A Trip To Kansas City

Darein was scheduled this past Friday to go to Kansas City and meet with her urology surgeon in regards to her left kidney reflux and the possibility of surgery. Shane had accumulated enough points through his employer that we were able to get a free room at the Drury Inn and Suites. This was great as the weather was scheduled to be snowy and Darein's appointment was at 8:30am Friday morning. Of course, Shane woke up on Thursday morning feeling worse than he had the previous day or two and decided to head to the doctor before heading to Kansas City. Once his appointment was made I decided to make one as well as we didn't want to head to the children's hospital if we were extremely sick with pneumonia or something. Shane ended up having the flu but they couldn't give him anything for it and told him that he just needed to get plenty of rest and gave him some time off of work. I just had a viral infection and nothing was given to me either and I was told pretty much the same as Shane, plenty of rest. We had been waiting for 2 or 3 months for this appointment and I didn't want to cancel it and therefore, we went ahead and ran our errands for the day, got packed and picked Darein up from school so that we could go ahead and leave as it was already starting to snow. We got checked into the hotel, got something to eat and enjoyed a little bit of time in the hot tub. It was an early night and we all rested well.
Friday morning Darein woke up with the same crud that me and Shane had. We were in hopes that the appointment would go fast in order to get in and out and on our way home before Darein got any worse. All went well. We were checked in very quickly and was happy to meet the surgeon. He was very friendly and had another physician come in to see us prior to him seeing Darein. The two physicians explained to us that a kidney reflux in and of itself does not cause infections and asked a few questions about the problems that Darein was experiencing. He then did a physical exam and they came to the conclusion that she has a spastic bladder which is causing her not to empty it well and in turn causing her to have several uti's which is causing some of her stomach problems. They gave us homework and Darein has to try to go to the restroom every 2 hours. She also needs to be having a bowel movement every day and therefore they asked us to increase her Miralax from 1 capful a day to 1 1/2 capfuls a day, splitting it up and also adding Benefiber to her food as well to help it solidify. They explained that the intestines sit on top of your bladder and if she isn't emptying it well then it is adding to the bladder spasms. They want us to work on this for the next two months and then get an xray of her bladder and see if it has calmed down any. If it hasn't then they will talk to us again and there are medications that they said they can place her on to help calm it down. They are hoping that surgery will not be something that we have to pursue. I was very happy to know that just because they were surgeons, that wasn't their first option. This is one of the reasons that I love children's hospitals and research hospitals so much. They are always thinking of all of the options and try to explain to you why they are choosing the option they are. Of course, all physicians have different reasons behind their choices even in these hospitals but you can usually find a physician who has the common sense behind his theories and that is always refreshing. Darein has had 8 surgeries up to this point and is going to have to have a mandibular resection in the near future. Therefore, the more surgeries that we can eliminate or delay the better. Darein was very pleased that she only has to have an xray in 2 months opposed to the cystourethrogram she had a few months prior diagnosing her left kidney reflux. This procedure is quite painful and needless to say, it makes her a little more than anxious to think about having to have that again.
We immediately left after the appointment and made it home before Damein got home from school that day.
This past Monday I also was scheduled to go and have a procedure to remove my mosaic warts from the heel of my foot by my podiatrist. I went in prepared and was a little nervous but determined that I would make it through the numbing shot that he had to give me prior to removing the warts. I went back to the room, got comfortable and he came in and warned me once again that the shot would hurt. I told him I understood and that I was okay with this. He then placed the needle deep in my heel and I unexpectedly came unglued. I screamed like a baby into the pillow behind my head and moved my foot. He took the needle out and proceeded to tell me that he didn't think that any of the numbing medication was injected and that it was ok for me to change my mind. He then said that he would give me a minute to regain my composure. I could hardly breathe and was petrified to think of him sticking that needle back in. He on his own opted to just do treatments every two weeks for 4 or 5 times. I regretfully agreed and he proceeded. He simply scrapes some of the dead skin off with a scalpel and then sprays this really cold spray on the bottom of my foot and bandages it up. It isn't too bad really. The spray burns a little but evidently this spray allows the skin to dry and slough off so that he can debride the warts a little more every time I go back. As much as I hate paying the co-pay every time and having to go through a lengthy and ongoing process of having this done I have decided it is a good alternative to getting that needle stuck in my foot. You would think that after childbirth nothing could phase you. After all, I have had an amniocentesis, natural and c-section childbirths, bellybutton piercing, and a tattoo. I would have never thought that I couldn't endure this. Who knows, maybe I'm just getting sensitive in my old age :)
Anyways, all in all the week was productive and we got a lot of things accomplished and are able to move on with our lives for another few months which will be nice. We take Damein this Friday to Rolla so that he can visit Rolla S&T and see if this is a college that he might be interested in. Me and my husband are really hoping that he likes this school as we feel that he is smart enough to get in here and just needs to pull his ACT scores up a little more. He is working very hard in school and as much as he is on his computer I really think that this could be up his alley but we will see. He isn't quite as thrilled about it as we are but we are hoping that the fact that they have football and baseball there will help to encourage him to attend.
I will try to write again this weekend after our visit and not wait so long this time :)

A Few Days at the Doctor for Mom

Well, I finally went to the doctor yesterday to have my foot checked out as I thought that I had something in the bottom of my heel as well as the hives that I have seemed to break out in since almost passing out when my daughter got her blood drawn on the 21st.
My doctor looked at my foot and says that it is too deep so she is going to have to send me to see a podiatrist. She looks at my hives and thinks that it might be an allergic reaction though I don't think that is quite possible as I haven't changed my detergent or anything else that I can think of but she tells me to take Claritin twice a day and I should be better in a few days. I go to set up my appointment with the podiatrist and am lucky enough to get in today. So I went home, took my Claritin that evening and smothered my legs in Cortisone cream to help with the itching as well.
Went to see my doctor today and he is quite funny. We talk a little, he looks at my foot and then tells me that I have what they call a "mosaic wart". It is 5 warts that come together in the center as a cluster. Nice. He puts some medicine on it, covers it and tells me to keep it dry for the next 72 hours. He says that they can do surgery on it to remove them either tomorrow or Thursday. I told them that I had to take my daughter to Kansas City on Friday and would need to be able to walk around so he says I need to wait until Monday to have it done. So, guess I will be going in on Monday at 2pm to get it taken care of. Evidently, I will have a big hole in the bottom of my heel when all is said and done.
As you can imagine, I am thrilled. I take Darein to Kansas City on Friday to schedule her kidney surgery, get my foot surgery done on Monday, walk all over the Missouri S&T Rolla campus on Friday to look it over with Shane and Damein to see if Damein might be interested in attending college there. I'm sure I will have to schedule a pre-op appointment for Darein somewhere between the consultation date and the surgery date which means another Kansas City trip and then when she is all taken care of I still get to have my gallbladder surgery and lipoma removed on my right side. Guess, I might as well sit back and relax and hope for the best. A little bit of coordination as far as scheduling and a whole lot of patience will do me well over the next few months. :)
I hope my family and friends are doing well and I will write again on Friday or Saturday when we get back from Kansas City to let you know what we found out as far as exactly what type of surgery Darein will be having for her kidney reflux, etc. Her immune system does not appear to be very strong right now as so far she has managed to get all of the stomach viruses that are going around. She stayed home again today with diarrhea but seems to be feeling a little better this afternoon. Hopefully, she will stay strong and well enough to undergo surgery so that we don't have to postpone anything :)