Kidney Problems

It has been a very long past few months, I believe they have been the longest in my life.


It has been so hard to be separated from wife and extended family due to sickness.  Being in the hospital for weeks at a time.


Back in May I started passing blood clots and body fluids. Every time I went to my doctor he would just tell me that it was a UTI ( urinary tract infection) and give me a pill to get rid of the infection. When I finished the pills it would st art all over again. I would pass large and small blood clots in my urine and it was much more painful than a kidney stone, especially when you had to pull them out yourself by hand.


Just imagine days of this: Going to the bathroom to pee and nothing coming out, but your body telling you that you have to go. Going to your bed and laying down on your side and putting a bed pad on your bed and throwing your left leg over your right leg just to urinate. Then going to the bathroom to try and pass the blood clot or clots that were blocking the flow of urine. I would scream out from the pain and sometimes I just passed a few or over thirty at a time. This continued for over many months.


My family doctor sent me as an out patient to my local hospital to have a Cat Scan.I took with me a quart fruit jar of blood clots that I had just passed that morning for them to examine and tell me what was causing the problem. They looked at them and set them aside and continued to ask me questions about what I was illergic to. Finally they took me back for the scan and administered it to me.

The next day, I was called by the technician that had administered the test. She told me that the test was clear and that I had no Kidney Stones. I tried to explain that I never had a Kidney Stone but that that was why I had brought in the quart jar of blood clots to find out where the blood clots were coming from.

A week later I got an appointment with my Nephrologist to have my Kidney checked out. After doing a blood test he said that my Kidneys were doing ok but that I should see an Urologist to find out where the blood clots were coming from. He gave me a name of his friend and I asked my family doctor for a referral to him from my Insurance. I got a referral but not for him but his partner. After making an appointment I waited for the upcoming visit.


While waiting, the pain became so unbearable that I let my wife know that I was calling 911 for an ambulance to take me to my local Hospital. (St. Francis, Bartlett). They picked me up and took me to the Emergency Room. This was October 26^th.


The next day after getting a room, they took me back for a Cat Scan and this time when they looked at it they saw the problem. My right Kidney was surrounded in Cancer and I was told that it would need to be removed.


So surgery was set for noon on Halloween Day, October 31^st.

Grandfathers

Grandfathers are a special breed
Of kinfolk, all their own.
They love you and hug you,
And spoil you to death.
And then, they send you home.

Thought For The Day

Being a good person is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all of the yucky stuff -- including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then He carves you a bright new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see.

Today I Smiled

Today I smiled, and all at once
Things didn't look so bad.
Today I shared with someone else,
A little bit of hope I had.

Today I worked with what I had,
And longed for nothing more,
And what had seemed like only weeds,
Were flowers at my door.

Today I loved a little more,
And complained a little less.
And in the giving of myself,
I forgot my weariness.

~ author unknown ~

Our Many Blessings

When we count our many blessings
It isn't hard to see,
That life's most valued treasures
Are the treasures that are free.

For it isn't what we own or buy
That signifies our wealth,
It's the special gifts that have no price
Our family, friends, and health

May Your Blessings Be Many!

Our Granddaughters Are Growing Up

She Loves To Pose For Her Poppy