours, but I at least have a final-ish schedule for all of those tests and procedures that seemed jumbled up into one week or as my boss put it — “Looks like your taking a full sampling of all that [our hospital] has to offer…” (I’m going to be visiting all three of the big complexes.) 
Anyway, for those who are keeping track (and I hope someone is for me :P), the brain MRI is on Monday morning, the CT of the lung/chest is next Friday afternoon, and they have kindly scheduled the kidney biopsy/hospital stay for Oct 19th-20th so my mom can be here to spoil me and the grand-pets and she can still be home to celebrate my dad’s big 65th birthday next Tuesday.
Hopefully something will come out of this, even if it’s an elimination of possible diagnoses. I had a long session with my shrink last night and she reminded me that this is really about “data gathering”. It’s important to gather as much data about what’s going on in my malfunctioning body so we can determine what’s wrong and start either working on the cure or at least working on making life livable.
Really, I just want to get to the diagnosis part so I can get to a treatment part. If I just had a remote with a fast forward button for my life…
For someone who relies heavily on routines to cope with life, all of this erratic testing is stressing me out. :P It’s bad enough that people keep rearranging my weekly work meetings, but all of this sudden running over to the hospital for bloodwork and changes in my schedule due to doctors appointments are really throwing me off. Seriously, I need a personal assistant to keep track of everything. :P Writing everything down and keeping them in my Palm Pilot isn’t enough. I need a “Nag.”
Preferably one who vacuums and changes the litterbox.
Tags: wellness, kidney biopsy, CT Scan of the Lung w/ contrast, MRI of the brain, Nag, personal assistant, diagnosis
October 5th, 2006
So my visit to the kidney specialist has left me completely freaked out. All of my doctors have done such a good job draining me of blood already that there was very little apparently for her to do. We’re jumping right to the big procedure.
Kidney biopsy.
A biopsy is a sample of tissue collected from an organ or other part of the body. A biopsy can be done by cutting or scraping a small piece of the tissue or by using a needle and syringe to remove a sample, which is then examined for abnormalities, such as cancer, by a doctor trained to look at tissue samples (pathologist). [webmd.com]
A percutaneous kidney biopsy is done by inserting a long needle through the back (flank) to remove a sample of kidney tissue. The tissue sample can then be sent to a laboratory and examined under a microscope to help a doctor determine the condition of the kidney and look for signs of infection or other diseases. [webmd.com]
Ouch.
The procedure itself apparently takes about 30 minutes, but then you have to lie flat on your back for 8 hours to prevent things like bleeding into the kidney or the muscles or your lungs. The doctor said I would have to stay overnight at the hospital.
She wants to do this next Tuesday or Wednesday.
So, I’ve already called my Mommy and asked her to come back. She’s talking to my Dad about it.
I’ll need a sitter for Pugly, someone to cover me for on-call…
Did I mention that they don’t put you under when they’re sticking that long needle in you? The doctor said they can give me some valium to keep me calm. Basically, you’re awake and you have to hold still. Why?
What am I going to do for 8 hours lying flat on my back in a hospital room? I bet they don’t have any good cable channels and I bet they don’t have high speed internet.
Did I mention fliggin’ long needle?
Tags: kidney biopsy, needle, valium, wellness
