Thursday, July 04, 2013

July 3: Urologist Visit (Informational)

Good morning everyone! I visited my urologist yesterday afternoon to discuss the results of my sonogram that the nephrologist took last Friday when I was in for my quarterly visit. I never really enjoy visiting the urologist, even though he is a very nice person.

He said that my transplanted kidney was looking pretty good. He was pleased with my lab results and said that it was very possible for me to get twenty to thirty good years with my transplant. That's always exciting news. The more years with this transplant, the better I think it will be.

First of all, the doctor did not believe that he would have to remove my native (PKD) kidney at this time. He said that he wants to go and do another cystoscopy (click if you like super-detailed medical info) of my bladder and possibly my native kidney as well. This time, however he suggested that we do the procedure in the hospital, instead of in his office. That way, if he does find something small that needs to be removed, he will be able to do it right then. He won't have to schedule a second appointment to go back inside, look around again and remove the problem.

It doesn't sound like he thinks he will find anything, but he wants to be on the safe side.

I was glad that he did not want to remove my other kidney. He said that removing it would always be a last resort for him. He doesn't like to put the patients through the recovery if they don't need it. He also said it meant that my medications would need adjusting again (to account for something, I'm sure).

I'm scheduled for the procedure on July 19 at 7:00 am (yippie). Guess I'll have to ask for that day off when I get back to work tomorrow. We'll be up in Frisco, so I get to visit a new hospital.

I'm hoping that the doctor either finds nothing, or that anything he finds is minor enough for him to take care of it while he is in there poking around. The best thing is that I should not have to go back in to have any more work done for a while. And, it's possible that he may be able to get rid of whatever causes random pain in my native kidney (which would be nice).

I'll update again after the 19th. Not that day, probably, as I'll be a bit out-of-it.

Thanks for your continued prayers!!