Right after my appointment with the nephrologist last Thursday, I was able to set up an appointment with the urologist on Friday and he scheduled me for a bilateral stent swap today. Everything went well with no carcinoid crisis but the tumors are really starting to impinge on the ureters. From the ultrasound that the nephrologist ordered, it looked like the right stent may not have been working very well.
That is exactly what the urologist noted during the swap. He inserted thicker and stronger stents to try to avoid them getting crushed but was almost unable to get the right stent in place due to the compression from the tumors. Had things not worked out, he may have needed to admit me and attempt to insert them from above. If this failed, the next step is to put in a drain directly from the kidney to a tube in my back. This is a step I don't want to take as it will certainly cause me to stop many activities such as hockey.
But, the stents are in place. Hopefully they will relieve the stress on the kidneys and they will recover enough to put of dialysis for a while. In another 6-9 months, we will need to attempt another replacement as the stents tend to encrust and start to obstruct. Until then, hopefully my kidneys will recover some and we can make a plan on how to insert new stents with a minimum of intrusion.
No comments:
Post a Comment