24 Hour Urine Collection: The Pee Test

Continuing on with my exciting blog series, Tests I Have Had Since Diagnosis....

Second post: The 24 Hour Urine Collection

Unlike the blood tests with the million acronyms this test is pretty straight forward. Yep. It's exactly what the title states - you literally collect all your pee for 24 hours.

After my initial m-spike was found, the first hematologist I went to told me I had to do a 24 hour urine collection before my next appointment.

I think my response was something along the lines of, "Okay...um...wait, you want me to do what??" I had never heard of such a thing. I had peed into a cup at the doctors' office but never "collected pee" during a 24 hour period of time.

A nurse presented me with a jug...

Now, if you are male this may not seem like a big deal. Begin female.... eh. Difficulties may arise! Luckily, my sister (who is a nurse) was with me at that appointment and she requested a "seat hat" for me to use. A "seat hat" fits over the toilet and makes things a little easier for the ladies...

I have had to do a 24 hour urine collection before all of my appointments at DFCI every 3-6 months over the last 3 years. Not a fun time. The worst part of the test is that the urine must be kept cold. Now, unless you want to keep it "on ice" in a cooler, the jug has to be stored in the refrigerator. YUCK. I have completely grossed out two roommates and now my OCD/germaphobe husband every time I have to collect. Typically, there are a few, "Heyyy, I made some fresh lemonade!" jokes tossed around to lighten things up. I usually try to make my appointments on a Monday so I can collect Sunday morning to Monday morning. The test for the most part causes me to be housebound.  I haven't really figured out how I could collect while working... I barely have time to go to the bathroom anyway!

Dana-Farber distributes the orange jugs in a lovely plain brown shopping bag. I've never really understood why the bags they give out are paper - plastic would make a little bit more sense since we are dealing with liquid after all. Anyway. The brown shopping bag can be used to transport the jug (or in my case, jugs...I drink a lot of water) back to the hospital. Occasionally, I'll bring my orange jugs back in a jcrew shopping bag instead to jazz things up a bit. Maybe then people will think I've just been out shopping instead of lugging around my pee...


Here are my most recent results:

09/07/2012 IEP, urine

RESULT:

No monoclonal protein detected. Test Performed or Referred by: Mayo Clinic Dpt of Lab Med and Pathology, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905. 

09/07/2012 UPEP

RESULT:(NOTE) Albumin is the only protein detected. See Immunofixation.

09/05/2012 GFR (estimated)

Units: mL/min/1.73m2

RESULT:

>60 Abnormal if < or = 60 mL/min/1.73m2 If patient is Black, multiply result by 1.21  Protein analysis SEE MEDICAL RECORDS AND/OR BICS   09/16/2012

 Kappa FLC (mg/L) SEE MEDICAL RECORDS AND/OR BICS   09/16/2012

 IEP, urine

No monoclonal protein detected. Test Performed [More]   09/07/2012

 UPEP

(NOTE) Albumin is the only protein detected.  [More]   09/07/2012

 M Protein, timed ur (mg/24h)

See rest of report. Unit: not reported mg/24hrs  09/07/2012

 Albumin (%), timed urine 100 %  09/07/2012

 A1 Globumin (%), timed urine

See rest of report. Unit: not reported %  09/07/2012

 A2 Globulin (%), timed urine

See rest of report. Unit: not reported %  09/07/2012

 B-Globulin (%), timed urine

See rest of report. Unit: not reported %  09/07/2012

 G-Globulin (%), timed urine

See rest of report. Unit: not reported %  09/07/2012

 A/G Ratio, timed urine See rest of report.   09/07/2012

 Total Volume, ur 3700 mL  09/06/2012

 Total Protein, timed urine (mg/24hr) 37

Reference range: <102 mg/24 h  09/06/2012

 Collection duration, urine 24 h  09/06/2012

Now to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what most of this means. What I do know is there is no monocolonal protein detected, which is really the point of the test - that is what I focus on!