Tuesday 1/13/2009 6:56 PM

Wow!  Another good day for Sally!  Dr. Jiminez removed the now-capped nephrostomy tube that has been in her right kidney/back for over two months.  She said the removal hurt but she's glad to be rid of it.  As Dr. Jiminez was removing it and teaching his nurses, he said "This is the tube that saved her life when she had all that infection in her kidney".

He said he can see (on the x-ray) two stones in the kidney and at this time they appear close enough together that he thinks there's a fair chance that he can get both of them with one lithotripsy procedure.  We sure hope so.  The procedure is now scheduled for January 22nd at 12:00.  This is when they "blast" the stones with sound waves and will be done under general anesthesia.

He'll leave the stent in her ureter to assist in the flushing of the debris from the stones.  Then, he'll remove that when he feels that he's gotten all that he can.

I asked about taking her back to Texas with me in mid-February and he says that looks OK if he gets all the stones with this lithotripsy.

Now, Sally sees Dr. Johnson, her diabetes doctor on Thursday and we'll see what else needs to be done to treat this serious underlying condition...