Update 4th February 1999
This is an update to let you know what happened yesterday (3rd February) when I had to go back to the hospital after my creatinine had gone up to 166. Are you sitting comfortably!
We left the house at 7.30am, caught the train at 8.12am and arrived in London at 9.06am! Got to the hospital, had to wait a while to get my blood done as the lady had gone off to find some pens can you believe! Anyway blood done, and rushed off to be tested as urgent. Then taken into office and told urine infection had cleared up but could I do another one just to be sure so I did. Then me and mum went to McDonalds for breakfast. Came back after an hour to use the loo,and then was going to the ward to see Richard, but one of the nurses said shall we see if you results are back! I said I doubt they are, but she said have faith and looked on the computer and saw my creatinine had gone down to 151! I thought I have escaped again! because it was 166 before. But she said don't get too excited as that might not be enough. Anyway go back into the waiting room and wait and about 20 mins later doctor calls me in. The first thing she says is "The time has come for the biopsy!". Great! And hello to you to!!!!! My name is Claire!!!!! LOL!!
They said only if the creatinine had gone to 130 would they not biopsy. They said it has been going up and down for so long we need to get to the bottom of this. We agreed totally. So she said we have got you a bed (I nearly fainted as last time I waited 8 hours for a bed!) and I will do the biopsy in one hours time. You go and get your bed and needled up (needle in my arm I mean!) and I will do it soon. So off we trotted to the ward, oh and she changed my stent removal to being urgent and got me in for next Tuesday. They want that out ASAP so they can eliminate that from the results being too high.
So I go to the ward, wait for a bed to be made, and get put at the end by the day room and the house officers office so you see all the dishy doctors go by! LOL!
A doctor comes along and puts a needle in my arm, Blimey it hurt! She could not get it in so kept pushing it. She made my eyes water put it that way. She was a bit jet lagged after flying in from new york only this morning!
Then I get wheeled into the treatment room for the biopsy. However 10 mins later I was walking back to mum as she got called away but she came back after 10 minutes. They had only done the ultrasound, not started the biopsy.
When they wheeled me in for the biopsy and I had to sign a consent form, they said there is one in a hundred chance of you bleeding internally from this biopsy and one in a thousand chance that you will lose the kidney. How reasurring is that! I know that they have to tell you that but if I had lost the kidney and then found out the biopsy for normal which is was but then if I lost the kidney ............ ahhhhhhh not worth thinking about.
Now I have had a kidney biopsy before so I knew what to expect but I was given something to make me sleepy beforehand so I cannot remember much about it so I was not nervous at all. But I was not given anything this time . . . . they did the ultrasound first and marked the spot with a red X and then she gave me too injections into the kidney and around the kidney as anaesthetic and then came the pneumatic drill!!!!!!! I never saw it last time as I was sleepy but I was a bit shocked when I saw the size of this thing that had to go into my skin into the kidney and she put it in and had to push it really deep into the kidney and then you hear this CLICK when they take a bit of the kidney away! YUCK! And then it comes out.
So got wheeled back and had to lie flat for six hours. Guess what I did! Crosswords and read magazines! Mum was there the whole time which was great.
The biopsy was over by 12.40pm. Now if the results reach the lab by 1pm then you hopefully get the results back by 6pm. So at 5.30pm we asked if they were back and she said she was going to the lab to get them if they were back. And at 5.50pm (times approx!) she came back and said one word! NORMAL! The biopsy showed nothing which was great news.
So after my 6 hours were up we came home. If we had not got there so early in the morning or got held up with bloods or the biopsy etc. we would not have got the results back and I would have to had stayed in the night to be told the next morning all is normal. Thank goodness we got them back. Everyone was great though and there was not alot of hanging around and the nurses and docs were very efficient. We have to go back Friday and I have to have another x-ray when they can book it to check the blood supply to the kidney and to check that there are no blockages.
