Have you ever had surgery? What for?

Yes, I have had two surgeries under general anesthesia. (Also had minor oral surgery while awake)

In 2007, when I was 20 years old, I was in unbearable pain off & on. I thought nothing of it because the episodes were brief, and I was young enough back then not to give a second thought to my health or mortality. Lol Those were the days.

I was about to turn 21 years old. Then, not long after turning 21 years old, I woke up fatigued, with chills, and as sick as I have ever been with a terrible, persistent throbbing ache in my side. It traveled up my back and stopped at a certain point and at that point turned into severe sharp pain that felt like broken glass moving around in the spot that I later found out is my kidney. It wouldn’t let up and kept worsening throughout the day. I tried getting a shower that morning and was too sick and weak and in too much pain. I slid down into the bathtub, leaning against it with my head on the side as the shower water was streaming onto me.

This was so unusual for me. I was always young and healthy, never even so much as a cold.

I knew something was very, very wrong. Intuitively, I just knew I would need surgery but had no idea what was happening inside me. I kept telling myself it’s just a badly pulled muscle and putting off going to a hospital. Everyone said it was probably my appendix because my age was a common age for it back then. And it was on the side where the appendix is and the same symptoms except I also had kidney pain.

I could feel something inside me about to rupture. I felt the pressure building up and the pain. Eventually, I knew I had to go to a hospital that day. My dad came home early after work and took me to a hospital emergency room where I found I needed emergency kidney surgery under general anesthesia because of a potentially life threatening complication of a kidney stone that got stuck in my kidney and was obstructing it & the ureter. There was no time to wait for other options, like to see if the stone would move. They said it was lodged into the kidney and blocking the ureter. It could no longer do its job. The kidney shut down and was enlarged. I only had one functioning kidney. Waiting could result in rupture, permanent damage, or even necessary kidney removal.

The doctors said it was very unusual for that to happen to someone as young as I was and to a woman. It usually happens to older men when it does.

They were confident enough but weren’t certain they could save the kidney or that it wouldn’t have some extent of lasting damage. Thankfully, the kidney made a full recovery. They said I got there just in time.

My recovery was extremely difficult, both physically & emotionally. I struggled hard every day with the pain and fact of not being my usual healthy self. I was sick and weak and in the worst pain everyday.

Back then, it was the most painful experience of my whole life.

My urologist back then told me it would likely happen again, that it usually happens more than once when it happens to someone, especially when it happens to a young person. But he did say a helathy diet can make it less likely.

Almost, twenty years later, and thankfully, it never happened again. I was told by my doctors more recently that as long as I drink an adequate amount of water each day, I can likely avoid any more kidney stones.

I do not recommend this experience. Please drink your water and flush out those kidneys. You do NOT want this. At best, it’s excruciating, at worst, you can lose a kidney (or even die). I almost did and can speak firsthand, which makes me an expert who you should listen to 🤣😂

Around seventeen years later, I had another surgery. Kidney related also. I gave my kidney (the one that kept me alive back then when this one shut down) to a man who was dying of kidney failure. You can read about that here. 💚💙 Best thing I ever did. 🫘 I wish I had more kidneys to give. If I could, I would give a kidney to everyone who needs one (with the exception of people who would use it to inflict suffering on others, as I don’t wish to enable that, but they aren’t too common).

Xoxo Kim ❤️