My Opera
Monday, August 27, 2012 5:35:17 AM
I would personally like to thank all of you for checking out and participating in the MSK Online Project. Although I would love to take the credit, I had nothing to do with the idea and the birth of this site, but I am very thankful for the opportunity to speak out as an MSK patient.
A little about me...I hate writing about myself so I shall keep this short and sweet! My name is Julie Duckett, I am a 32 year-old wife and mother of five beautiful girls ages 21years-21 months. For those math-savvy individuals, obviously the older ones are not my biological girls but the three younger ones are. I was diagnosed with MSK when I was 26, just a month after I delivered our fourth, my second child. I have been battling kidney stones and doctors ever since! Some of my stories are down-right nightmarish while others are comical, like my very first lithotripsy. It was Cinco De Mayo and my urologist (whom I had just met that previous Friday, it was Monday) came walking into the OR with a sombrero and one of those glasses nose and mustache disguise, except the nose was in the shape of a penis. If I wasn't already drugged and strapped to the bed I would have run for my life! In no way do I claim to know everything there is to know about MSK, and most of what I do know is through research and experience.
Medullary Sponge Kidney is a rare congenital birth defect of the tiny tubules within the kidney. In a normal kidney, urine flows freely through these tubules but in a medullary sponge kidney, tiny cyst-like pockets restrict normal urine flow causing urine to back up in the collecting ducts. According to the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse, these tiny cyst-like pockets are what give the kidney the sponge like appearance, hence the name. When urine is restricted from flowing freely, certain minerals build up, bind together, and a kidney stone is born.
Medullary Sponge Kidney is an extremely difficult disease to deal with, both mentally and physically, and is downright frustrating at times because so little is known about it, and what is known seems to be extremely inaccurate. The purpose of this site and project is to compile valuable data and increase the knowledge base available to the medical community. If your experience has been anything like mine, you can understand the importance of the data being collected. I can't encourage you enough to participate in this project as well as participate in as many research projects you can find. They are few and far between which is the exactly why as an MSK patient you need to take an active role.
A little about me...I hate writing about myself so I shall keep this short and sweet! My name is Julie Duckett, I am a 32 year-old wife and mother of five beautiful girls ages 21years-21 months. For those math-savvy individuals, obviously the older ones are not my biological girls but the three younger ones are. I was diagnosed with MSK when I was 26, just a month after I delivered our fourth, my second child. I have been battling kidney stones and doctors ever since! Some of my stories are down-right nightmarish while others are comical, like my very first lithotripsy. It was Cinco De Mayo and my urologist (whom I had just met that previous Friday, it was Monday) came walking into the OR with a sombrero and one of those glasses nose and mustache disguise, except the nose was in the shape of a penis. If I wasn't already drugged and strapped to the bed I would have run for my life! In no way do I claim to know everything there is to know about MSK, and most of what I do know is through research and experience.
Medullary Sponge Kidney is a rare congenital birth defect of the tiny tubules within the kidney. In a normal kidney, urine flows freely through these tubules but in a medullary sponge kidney, tiny cyst-like pockets restrict normal urine flow causing urine to back up in the collecting ducts. According to the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse, these tiny cyst-like pockets are what give the kidney the sponge like appearance, hence the name. When urine is restricted from flowing freely, certain minerals build up, bind together, and a kidney stone is born.
Medullary Sponge Kidney is an extremely difficult disease to deal with, both mentally and physically, and is downright frustrating at times because so little is known about it, and what is known seems to be extremely inaccurate. The purpose of this site and project is to compile valuable data and increase the knowledge base available to the medical community. If your experience has been anything like mine, you can understand the importance of the data being collected. I can't encourage you enough to participate in this project as well as participate in as many research projects you can find. They are few and far between which is the exactly why as an MSK patient you need to take an active role.
Unregistered user # Wednesday, August 29, 2012 9:06:57 PM