Rescheduled Surgery

The surgery was rescheduled for November 17th.  Everything went as planned this time.  I had a difficult time coming awake this time.  I was hurting so bad and didn't feel good at all.  The first procedure was just "Blink! I'm awake."  This time was more of a "What? Oh my gosh I hurt."  

At my post-op check up I was able to get the scoop from the doctor as to what he did and what he saw.  He was amazed that all of the dark blotches we saw on the x-ray were not actual stones, like they appeared to be.  They were pockets of stones.  Each one he came across was a pocket that he had to cut open, and each one contained at least 3-4 stones.  One, he said, contained up to 20+ stones.  He was quite amazed by this discovery.  We also noticed at the post-op check up that some of the debris has floated down to the lower pole of the kidney, even though almost all of the pockets were in the upper pole.  I had not passed any of the debris from the surgery at that point.  He told me that everything he broke up turned to sand sized pieces, and I probably just couldn't see them.  Plus I had a stent in, so anything bigger was being held back by the stent.  

Because of the debris that has floated to the lower pole, I now have to do a thing called TIPPING.  I drink one liter of water, wait approx 20 minutes, then hang over the bed or the couch and turn my kidney upside down.  This way the debris can float back to the upper pole and come out through the ureter.  I have collected 4 very small stones so far.  I'm worried that I won't get it all and they will start to cause infections.  I'm really tired of always worrying about my kidneys.  I was hoping that after the surgery I would be able to just relax for a while.  But I guess this is just the challenge that God decided to give me.  I need to be as strong as I can, and deal with it day-by-day.