Lots of reading...feel free to skip!!! :-)
I got just got back from having a "nuclear renal pelvic scan with lasics." Sounds fun, doesn't it?!?!
I've been having pain just under my ribs (on the right side) for almost seven years now. I had my gallbladder removed because that was thought to be the culprit. Which may have been a big part of it, as it was 2/3 full of stones. But the pain never went away. I was told for a long time that the pain was residual stones in the ducts. Finally, after having excruciating pain for about six hours, I went in and said that something needed to be done. Five years after having my gallbladder removed...I should not still be in that much pain. Blood work, x-rays, and a CT scan were ordered. The only thing found was a congenital uretopelvic obstruction with dilation of the renal pelvis in the right kidney. (Let me remind you that the kidney is not usually an expanding organ.) My (then) doctor told me that I was fine, they didn't find anything significant and that I could go see a nephrologist or a general surgeon to do exploratory surgery. I knew there was more to it, so I took the report home and started searching things on the internet (oh trusty internet!). I found a bunch of information, and one of the first things I found was that other people with the same thing get pain just under their ribs. This was also listed under "symptoms" on WebMD.com and three other medical sights I looked at. I called the doctor back and requested a referral to a urologist (seems how a nephrologist deals with disease of the kidney while a urologist deals with any kind of urinary tract disorder from the kidney down). And I refused to go to the general surgeon to have exploratory surgery...was he serious?!?!
Anyway, I saw the urologist on my birthday. He was very nice and wasn't quite sure if the obstruction was causing my pain because its so sporadic. But wanted to do some testing to make sure. If nothing else, it would give us something to compare with later on if the pain gets worse. First on the list of tests was to make me nuclear!
Well, not really. I went in today and had a minor amount of nuclear substance injected into my vein while a machine detected the Gama rays to create the images. After about 15 minutes of watching it collect in my kidneys, a diuretic was also injected. This allows them to see how quickly my kidneys drain. At this point the nurse let me watch on a monitor. Let me tell you, that was pretty cool! I do know a bit of whats going on in our bodies (thanks to my A&P teacher that made sure of it!), but it was amazing to see it working like that. I was also a bit concerned as it seems that every time I have a test done, I'm not in pain. So I wonder if anything will actually show up. I was almost surprised to see how much quicker my left kidney drained compared to my right (and I did experience some pain during the procedure...). By the time the 45 minutes of the test was over, the left kidney was almost completely drained while the right still had quite a bit of the nuclear substance remaining. I don't know what it means, or if anything will come from it. But I'm glad it have it recorded and proven that my pain isn't just in my head!!! ;-)
I got just got back from having a "nuclear renal pelvic scan with lasics." Sounds fun, doesn't it?!?!
I've been having pain just under my ribs (on the right side) for almost seven years now. I had my gallbladder removed because that was thought to be the culprit. Which may have been a big part of it, as it was 2/3 full of stones. But the pain never went away. I was told for a long time that the pain was residual stones in the ducts. Finally, after having excruciating pain for about six hours, I went in and said that something needed to be done. Five years after having my gallbladder removed...I should not still be in that much pain. Blood work, x-rays, and a CT scan were ordered. The only thing found was a congenital uretopelvic obstruction with dilation of the renal pelvis in the right kidney. (Let me remind you that the kidney is not usually an expanding organ.) My (then) doctor told me that I was fine, they didn't find anything significant and that I could go see a nephrologist or a general surgeon to do exploratory surgery. I knew there was more to it, so I took the report home and started searching things on the internet (oh trusty internet!). I found a bunch of information, and one of the first things I found was that other people with the same thing get pain just under their ribs. This was also listed under "symptoms" on WebMD.com and three other medical sights I looked at. I called the doctor back and requested a referral to a urologist (seems how a nephrologist deals with disease of the kidney while a urologist deals with any kind of urinary tract disorder from the kidney down). And I refused to go to the general surgeon to have exploratory surgery...was he serious?!?!
Anyway, I saw the urologist on my birthday. He was very nice and wasn't quite sure if the obstruction was causing my pain because its so sporadic. But wanted to do some testing to make sure. If nothing else, it would give us something to compare with later on if the pain gets worse. First on the list of tests was to make me nuclear!
Well, not really. I went in today and had a minor amount of nuclear substance injected into my vein while a machine detected the Gama rays to create the images. After about 15 minutes of watching it collect in my kidneys, a diuretic was also injected. This allows them to see how quickly my kidneys drain. At this point the nurse let me watch on a monitor. Let me tell you, that was pretty cool! I do know a bit of whats going on in our bodies (thanks to my A&P teacher that made sure of it!), but it was amazing to see it working like that. I was also a bit concerned as it seems that every time I have a test done, I'm not in pain. So I wonder if anything will actually show up. I was almost surprised to see how much quicker my left kidney drained compared to my right (and I did experience some pain during the procedure...). By the time the 45 minutes of the test was over, the left kidney was almost completely drained while the right still had quite a bit of the nuclear substance remaining. I don't know what it means, or if anything will come from it. But I'm glad it have it recorded and proven that my pain isn't just in my head!!! ;-)
1 comment:
Holy crap female! Im not sure what I think of the test you went though but then again Im not a fan of pain either so I guess its a give and take. I do hope some results are returned that will give you some feedback good or bad but not neutral. Crap you've gotten enough neutral, its time to end this freaking process!
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