Tough Few Days on the Slat Rat Physicality Front
Ugh…
There are periods of time where the wheels seem to just seem to sort of fall off, all at once. For the past ten days, I’ve had a deep ache in my left mid-back. I finally saw a doctor yesterday and I either have a kidney infection or a kidney stone that’s moving around. The kidney stone scenario is a distinct possibility - prior to my surgery in the Spring, a CT scan showed a kidney stone. Of course, I can’t remember whether the stoned kidney was the left one or the right one. I have a call into my Urologist’s office asking where the stone is living.
In the interim, I’m on potent antibiotics awaiting the results of the bacterial culture which won’t be back until Monday. If no fuzzy bacteria grow in the petri dishes, I get to go off of the antibiotics. Which is good because the antibiotic (Cipro) side effects are annoying - drowsiness, weird dreams, and some stomach upset. Oh well - I look at it as another weight loss opportunity.
As for today, I had a long standing appointment with a hand doctor. In the past seven months, I’ve developed nodules on the joints of left thumb and first finger. They could be regular arthritis or harbingers of rhuematoid arthritis. Given my overall symptom set, RA is a real possibility. However, the hand doc thought the nodules were probably regular arthritis and not RA.
But, the doc did find a large cyst at the base of my thumb on the palm side. Evidently these cysts can become very problematic. So, he suggested that an immediate cortisone shot at the base my thumb would be a good thing. Sigh…
I can now comment from experience - cortisone thumb shots are not a lot of fun. Big needle. Lots of cortisone solution. Lots of moving the needle around. Lots of ouch.
I think a beer is now in order…
Hello. I am 
Ow! *curls up at the thought of the shots*
Cipro? Wow, that is the same hot stuff they gave me after the post Sept. 11th Anthrax scare.
Ugh. I had a kidney stone - they run in the family.
Do you know if they’re just going to have you pass it, or do you need to have it sonicated?
Cipro is the only antibiotic I can take without major stomach issues. The other ones rip my gut out. Cipro is potent and has been around for a long time - at least 13 years. Fortunately, I very rarely need it.
And we still don’t know whether it’s an infection or a stone. The culture comes back on Monday. If it’s negative it will probably be time for a sonogram to see just what is up with that kidney.