How big are your stones ?

[ckadiddle]

A few of you that know us may have wondered where I have been lately.

Saturday afternoon 7/11/09 i began having some discomfort and pain on my left side. I had had a little bit off and on for several weeks. It was very similar to symptoms I had a couple years ago that went away and didn't bother me again until recently. I begged kadiddlebabe to take me to the ER sunday morning 7/12/09 with left side pain that wouldn't go away or improve no matter what I took. The ER doc gave me some nice pain meds and diagnoses kidney stone with CT scan. On the 13th I went to the kidney stone specialist and he estimated the stone to be approximately 8 by 12 millimeters judging by xray. On the 14th the stone was pulverized with Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL). (Wikipedia has a nice writeup about if if you want to know the gory details.) Frankly, living with the stent that runs from my left kidney to my bladder to drain out the sand and gravel (it was put in while I was unconscious for the ESWL) is much more painful than the stone attack was.

Of course, you are supposed to drink LOTS of liquids to flush everything out, but they kinda don't warn you that urinating is a painful experience with the stent in place. Even with pain meds onboard. And, since you are drinking a lot, it hurts often. Oh yes, you have the urge abnormally frequently too since you have plastic in your bladder irritatinting it constantly.

On 7/21/09 I went for xray and stent removal (you only get local anesthetic for that!), still had a lot of debris in my kidney, so the stent had to say in for another week. I go back on the 28th to check again.

I haven't been able to work all this time. If I take enough pain meds to be comfortable for a while, I am too loopy to think clearly. I tried cutting back some on the pain meds, but quickly discovered how much pain they were covering up.

I would have much rather gone through the old fashioned cut-you-open-from-the-outside-and-take-the-stone-out-with-forceps method but apparently that is not the way it's done today. I am guessing this is much cheaper for my health insurance company.

That's what I have been doing lately.

To pass the time, kadiddlebabe and I have been playng Gears of War 2 while I am gorked on pain meds. My reflexes are a wee bit slow, so I get us killed a lot. :-)

[rayjay]

Sorry to hear this. I can sympathize with the cronic pain. Hope you are feeling much better soon!

[jgc61sr2002]

Hope you are feeling better.

[ImpalaSlayer]

jeeze this is getting common around here! im a bit worried on how the stint goes in!!!! :eek:

[oldekid]

Sorry to hear that Pete.

Hope you get better real soon.

[Black_Noise]

what the.... are you guys getting old or something?

[oldekid]

what the.... are you guys getting old or something?I'm hoping it's the "something". :)

[Black_Noise]

as long as the next "NEW MOD" its a cane holder in the MM

[oldekid]

as long as the next "NEW MOD" its a cane holder in the MMThat'll work.

[stangracr]

Its not how the stint goes in that is the problem. Its how it comes out. I had this done before. Try to take it easy.




ed

[MM03MOK]

Hang in there, Pete. Hope you feel better soon!

[ckadiddle]

Its not how the stint goes in that is the problem. Its how it comes out. I had this done before. Try to take it easy.




ed

You got that right. It goes in while you are completely unconscious, same as being out for surgery. You don't realize how bad you hurt until the next morning.

I am MUCH more concerned about the stent coming out, while I am awake and aware and they are only using local anesthetic. I will be taking a wee bit extra pain med prior to the appointment this coming Tuesday. I hope and pray that it can come out at that time, no matter how much it hurts. If I pass out, hey, I will already be lying down on a able anyhow, so I won't have far to fall.

If you want to know how they put the stent in and get it out, google "cystoscopy". It's an unpleasant, barbaric procedure whether you are male or female. I would much rather have had them open me up and take it out.

In addition to the pain meds, they have me on antibiotics as a preventative measure, and an anti-nausea med. If I let the pain get out of hand, the pain causes nausea. Otherwise the antibiotics cause some nausea all by themselves.

[ckadiddle]

I did find out from the doc that the tendency is definitely inherited. My dad had stones when he was 30 and again when he was 60. I keep telling him that when he hits 90 we are just gonna drop him off and he can call for pickup when they are done. Unfortunately, I fear he will have to undergo this stupid, lengthy process that I am going through. If it's this hard on me at my tender age, what's it like for folks in their 70s, 80s or 90s?


Mental note:
Slap Dad upside the head after I get healed up.

[ckadiddle]

what the.... are you guys getting old or something?
Definitely something. I had a stomach ulcer a little over a year ago. Now it's a big freaking kidney stone. I try not to think about what is next.

[ckadiddle]

Thanks for all the sympathy, it does help. I am not a very good patient.

[ckadiddle]

Saw the kidney doc yesterday afternoon. Bad news, some debris has left the kidney, but there are a lot of kidney stone chunks left over that will not fit down the stent and therefore not depart my body willingly. The kidney doc's office is supposed to call me today to schedule me for a second Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy treatment. That means this will likely drag out several more weeks.

This is freaking ridiculous. :(

[CBT]

Saw the kidney doc yesterday afternoon. Bad news, some debris has left the kidney, but there are a lot of kidney stone chunks left over that will not fit down the stent and therefore not depart my body willingly. The kidney doc's office is supposed to call me today to schedule me for a second Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy treatment. That means this will likely drag out several more weeks.

This is freaking ridiculous. :(

Is that the laser thingy that breaks them into smaller bits and pieces?

[03calitejas]

Dude, you have my sympathy completely...I've had stones twice now, once at 30 and another about 5 years ago at 44ish. Both were ones that lodged in the tube between the kidney and bladder. Wicked lil buggars...both passed without surgery but took like a week. Thank God for modern chemistry (take the pain meds and try to be patient).

If you look up one of the other kidney stone threads, I posted some recent research on them that points towards some do's and don'ts in order to minimize the chance of having them again. Beers and wine seem to be good defenses

:beer:

[Mr. Man]

Being a chronic former of stones myself (to many to count). Most pass on their own w/ some discomfort but I know once they do I'll be stone free for awhile so I deal. Its the suckers that do not pass(5-6mm and up) that result in mind bending pain to the point I've actually begged the nurse to kill me, sounds funny but its the truth. I'm surprised they put a stent in between the kidney and your bladder after they did liptho, usually do this before because they can't schedule you for the procedure for a week or so and the stent allows the urine to flow thus no mind bending pain. I had the stent once and let me impart you with a little wisdom. After they take it out they will make you wait till you pee before they release you from the hospital. Take your wife into the bathroom with you and SIT when you pee, your wife can balance you if you pass out and call for help. My wife is a nurse and she followed me in and I was like I can do this by myself and she just looks at me and says "sit to pee" so I do and I'm glad she did. Felt like I was passing razor sharp pieces of glass. I almost passed out from the pain, oh yea don't be surprised to see lots of blood this is normal but your urologist may omit this point during his explanation of the procedure. Each time you pee after it hurts a little less until you are back to peeing like a race horse. Also you might ask the doc for a prescription of Flomax it helps relax the ureter so the stone fragments pass more freely. I sympathize w/ your predicament and wish you a speedy and as painless a recovery as possible. Good Luck!

[ckadiddle]

Is that the laser thingy that breaks them into smaller bits and pieces?
Nope, they use shock waves. They use some sort of water or gel filled mattress to transmit the shock waves to the body (which is made up of mostly water). Somehow they can magically target the area the stones are in. It must be somewhat painfull, because they put me completely out for the process. I did pass some blood for about a week afterward.

The treatment is supposed to break up the stone into dust that will pass through the stent that the inserted while I was out during the procedure. kinda like beating a rock into dust with a hammer I guess.

[ckadiddle]

Being a chronic former of stones myself (to many to count). Most pass on their own w/ some discomfort but I know once they do I'll be stone free for awhile so I deal. Its the suckers that do not pass(5-6mm and up) that result in mind bending pain to the point I've actually begged the nurse to kill me, sounds funny but its the truth. I'm surprised they put a stent in between the kidney and your bladder after they did liptho, usually do this before because they can't schedule you for the procedure for a week or so and the stent allows the urine to flow thus no mind bending pain. I had the stent once and let me impart you with a little wisdom. After they take it out they will make you wait till you pee before they release you from the hospital. Take your wife into the bathroom with you and SIT when you pee, your wife can balance you if you pass out and call for help. My wife is a nurse and she followed me in and I was like I can do this by myself and she just looks at me and says "sit to pee" so I do and I'm glad she did. Felt like I was passing razor sharp pieces of glass. I almost passed out from the pain, oh yea don't be surprised to see lots of blood this is normal but your urologist may omit this point during his explanation of the procedure. Each time you pee after it hurts a little less until you are back to peeing like a race horse. Also you might ask the doc for a prescription of Flomax it helps relax the ureter so the stone fragments pass more freely. I sympathize w/ your predicament and wish you a speedy and as painless a recovery as possible. Good Luck!

They have had me on Flomax this entire time.

I am actually needing more pain meds per day due to the stent being in than I did prior to the first ESWL procedure. If I let the pain meds go too long, i feels like someone hits me in the kidney with a baseball bat at the end of each urination. I mentioned this to the doc, he said this is because with the stent in place, some urine gets forced backward into the kidney and the kidney doesn't like it. It's that baseball bat feeling that the pain meds cover. It's more severe pain than the pain I was having that made me go to the ER.


Yes, I sit down to pee every time in case I might pass out. I wish I had stuff small enough to pass on their own. The nurses showed me a stent prior to the firs ESWL, frankly I thought it was so small I didn't see how anything other than dust would pass through it. I have yet to pass any particles of any size.

Perhaps we could use this procedure on terrorists instead of waterboarding?

[stangracr]

I hated having the stint in for the week after my stone was removed. After day 3 I was asking the doctor to take it out. I was working with the thing in and just couldnt do it. Good thing about pain is when you feel better you really feel better. Good luck to ya. Been there and know what your going thru.




ed

[W4LTD]

Get well soon....:beer:

[Mr. Man]

Sorry you have pain from the stent. The one I had rubbed on my bladder and made me feel like I had to pee all the time. I took the week off because it was uncomfortable but not painful. Chin-up you'll feel better soon.

[ckadiddle]

And it continues.....

Over Fri, Sat and Sun developed bad head and chest congestion with wheezing/gurgling noise. Went to doc-in-a-box Sunday afternoon late. I now have acute bronchitis in addition to kidney issues. Called the kidney stone center and they moved my next ESWL treatment out to Tues August 11th. Anesthesiologist won't do me with this bronchitis stuff going on, which is what I feared. This is really going to drag things out even longer.

[rayjay]

Hang in there man. It seemed like forever when I was going through my back injury earlier this year. It will get better.

[ParkRanger]

They have had me on Flomax this entire time.

I am actually needing more pain meds per day due to the stent being in than I did prior to the first ESWL procedure. If I let the pain meds go too long, i feels like someone hits me in the kidney with a baseball bat at the end of each urination. I mentioned this to the doc, he said this is because with the stent in place, some urine gets forced backward into the kidney and the kidney doesn't like it. It's that baseball bat feeling that the pain meds cover. It's more severe pain than the pain I was having that made me go to the ER.


Yes, I sit down to pee every time in case I might pass out. I wish I had stuff small enough to pass on their own. The nurses showed me a stent prior to the firs ESWL, frankly I thought it was so small I didn't see how anything other than dust would pass through it. I have yet to pass any particles of any size.

Perhaps we could use this procedure on terrorists instead of waterboarding?

After the stent is out and you need to pee for the first time - try a sitz bath - that is get into a hot as possible to take bath and try to pee while in the hot tub. It helped me - something about the outer temp matching your inner temp????? Anyway, it worked for me and kept the burning feeling down, except for the blood that came out kinda shocked me.
Maybe the doc will give you some good dope to also help to ease that first pee! ASK for demoral.

[ckadiddle]

And it continues.....

Over Fri, Sat and Sun developed bad head and chest congestion with wheezing/gurgling noise. Went to doc-in-a-box Sunday afternoon late. I now have acute bronchitis in addition to kidney issues. Called the kidney stone center and they moved my next ESWL treatment out to Tues August 11th. Anesthesiologist won't do me with this bronchitis stuff going on, which is what I feared. This is really going to drag things out even longer.

The bronchitis wasn't any better by last Thursday, so I went to see my regular GP doc. He checked my records to see what he gave me when I had this bronchitis a few years back. Thanks to a different antibiotic and a steroid dose pack I am over the bronchitis. I will be going tomorrow afternoon for my second ESWL treatment.

I will probably try to go in to work some on this thursday and Friday even though I will still have the stent in me. I have used up all my accrued leave time so I am in the hole financially.

[SILVERSURFER03]

i figure the stents will stay in and be absorbed by the body i just had 4 put in myself just a little higher... and the used a local for groin install......... i feel for you brother get well soon my friend

[Mr. Man]

i figure the stents will stay in and be absorbed by the body i just had 4 put in myself just a little higher... and the used a local for groin install......... i feel for you brother get well soon my friend
Different kind of stent here Brian, he has a rubber or plastic one. Yours are made to be permanent. The doctors will eventually pull his out through his wee wee.

[ckadiddle]

Different kind of stent here Brian, he has a rubber or plastic one. Yours are made to be permanent. The doctors will eventually pull his out through his wee wee.


Correct, mine is about a foot or s long, with a circle at each end to keep it in place. That means a circle of plastic constantly irritating the kidney and another one constantly irritating the bladder. And yes, it will eventually be pulled out through my weewee. This has been going on for so long, I am actually beginning to look forward to that day.

My lungs cleared up in time, so I did have the second ESWL Tuesday 8/11/09. I told the doc beforehand, "don't spare the horses, crank it up to full blast!" because I MUST get over this and get my bohunkus back to work. Of course, doc thinks he knows best. After the procedure, he told kadiddlebabe and I that he started at level 7 and 1500 pulses, but he didn't see any activity in the stone pieces that were still left. He cranked it up to level 9 (the max allowable according to doc) and 2500 pulses (again the max allowable according to this doc).

I go back next Tuesday to check the status with x-ray, maybe have the stent pulled if I am really lucky. Doc says that if they did not respond to this treatment he will have to go in and pull the pieces out manually with tools. I think he has a tiny shop-vac. :) I am guessing several large orderlies will have to hold me down for that.

[Mr. Man]

Only one orderlie needed.... Mr/Ms Anesthesiologist... can you say nite nite...count back from 100... bet you don't reach 95

[ckadiddle]

Saw the doc today, one week after second ESWL treatment. I still have kidney stone pieces in my kidney. We have an appt this Thursday with another doc at the kidney center who will be cutting me open to get the leftover pieces out. Well, he'll make a small incision in my back, stick some sort of tube into the kidney and get them out via the tube. This will mean at least one night in the hospital and I will be peeing into a bag from the left kidney for a while during healing. That's what I wanted them to do in the first place. Sheesh. Cut me open and get it out, how difficult is that??? I wanted them to do this to me FIRST, not diddle around with fancy pants shock wave crap.

The fun never stops.

[Mr. Man]

I hear this is a dangerous operation, you may want to give the pieces more time to come out on their own.

[ckadiddle]

After consulting with the new doc yesterday, he actually admitted that on the xrays you cannot really tell if what is showing up is little bits of stone that are too big to pass down the stent or stone dust that just doesn't want to leave quickly. After discussing things for a while, we decided to go ahead and remove the stent immediately. We will keep an eye on the kidney to see if things clear out on their own. Stent removal was NOT fun, but I had been wishing for it for so long the pain was welcomed. I no longer have someone hitting me in the kidney with a baseball bat every time I urinate. Sure, it burns pretty good while urinating due to the doc sticking the scope and stent grabber up there, but it's less than 24 hours after stent removal and that feeling is diminishing quickly. I am in almost no pain now, and it's wonderful.

[Mr. Man]

Just keep drinking a lot of water 3-4 liters a day. Seems like a lot but the alternative is worse and far more dangerous. Salude':beer:

[ckadiddle]

WooHooo!!!! I have been getting rid of little pieces of rock with almost no discomfort since the stent came out of me. Obviously the pieces were too large to pass through the stent, but are passing just fine without it in the way. I have a checkup this afternoon, hopefully the xray will show things have cleared out some.

[Mr. Man]

Now that the pieces are flying becareful you don't mistakenly kill the cat. lol

[TCBO1]

We are glad to see that you are finally doing better. glad to hear you are not in any pain now. Stupid doctors... sometimes I wonder about them.

[Donny Carlson]

I didn't have the pulverising, but did pass a few stones when I had it. Worst pain I ever felt.

Expect to have urinary infections for a few months after. Those shards punch little holes all down the tubes and these will get infected until they all heal up. I had to take these tablets that made my pee look like root beer, and when it hit the water in the bowl, it turned bright orange. It also stains everything, so any droplets will show up if you aren't careful. Doc also said no fooling around, not even by myself, because the, eh, you know, would also have the dye and it would stain. And should not be injested. I just smirked.

[Mr. Man]

The pills were supposed to make the passing of the stones less painful, they don't work. If you get a urinary infection take it serious as the male of the species don't get urinary infections as often as our female counterparts. They are built to handle the infections more readily, further explanation...ask your wife. Urinary infections in the male can kill you so if you think you have one go see your doctor right away.

[ckadiddle]

Thanks guys, I will keep a watch out for infection. Last week I did half days, this week I am back to full days at the office.

[ckadiddle]

It's two years later...that familiar pain came back in my left side again....

Had Kadiddlebabe pick me up and take me straight to the ER from work. Had one big one and one medium sized one this episode. Had shock wave treatment again, stent was in for a week, then doc pulled it out. Follow up visit to the doc is a week from this Friday.

Gosh it has been a fun month so far.:help:

[rayjay]

Hope all turns out for the best. I can comiserate with you. I have colon problems that seem to never want to go away. Even after two surgerys. Now my recent back surgery messed it up because they went in from the front and moved everything out of the way. Still not working properly three full months later. It litterly a PITA :(

[Mr. Man]

Drink something with a lot of citric acid in it like Crystal Light. Supposedly the citric combines with the oxalate that makes stones and you pee it out. I drink about a gallon a day and so far no stone problems for almost a year and a half. I was getting stones between 10 and 15 months. I still have a 3mm in my right kidney but it hasn't grown any in almost a year. Could be a coincidence but I choose to believe it's the Crystal Light. I need to see the doc for an X-ray soon to see whats going on in there. After about 8 months I start to obsess about it and it keeps me awake so if the X-ray shows no change or the stone is gone I'm good to go for 8 months or so till I start to obsess again.
Sorry you needed a stent, I feel your pain. There's nothing that prepares you for that first pee:eek::lol:

[ckadiddle]

There's nothing that prepares you for that first pee:eek::lol:

Except perhaps having a friend whack you in the kidney with a baseball bat....

[Mr. Man]

To be honest I'd rather be hit in the kidney repeatedly with a bat than experience that peeing small shards of glass feeling again.:bigcry: Thank God like you said it goes away pretty quickly.