Progress in America: (9) A Non-Cancer Diary? Part IV

Biopsy but not quite done

    The biopsy was not bad; my bones proved so healthy (strong), they bent the biopsy needle/drill.  But it was all done, all I had to do was to wait a week for the results.  The week came and went.  I called the hospital.  My results were sent to the wrong doctor. 

    Prescription 5 for the system: Make sure your files are accurate.

That day, Thursday, November 20, 2014, I had an early dinner of chicken and (organic mix) salad.  I went to my writers group at 6:30.  I had a decaf cappuccino.  Then it was off to sleep.

    But I woke up, with pain.  A very sudden cramping on the right middle / lower side of the abdomen.  Right where I had indicated an occasional light pain to begin with.  But certainly it was never so strong as to wake me up!  It was about midnight.  I tried to go back to sleep.  But it got much worse (maybe an 8 on a scale of 10 for pain).  By 2 a.m. the pain was sufficiently severe that I vomited.  The cramping continued.  I sat up and used a heating pad.  That helped a bit and I slept intermittently, shaking with chills. 

    The next morning was the Friday before Thanksgiving.  I stayed in bed with heating pad.   Had nothing but one piece of white toast with honey, water and decaf tea with honey.  The pain seemed to increase an hour or so after taking something to drink.  I had mild cramping in the morning, and my wife went to a meeting.  But by 2pm it quickly peaked into such pain as to induce vomiting.  No bowel movement.  Again I called my doctor.  She said it was probably food poisoning.  I should be better by the morning.  If not, I’d have to go to the ER and get a sonogram.  Oh, and by the way, the biopsy was negative: no cancer!

    The pain subsided but Saturday morning, I was still in bed with a heating pad.  At about 8.30 I had nothing but decaf tea with honey.  This was followed by mild and steady cramping and pain in lower abdomen.  Again, the pain increased after taking something to drink.  Went to hospital ER.  After a four hour wait at Suburban Hospital I got a preliminary examination.   Another 75 minutes and I saw a Doc.  He said it seemed like a kidney stone.  Needed to hydrate via an IV.  I said my doctor asked for a sonogram.  He ordered a CT scan.  I pointed out that I had 3 CT scans in the last 4 months.  He insisted on the CT scan.

    Prescription 6 for the system: Listen to the patient. 

    Prescription 7 for the system: Don’t go for the more expensive test just because it helps your cash flow.

    Hint 3 for the patient: Make sure you are listened to. 

    The CT Showed a large kidney stone – the size of a sugar cube.  (This would have been found with a sonogram.)  Clearly it was too big to pass.  Small shifts in its position could explain the pain.  But the CT also showed malformities in the upper kidney.  Soon I was experiencing excruciating pain in kidney again.  I needed IV pain killers and the doctors recommended I stay the night to monitor pain and get a 2nd opinion. 

    The next morning, Sunday, I felt fine.  No pain.  But now the new doc was suspicious of the malformities in the kidney.  He said they didn’t look like they had liquid in it - rather they appeared solid, like a tumor, not a cyst.  This could mean it was possibly malignant.  I needed a biopsy.

    This time I really I insisted – wasn’t there some other way to see if it was a cyst?  He said yes - a sonogram would give that information.  So I elected the sonogram.   It showed the problem to be cysts in my kidney.  I went home.  –

    Still to do?  Deal with a large kidney stone.  Not cancer.