My Convertible Life

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Waiting Rooms

In the past month, I've spent more time in more medical office waiting rooms than I've ever visited in a four-week period.

Dentist. Optometrist. Allergist. Orthodontist. Dentist again. Pediatrician. Gynecologist. Urologist. Radiologist. Dermatologist. Urologist some more.

As a result, I've learned that: no one in the family has a cavity, my contact lens prescription is the same, Junius is still allergic to peanuts, I qualify for invisalign, both kids qualify for the flu mist, my UTI wasn't actually an infection, I need to stop drinking cranberry juice because it's a bladder irritant, I don't have kidney cancer and my skin is clear.

Oh, and I was born with three functioning kidneys.

That, my friends, is known as burying the lead.

Okay, so it's not exactly three full kidneys -- more like one full one on the left and two half-kidneys working together on the right. But it's funnier to say that I have three kidneys.

According to the urologist it's an "anatomical variant." Turns out that my left kidney is all normal with one ureter, but my right kidney has two parts with two ureters connecting to my bladder. Yeah, I know, really not the same as three kidneys -- but again, SO much funnier to say.

KidsHealth.org says it's something that happens in about 1 in 125 births. In my case, it's not really a big deal, except that it means I'm more susceptible to infections. So I'm drinking lots of water, eliminating tea and soda (sniff, sniff) and hoping for a healthier month ahead.

There you have it. That's what I've learned this week -- what's your news?


4 comments:

  1. Nice work burying the lead there. Aside from the invisible, magic eyes on the back of my head, I don't have any anatomical variants myself. Surely you can find a way to manipulate this information into medically necessary seat upgrades, parking spots and the like. So congrats!

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  2. Well, at least you know you probably shouldn't ever donate one of your kidneys to someone else...

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  3. It stinks that it makes you more prone to infections. I would have a hard time giving up soda (though I probably need to). I don't have anything fancy like 3 kidneys that's for sure! I did have to have emergency surgery when I was 20 b/c some fatty tissue wrapped itself (like a twist tie) around my intestines and went gangrene. The pain was insane, and if I had let it go a little longer they would have had to remove half my intestines or worse. Thankfully it was a quick surgery and recovery (at Rex Hospital the best darn hospital ever - I was born there too so I'm a bit biased - lol!)

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