A Day in the Life of a Urinary Tract

Frustrating day with medical professionals.

1PM: We show up to NYU Tisch (after getting lost in that massive hospital - the worst elevators in all of health care) to procure a sonogram of Grace's kidney and bladder to show surgeon the stent in her that he will remove tomorrow. I had assumed that it was about a half an inch long. WRONG. It runs from the kidney, along the ureter, and through the bladder. It's a monster. Note to self: ask more questions. Grace is suffering from some kind of bug (100+ fever for over 24 hours - simply because she has surgery tomorow!) and is very irritible during the entire procedure, crying unconsolably.

3:30PM: we arrive at the pediatrician (after an idiotic subway ride) to get the pre-surgery okay. Doc notices some white "gunk" on her tonsils and is somewhat against the procedure tomorrow. She puts a urine bag on Grace to collect a specimen, and tells us to come back in 30 minutes or so. Grace cries most of the time. We leave, run a few errands, and I realize she has crapped herself.

4:30PM We go back, the docs declare the bag useless, they attach another one and we head out again for a break. Did I mention she cried the whole time?

5:30PM Grace is finally exhausted from all that emotion and falls fast asleep. We run a few more errands and head back to the doc's office. Luckily she is a one a day pooper so all is well. They get their specimen and it seems like there is no urine trouble. We call the surgeon who of course says that Grace must come in tomorrow and HE will decide if all is okay to perform the procedure to remove the stent. Grace cries for most of the time in the office.

Sarah & I agree this is one of those days that age us. We stop off at the liquor store for a nice bottle of wine.

We will awake at 4:45AM to have Sarah breastfeed Grace before going into the hospital. Just another day dealing with medical issues in our house. It sucks, but you just get used to it. It's simply what you do.