Not for the faint hearted....

Dear reader

This blog entry comes with a READERS WARNING that it might turn your stomach ever so slightly. It discusses items of a health nature. If you wish, turn back now.

So it seems I'm fast becoming a liability. Two years ago it was a broken hand that put paid to 8 weeks of beekeeping. This season....another hospitalisation...

Don't worry, I haven't become hyper-sensitive, that of every beekeepers' nightmare. No. The problem was much, much smaller.

After a day bottling and extracting honey two weeks last Thursday, mid afternoon I was just doing some accounts and invoices, when a sharp stabbing pain in my left hand side almost threw me off my chair. In fact it wasn't long before I was on the floor, doubled up in agony on a pain scale of 10/10.

The dreaded kidney stones had reappeared after an absence of some 16 years.

I called 999 after being violently sick and becoming feverish almost immediately. Yes, we'll call you back. They did. Yes, it sounds like you need to be hospitalised. Sadly we have no ambulances available.

Queue a frantic call to my folks who live an hour away. They downed tools and rushed over to find me still on the floor. 40 minutes in the car later i was in the A&E queue in Bath. After about 30 minutes I was triaged. By this time the paid had dropped to about a 7 and I could actually speak. Later that evening, dosed up on morphine, a volterol suppositary and a paracetamol drip I was put on the rotary ward for observation over night.

The next day a round of CT scans and x-ray confirmed a 0.5cm stone was trying to move through a 0.4cm Ureter pipe. They dosed me up and sent me home saying to come back if I had a recurrence.

2am Saturday morning - even worse 10.5/10 fever, sweats, vomiting, ambulance to A&E and two nights in where they discovered my kidney function was failing so they put me into emergency surgery to insert a 12" stent between the LH kidney and bladder.

A week later I was back having the stent and two stones removed and then they re-inserted another stent to allow the pipes to settle down and repair from all the tooings and froings by the cytoscope and stone grabber.

I'm back next week to have the stent removed a second time...this time by pulling on a cord that is currently hanging down out of the old fella. Apparently I have to breath in and out very hard as they 'pull'. You can't imagine how much the thought of that turns my stomach. If you hear a scream at 10am on the 5th. It's me.

The upshot of all this is most likely dehydration. I know I often overheat when opening hives. We've all done it on hot days. But this also allows those who are susceptible to stones to accumulate calcium in the kidney over time.

I'm now downing biblical volumes of water through the day to keep flushing the system. Tea is fine, not so much coffee or beer. In fact with the main killers I've been on beer or any alcohol isn't really on the cards and I haven't wanted a drink.

So the past two weeks has been spent largely horizontal or gingerly walking around. The stent rubs and I've managed about a day a week beekeeping, before the pain kicks in and I simply have to give up exhausted.

Last weekend over 120 supers were hastily put onto hives, just in case, but the weather this week hasn't been that good. Hopefully the rain will keep the clover and bramble yielding next when it warms up towards the 10th July.

It shows how much one gets waylaid by injury and illnesses. And how one is quite helpless to do much while the body recovers.

Hey ho. I hope by Wednesday all this is behind me !

KR

Somerford

 

[JamezF]

I managed to stomach the whole story without fainting but the "volterol suppositary" was too much, Sounds like a Hogwarts treatment.

The treatment whose name shall not be spoken? I thought the same thing

James

 

[Wilco]

I'll be winching on the 5th with you!

Hopefully it won't require quite that level of force to get the stent out.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Can you think of a vet example where this would be considered acceptable?

No I can’t
I’ve never practised defensive medicine. It’s a matter of judgement and experience but those odds are too short.
Apart from the fact that I find it unethical you’d never get away with it. What if the worst happened and your patient died? Unfortunately there multitude layers of obfuscation in the NHS and some pretty poor practices survive.

 

[blackcloud]

Something that was hammered into me years ago was the need to keep hydrated.
In the heatwave of 2017 I had to have most of my apiaries inspected due to being in a foulbrood contiguous zone, the SBI (now RBI) chuckled at my insistence on us both 'watering up' regularly from flasks in the truck.
Had a call a few days later, she'd gone on to inspect a neighbouring bee farmer's apiaires the following day and had disregarded the watering up breaks, which resulted in her passing out mid inspection.
Been lucky to avoid kidney stones (touch wood) probably part due to, having had kidney issues as a child my mother always hammered home the 'watering up' rule, but a few of my friends have experienced it and all have said that it's a pain beyond all others.

Watering up with a suit on is easier than watering back down.
Inspections tend to get quicker I find.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Watering up with a suit on is easier than watering back down.

especially for me MS plays hell with bladder function

 

[Swn58]

*Puts down glass of wine and drinks a litre of water.........*

I have noticed how hot I can get doing inspections. I do drink loads of water, but often after the job. I gather this is the wrong way round really! Thank you......I will correct it.
Many years ago, a friend of mine in his twenties was 'medevacked' out of Nepal, because of kidney stones. It was lucky he was insured!

 

[JamezF]

I have noticed how hot I can get doing inspections. I do drink loads of water, but often after the job. I gather this is the wrong way round really! Thank you......I will correct it.

Generally your body will tell you when you need to drink because you'll feel thirsty. It's not a smart thing to ignore that because it happens for good reasons. I guess the problem for beekeepers is that it's not always convenient to stop and drink "between hives", as it were.

I quite like the previously-mentioned idea of having a Camelbak (or similar) under the bee suit. In my case something that can be worn around my waist might work well as my suit has plenty of material to spare there (most of my suit is too big below the chest otherwise it won't fit my shoulders).

James

 

[Antipodes]

Generally your body will tell you when you need to drink because you'll feel thirsty. It's not a smart thing to ignore that because it happens for good reasons. I guess the problem for beekeepers is that it's not always convenient to stop and drink "between hives", as it were.

I quite like the previously-mentioned idea of having a Camelbak (or similar) under the bee suit. In my case something that can be worn around my waist might work well as my suit has plenty of material to spare there (most of my suit is too big below the chest otherwise it won't fit my shoulders).

James

That sounds like a good plan. The other option is to drink from a water bottle through the veil (making sure you are out of the way of bees buzzing at the veil as it will push it against your face area somewhat). The spillage will help cool you down.

 

[Mint Bee]

Generally your body will tell you when you need to drink because you'll feel thirsty. It's not a smart thing to ignore that because it happens for good reasons

Unfortunately if you feel thirsty, then you are already dehydrated. thirst is the physiological response to dehydration. I like the idea of a camelbak type solution, having had a few close calls with drinking through a veil

 

[roche]

A friend who pilots long haul flights always pre-hydrates. We tend to drink quite a lot of water prior to inspections..

 

[Somerford]

Did you hear me scream ?

The stent is out. It’s a very cold day I explained to the nurse as she asked me to lower my underwear.

The stent was basically a miniature version of a blue alkethene water pipe…

I had to drink a few cups of water after to make sure the plumbing was working ok.

Drive home was eventful - had to pull over at a Morrisons to use their facilities and buy some paracetamol which I’d stupidly not packed ‘just in case’ and broke them into pieces to aid digestion and waited until they started working before heading home.

Hopefully that’s it on the kidney front.

Am now waiting for a colonoscopy …. But that’s another story !

S

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Did you hear me scream ?

The stent is out. It’s a very cold day I explained to the nurse as she asked me to lower my underwear.

The stent was basically a miniature version of a blue alkethene water pipe…

I had to drink a few cups of water after to make sure the plumbing was working ok.

Drive home was eventful - had to pull over at a Morrisons to use their facilities and buy some paracetamol which I’d stupidly not packed ‘just in case’ and broke them into pieces to aid digestion and waited until they started working before heading home.

Hopefully that’s it on the kidney front.

Am now waiting for a colonoscopy …. But that’s another story !

S

Moviprep the evening before? BLECCCCH!

 

[victor meldrew]

Moviprep the evening before? BLECCCCH!

Should have been dosed with the old fire water it was orange coloured crystals that you mixed with water and stirred like mad as the chemical reaction generated so much heat that it could crack the tumbler !
I’ll leave the reactions in your gut to your imagination

 

[The Poot]

Did you hear me scream ?

The stent is out. It’s a very cold day I explained to the nurse as she asked me to lower my underwear.

The stent was basically a miniature version of a blue alkethene water pipe…

I had to drink a few cups of water after to make sure the plumbing was working ok.

Drive home was eventful - had to pull over at a Morrisons to use their facilities and buy some paracetamol which I’d stupidly not packed ‘just in case’ and broke them into pieces to aid digestion and waited until they started working before heading home.

Hopefully that’s it on the kidney front.

Am now waiting for a colonoscopy …. But that’s another story !

S

What a story! It’s amazing what the NHS can do, once you’re past the “front end”.
The colonoscopy isn’t too bad. The worst bit is when they “steer“ the camera around the bends. Fascinating to watch though!
I hope it all goes well for you.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The colonoscopy isn’t too bad

not what I've heard - a friend had one quite a few years ago, he said the going in wasn't too bad, but when they finished they didn't waste time removing the instrument, in his words "she whipped it out so fast, I almost swallowed my false teeth!!"

 

[JamezF]

Reminds me of one of the medical examinations that Michael Collins describes the astronauts being subjected to in his book "Carrying The Fire". Apparently it was carried out using a piece of equipment that came to be known as "The Steel Eel".

James

 

[The Poot]

not what I've heard - a friend had one quite a few years ago, he said the going in wasn't too bad, but when they finished they didn't waste time removing the instrument, in his words "she whipped it out so fast, I almost swallowed my false teeth!!"

Yes they do whip it out quickly! My “operator” was as grumpy as a grumpy thing, loudly moaning to his assistants that there were more patients than they could sterilise kits for. Perhaps the patient at the end of the queue.....no I won’t go there!

 

[victor meldrew]

Yes they do whip it out quickly! My “operator” was as grumpy as a grumpy thing, loudly moaning to his assistants that there were more patients than they could sterilise kits for. Perhaps the patient at the end of the queue.....no I won’t go there!

Try having an endoscopy down the gullet!,
can’t help wondering if the last patient had had a colonoscopy!

 

[Newbeeneil]

What a story! It’s amazing what the NHS can do, once you’re past the “front end”.
The colonoscopy isn’t too bad. The worst bit is when they “steer“ the camera around the bends. Fascinating to watch though!
I hope it all goes well for you.

I never have sedation for colonoscopies (I've had quite a few over the years) as it's interesting chatting the the operator while he gets the head to twist round the corners. I now know how John Hurt felt just before that Alien burst out of his guts!

 

[Amari]

You've had it rough.
I managed to stomach the whole story without fainting but the "volterol suppositary" was too much, Sounds like a Hogwarts treatment.
A word of warning. I'm told that when they pull out the chord from "the old fella" they tell you "on a count of three" but whip it out on "2". Just be aware.....
Good luck with the recovery.

My old fella is Thomas, ...... John Thomas. A few times I've had a catheter removed with a prior warning of 'discomfort'. It helps, just before the (usually female) specialist nurse pulls out the catheter, to imagine that angry bees have got into your veil. The panic of that thought vastly exceeds the 'discomfort'......