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My mother-in-law is going into the hospital today for surgery. Actually, she is there now, and I am heading back there to be with my wife (I had contact issues and needed my glasses).
She hasn't been able to eat anything solid for almost 4 weeks now, and has been surviving on juice, bullion, and fruit and berries. She has lost almost 30 lbs, and is very, very weak.
Turns out she has massive amounts of kidney stones...I saw her x-ray and it looks like a quarry in there...somewhere around 10-15 stones in all. She isn't passing them, but they are affecting her body's ability to absorb fat in any form. If she ate anything fatty at all, even a bite of a burger, it came back up right away.
One of the stones is HUGE, and it looks like it is embedded in the wall of the kidney, so they are doing 2 different surgery's today.
First they are using a laser to zap most of the stones, and then they will admit her overnight and do a surgery to open up the kidney and remove the boulder embedded in the wall of the kidney.
Charlotte is very cool, and I love her very much. I know that a lot of people aren't very lucky when it comes to in-laws, but both Jenni and I got very lucky that way.
Jenni and I are worried because Charlotte is so weak, and she died three times the last time she was admitted (they had to revive her on the table), so Jenni is particularly worried this time. We know that this is really minor surgery, but it still worries us.
So if you could, please keep her in your prayers. We can use all the help we can get, if you know what I mean.
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I know all too well what that worry is like - my mom tends to die under anesthesia also (and also has had problems with kidney stones recently).
I'll keep her (and you and your wife) in my prayers.
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(((Kwea))) I didn't realize kidney stones could prevent the absorbtion of fat. I really hope she's alright. I love my MIL too. She jokes that if we break up, she's keeping me.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I believe him when he says kidney, but gallbladder stones, are the ones more directly affecting fat digestion as far as I know becuase the gallbladder is where the bile is stored.
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Well, they vaporized the stones, even the big one as far as we know. Charlotte is at home already, and eating for the first time in 4 weeks...just pastinas and bullion, but still, it's better than fruits only...lol...
Gall bladder problems affect diet more than the kidneys, but the nausia she was experiencing was from the kidney stones. Definatly kidney stones...about 12 of them judging from the x-rays.
Thanks for all the good wishes..I'll make sune JenniK sees this thread tonight.
I am sorry, I just saw this! I am glad everything came out OK. Literally and figuratively.
My husband had a kidney stricture a few years ago. The attacks are extremely painful. It wasn;t really stone, they had to open up the passage leading into the bladder. Not pretty.
Anyway, I am glad she is OK.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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