Rowan Tree and Red Thread

I'm off to hospital today for a scheduled parathyroidectomy (an operation to remove one or more of the parathyroid glands). The kidney stones I've had, twice in the last three years, appear to be caused by a hyperactive parathyroid gland. The parathyroid produces PTH (parathyroid hormone; doctors aren't imaginative about naming hormones), which regulates calcium levels in the blood. High levels of calcium have almost certainly caused the kidney stones.

So I'm having it out. Or rather one of the four glands in question if it proves to be just a single culprit. I spent some time yesterday on the Web looking at pages on parathyroidectomies (an example for the strong of stomach here, a FAQ here and the inevitable Wikipedia page here).

Summary: gory but with a good rate of success. Possibly an interesting scar I can later blame on a drug deal gone wrong or an overenthusiastic sabre duel with a rival in college.

I'm back from the New Year's celebrations and a brief break up in Dublin visiting my mother, brother and his wife. The Christmas period was spent with sammywol's folks in West Cork, the New Year with my relatives, and now I feel like I could do with another break just spent at home. Unfortunately I'm back to work tomorrow (I should have been back on Tuesday but I took annual leave so as to celebrate my birthday (the 2nd) in Dublin and to ease back into the Cork scene gently.

I feel that I should be treating myself gently because I've got a trip to hospital scheduled for Monday. Recently the very clever people in the Cork University Hospital (CUH) decided that I have primary hyperparathroidism, and it's this condition that has provoked the kidney stones I've suffered from in the last 3 years or so.

This means that I'm into the hospital on Sunday evening, overnight there and get a scan on the Monday morning. If all is ready to go, I'm in on Monday afternoon to have the offending gland excised (it's likely one of the four PT glands and I hope I won't miss it). This done, I'm assured that I won't have any repetition of the kidney stone business. Fingers crossed.

Firstly, thanks to everyone for their sympathy and good wishes. Secondly, the stone passed, and I'm back home now, with a big stack of analgesics to handle any after effects. The pain subsided sometime in the midmorning.

I don't like pain, particularly not pain that takes away my ability to talk, makes me vomit, and consumes my every ounce of attention. I can dimly imagine how someone suffering from chronic pain feels and it's terrifying.

Liveblogging from the A&E room of the Mercy Hospital in Cork. I woke up
about an hour and a half ago with an excruciating pain in my lower back over
my left hip. Willpower and the fear of the pain getting worse got me into a
taxi and down the A&E.

I've had a kidney stone before and I suspected this is another one. Easy
diagnosis for a layman in the circumstances but that also means I have a
good idea how long this is going to take and how painful it can be. (Very
painful, in short).

I'm on a trolley in A&E now, calling down blessings on the medical staff and
the creators of Pethedine. More details as I get them.

And be nice to sammywol if you can. She's at home looking after
our daughter, Rowan, and fighting a bad cold on top of this new worry.