Thursday, May 28, 2020

Kidney Saga part 104

I had an interesting two days, for all they were fairly boring in many ways.

The back pain made it difficult to do anything productive, but on Tuesday Eric and I finished installing the bidet. The big problem with its installation was that our toilet seat was non-standard and had connectors that didn't fit. So Eric got a new toilet seat - but bought one the wrong shape the first time and had to exchange it. As he only goes out about once a week, the whole process took awhile.

So on Tuesday we finally got down to business and got the thing installed. And it's - interesting. It definitely helps in the medical situation I'm currently in (which involves laxatives and pee pills) and it certainly gives me a nice clean feeling. But it is pretty cold at first and will require a little getting used to. Still, another task done.

Over the weekend, I noticed that the back pain didn't seem like my normal lower back/spine pain. In fact, as the pain came into focus, it seemed to be centered a little higher on my back and on my right side, mostly. I realized at some point that it was very near where my kidneys are. Um. Okay, terrified now. I wrote to the doctor immediately with the information. But it was a holiday weekend. Another thing that distinguished this current pain from my usual back pain is the fact that when I took some Tylenol, it actually helped a little. My usual back pain isn't touched at all by normal painkillers.

Wednesday morning I got a call from the nephrologist's office asking for an immediate virtual doctor visit. I guess my alarm was echoed by the doctor once he learned of the back pain. The meeting happened at about 10:30am, and basically we ran through a checklist to make sure it isn't an infection. Since the pain is literally the only symptom, he was relieved but ordered a few extra tests for me to take during my next venture out. He'll also be checking my blood draw information carefully. He suggested using a heating pad for comfort. Of course, we can't find the one we know we have, so I'll just have to do without, I guess.

At 11am our internet went out. I was fortunate that it happened after the doctor visit. I called Centurylink immediately, and went through the recording troubleshooter steps. I suspected a bigger outage, but I called so quickly that the system hadn't registered it yet. I called again after an hour and, sure enough, big outage in our area. They said the 'net would be back by 3pm, so I settled down to read, then took a wonderful nap.

When I got up at 4pm, the 'net was still out, so I called again and the new estimated fix time was 7pm. I have a LOT of reading to catch up on, and can also do writing without the internet, so I didn't find myself put out too much. Until the internet was still down at 7pm and I called again. This time the estimated fix time wasn't until this morning at 5am. This morning at 5am with the internet still down, I called again and got an estimated time of 10:30am.

We have mobile data through Ting, which means we pay as we go and only for what we use. We generally do not use mobile data for that reason. We usually don't need it. I'm currently using my phone as a hotspot so I can post this.

In other news, I probably need to get a new loofah puff for my showers, and I definitely need a loofah or soft brush with a handle so I can properly clean my upper back. I guess I'll put that on the shopping list for Eric.

Full Kidney Saga --- Start Here --- Kidney Wish List --- GoFundMe

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