Me and my nephrostomy

Well what is it? Good question. No-one seems to have heard of them. Mention it and you'll see eyes glaze over. My mother can't even pronounce the word! Well at the moment, it is the thing that is stopping me from having kidney failure and I suppose, keeping me alive. Have a look at my other blog 'Why I have a nephrostomy' that helps explain my story. This is what my nephrostomy looks like You can see in the picture that I have a tube that goes through the skin in my back and into my kidney. The tube helps the urine to drain out of the kidney (you can see a little bit in the bottom of the bag) and into a nephrostomy bag that is attached by adhesive to your back. You usually need a nephrostomy if you have a problem with your ureter, if it is blocked or not working properly. I had a hysterectomy and during the operation, my ureter got blocked. This meant that my left kidney couldn't process the urine in the normal way, as the ureter blockage was stopp...

A nephrostomy is not the nicest of things. Not the most convenient. Not the most comfortable. It effects the clothes I wear. It's not convenient for work or travel. Means I need to be near a loo pretty much at all times. And it's a bit of a passion killer. But at the moment, it's stopping me from being in incredible pain and potentially losing my left kidney. So I'm more than happy to have it - for now. I'd never heard of a nephrostomy before I had one. Why would I? None of my family have urinary problems, I don't work in the medical industry and I gave up watching Holby City years ago! You usually need a nephrostomy if you have a problem with your ureter, if it is blocked or not working properly. A percutaneous nephrostomy (or just nephrostomy as it tends to be known) is a tube that goes through your back and into your kidney. The tube helps the urine to drain out of the kidney and into a nephrostomy bag that is attached by adhesive to your bac...

I feel like I should explain why I started this blog. Well, when I had my nephrostomy put in, I didn't have a clue what it was, how to look after it, what I'd need to do - nothing! So what did I do? The same thing that we all do, I looked online for information. Well, there is really very little information for people like me about nephrostomies. You'll find quite a lot of information about the procedure of putting it in and that sort of thing, but I wanted to know what it was like. How did it feel? Was it going to leak all over my clothes on the train to work? You know, the REAL information. But there is very little information available online about what they are really like and what to expect. The other thing you will realise is that nephrostomies are not that common. I have no idea how many people have them, I am sure it's a heck of a lot more than I realise but no-one seems to be talking about them. There are lots of reasons why people might need them. But...