As Well As Can Be Expected

R’s surgery went well yesterday. He felt fine early last night when he got to his room. We’ll see how he feels this morning when the pain medication wears off. He could go home as soon as Sunday if all goes well.

The doctor said his kidney looked like a stone quarry. Apparently R’s Crones Disease predisposes him to kidney stones. It’s been 20 years since he’s had problems with kidney stones but this may be the reason for his recent back pains. They made a larger hole than his nephrostomy, higher up his back with a sheath to protect it from the tools, camera, light and stones. Apparently a lot of bacteria get released when you break up kidney stones. “Blast scoop and scrape” is how the doctor described it. They got them all, including the big one blocking his ureter. A tube was inserted down the ureter, from kidney to bladder, to keep it open while it recovers from the trauma of breaking up and removing the stone. R will experience some pain and “discomfort” from the tube according to the doctors. It will have to come out in a couple of weeks and when it does, it won't be the same way it went in. They will be pulling it down, out through the bladder and subsequent male plumbing. R is NOT looking forward to that! At least they removed the nephrostomy. No more tubes sticking out of his back. R is looking forward to having all this done with and things back to normal so he can get back to being retired. And going fishing!

After the doctor talked to us I drove out to R’s house, in rush hour traffic, to feed Gabby. A little later I packed her up with her blankie and drove across town back home. She was real happy to see Shakespeare and Bailey when I unloaded her. Shakespeare was beside himself: someone to play with! It took a couple hours for them to calm down enough to even think about going to bed. We put her crate next to Shakespeare’s cage. Normally she sleeps on the bed with R, not an option with us.

Bailey got up before 5 this morning and then came into to see what Shakespeare and Gabby were up doing and wake everyone up. I think Bailey saw the memo on Daylight Savings Time but misread the date as today instead of tomorrow. At any rate, we’ve been up for hours. We aren’t doing anything except supervising the dogs today, making sure they don’t tear the place down with their rough-housing. We will take the dogs for a walk in the park when the forecasted sunshine chases the clouds and rain away this afternoon. I don't think Gabby gets a lot of walks, just a lot of running around in the backyard. She can follow the others. It won't take long to get the hang of it, I'm sure.

Wish us luck!