19 April, 2010

Long time awaiting

Well, I have had so much going on lately. Almost two weeks ago I ended up in the ER because of my kidney stone. I don't ever go unless the pain gets so bad I am vomiting. Well, that is exactly what happened that Tue. night. I went into the er and the doc did a cat scan and decided I had to go to the next closest town to a urologist for surgery. The cat scan showed a total blockage of my left kidney, which I am 99.999% positive it happened back in Jan. I went to the doc then and she sent me to the hospital to have a renal ultra sound done on my left kidney. When we went there to get it done they told me "NO" they wouldn't even make the appointment. The reason for that is because I didn't have $250 to give them for the down payment right then and there. It costs $519 or $517 for a renal ultra sound at the hospital we have here. I told the lady I had $100 that I could give right then and there and she proceeded to say well you need the minimum of $250 to be able to have the ultra sound done. I tried to explain to her how important this ultra sound was due to that the kidney was blocked. She still didn't care. So I told my DH that if anything happens to me or my kidney to remember this bitch's name cause he was to sue not just the hospital but this bitch herself. Well that was 3 months ago. Well three months later I ended up in the er as I stated earlier and found that my kidney was totally blocked and enlarged by about 4 times the size it should have been due to the blockage for such a long time. I was admitted into the Del Rio hospital on an emergency basis for a procedure the next day. I had to have a stent put into my ureter going from my kidney to my bladder so that my kidney could drain the toxins that had be building up in it over the months. I then had to go back a week to the day later last Wed. and have surgery. The surgery is called Lithotripsy. Well I went to the doc's office Thur. to see how the lithotripsy worked. well When I saw the KUB (X-ray), I was royally pissed off due to the stone was barely touched or at least that is what the KUB showed. I asked the doc, "Why didn't he do this in the surgery room and make sure it was small enough before they finished up?' He said he couldn't and with stones this big that it usually takes more than one time to break them small enough to pass. I asked him if I could try, and disolve it or break it up natural ways so that I didn't have to have this surgery anymore. He said to do any and everything possible just to be careful of course. The stent has to stay in till the stone is totally out of my kidney. It is the most uncomfortable thing I have ever had to deal with. Not painful anymore just uncomfortable.


The reason for the anger and everything is due to I am paying for all of this myself. I don't have insurance and to get some it is not affordable due to the kidney stones I have. I honestly don't know exactly how much I owe the hospital at this time but I can tell you it is over $10,000. Just for the emergency visit, the one where I was admitted into the hospital, was over $8,000. I don't remember exactly how much over that but it was over $9,000 and then after that I had surgery and the next day got that KUB. This is just crazy how much it cost to stay alive. At least it wasn't done at the hospital here in our town. They would have let me die before I could have come up with half of the full payment.

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