Blame it on the left kidney!

As you have noticed, I've not posted during the last weeks. Although workload has been huge these days, the main reason for the silence is my left kidney! No kidding!

A couple of months ago, during an annual health check-up, docs discovered I had an issue on my left kidney. Several exams after that I was diagnosed with "Ureteropelvic Junction Obstruction" - it was a congenital obstruction and my left kidney was barely working and had lost almost most of it functionality. For some reason the UPJ obstruction (see picture) was never discovered while I was a baby/child and I have never had any symptoms of it. Thanks God, kidneys work on a high availability cluster, so the right kidney assumed the workload.

Cool! So how does one treat it?
Simple: surgery! So last Tuesday I was submitted to a pyeloplasty - an open surgery were the obstruction is removed and the kidney reattached to the ureter. Not willing to get into details here, it turned out that the obstruction was bigger than expected and the surgery was a bit tougher than planned which resulted on five days in the hospital and a big incision on my left side.

Humm, does it hurt?
Oh yes, it does! :-) It hurts so badly that, for a couple of days, I was connect to a Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA) pump - it was attached to my spinal cord and with a simple press of a button it injected morphine to make things a little easier for me. That was cool! :-)

I'm getting better everyday and hope to be ready to re-start travels and full work on the next weeks.

Wish me luck!