I've heard of people having had kidney stones and how painful they were but I'd not ever had a problem with them. Did a search in the Health and Safety, last entry in 2010 relating. I'm putting this in for whoever might read this will have an idea that may help them. I put up with the pain for almost 36 hours before I took a trip to the ER. I don't see Docs or the ER unless it's an absolute have to. First day started with bad indigestion up high in the abdomen just below the sternum and between the ribs. Progressing into pain on the right side from the front but deep and into my back. I could not get comfort in any position. Laying down, one side or the other, sitting up it did not matter. I have something similar to an umbilical aneurysm wife and Dr. she works for have been dogging me to get fixed since gaul bladder surgery four years ago. Wasn't sure if that was the culprit for the pain. Afraid it was, I didn't want bile dumping into my abdomen cavity along with fluctuating pain being on a scale of 6 - 8 out of 10 being the worst. In the ER blood and urine pulled for testing they gave me something for pain through IV. Once that started working, took me up for a CT scan. When the test results and CT report came back, the Doc came in and said it was a kidney stone 1.1 cm in size. Problem was it left the kidney (which is what initiated the pain) but was too large to pass through the ureter which drains down to the bladder. They are trying to schedule me next week for a Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy procedure. I don't know if the equipment uses X-Ray or Ultrasound. I'd heard of it a long time ago where they put you down in a vat of liquid and blast the stone with waves to pulverize it into sand you can pass. My doc said they figured out how to do it without putting down in a vat now. However, they do knock you out for the procedure. Lining up not only on the X and Y axis but also on the Z to shoot from two instruments where X marks the spot with the focus area being just under the size of a quarter. First time for me to meet this Doc. He's fifty years old, w/ knowledge, some gray hair, looks fit and explained it all where I could understand it. I told wife of what few Docs I've had to see in my life, this is a good one. She agreed. I'll try to remember to tag back with the conclusion.
Best of luck in the "adventure", and get well soon.
Went through the process 30+ years ago, before the ultrasound was being used. Blocked my left kidney and had to have it removed with surgery.
Chris, don't know how you lasted 36 hours before going to the hospital!
Have heard few problems with the ultrasound. Then need to adjust your diet to prevent them happening again.
Good luck!
Had one about 10 years ago; was a CONTORTIONIST (trying to get comfortable) for several hours before heading to the ER in Memphis. I knew that's what it was from the descriptions I'd heard. It was around 2-3 o'clock on a Saturday morning; wife was driving/flying; I was climbing back and forth between the front and back seat and telling her that if she didn't GO ON, I was gonna have to drive. Had no more than got to the ER, than the pain went away; stayed there for 5-6 hours, was given a perscription for pain and came home. Made an appointment with urologist for Monday; he did x-rays, told me to pee thru a tea strainer and if nothing happened within 72 hours, to come back. I passed the thing at about 70 hours; looked EXACTLY like a small cockleburr.
Chris,
I have felt your pain :). A really terrible experience all around. Hopefully, your procedure will go well.
I passed 5 of them this past January/February when we were on a detachment in Fallon, NV. YES, they are no fun! I missed a total of only 2 days of work in the 3 and a half weeks we were out there. I passed the first one out there during a step aerobics class I was doing one evening. :D Lots of pain meds helped.
I have no experience but have been told it is about the worst pain a man can stand. One survivor said he now understands what child birth is like.
Chris,good luck to you. I never had that problem,YET.
I have to tell this on a cousin. He enjoys a good joke as much as me and this was played on him. This is what happened to him with his kidney stone. He and his doc scheduled for a removal operation. This was before the ultrasound procedure came out, and potentially quite painful based on where access and retrieval occurred, along with size of the stone and instrument used. Down in Jackson, Mississippi. About time for him to be getting out of the operation, a fraternity brother stopped in to check on my cuz. Part of the parking lot was gravel. The good brother crossing the parking lot picked up a couple of opaque, a bit egg shaped smooth stones. Arriving at the room floor he checked in to see which room cuz was in and was told. The nurse advised they had just brought him up a few minutes earlier and the he may be asleep and probably groggy. The good brother inquired to the availability of a specimen jar, which a nurse readily provided without question. Along the hallway the good brother retrieved the two nickel sized stones from his pocket, and into the specimen jar, covering with water from the water fountain then applying the lid. Arriving at cuz' room, the brother eased the door open to find cuz snoozing the anesthesia off. Brother quietly placed the specimen jar on the dresser, but where cuz could see it when he awoke, then exited the room shutting door quietly behind him. A good loud knock on the door and re-entering a bit abruptly and loud. Cuz came to realizing his good friend was there and he was in a hospital room. Good brother said "how'd it go?" Cuz said "must have been alright I'm in a room." Brother said "What did they find?" Cuz: "I don't know." Brother: "Well what's this?" picking up the specimen jar that now has cuz' name on the label and both focusing on the contents. Once cuz was able to cut through the anesthesia buzz and putting two and two together, all he could say in horror is "You've got to be $#!++!^& me!" Much funnier now, this many years later.
:D Good story. Hopefully, your bottle will not contain any gravel. :o Keep us posted.
Wow Chris. Yours is 1mm larger than my largest. I've had to have 2 stones removed- an 8.6mm stone, and a 10mm stone. My urologist went in and broke mine up into smaller pieces and "basketed" the larger pieces ones out. I've passed more than 3 dozen in the last 15 years or so. My largest was 6.5mm about 6 months ago, and it is shaped like an arrowhead. My system produces too much uric acid, so thats what my stones are made up from. High uric acid levels also cause gout. I get it from time to time in my thumbs and big toes. My last CT scan 2 months ago showed that for the first time in about 20 years I am kidney stone free 8)
My older sister was teasing me a 6 or 8 years ago about what a wimp i was for going to the ER to have my stones removed. She has 4 kids, and they were all "natural childbirths". Shortly after I had one removed, she phoned me and said that she'd came down with some of the same symptoms that I'd get, so I encouraged her to go to the ER(she'd had the pain for more than 24 hours strait at that point). On the way to the ER, she vomited twice and passed out once. They hooked her up to an IV and bombarded her with fluids and more important to her, pain meds, did an x-ray, and within a few hours the stone had dropped into her bladder(hers was less than an inch from dropping into her bladder at that point). She then "peed" it out a week or so later. She said she'll take the pain of child birth any day to passing a kidney stone that size(8.1mm) :o
For those reading this, the ureter is only 2-3 mm(.08-.12") in diameter, and passing anything larger than 3mm can be extremely painful. Both of my ureters are stretched out now, my right one especially, so stones have to be bigger than 4 or 5 mm before they bother me much.
Oh my goodness :).
1. the pain is excruciating - one of the worst we see.
2. It's better to be put to sleep and have your stone, and yourself, pounded with ultrasound waves than to be operated upon.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Chris's post reminded me of this; my dad was dying of esophageal cancer in the mid-'90s. He was at home, where my mother and a sitter saw about him in the daytime and the 4 kids and their spouses took turns spending the night. He also had home-health care nurses who came 4 or 5 times a week. We'd gotten to know the nurses pretty good and really liked them. One Saturday, the whole family was there eating lunch and the nurse we liked best made her rounds. There was a 3-inch geode on the sideboard which we'd brought back from 'out West'; my mother had recently had gall stone surgery, which the nurse knew. I casually picked up the geode and asked the nurse if she'd seen my mother's gall stone; she was stunned, took it in her hand and said she'd never seen anything like it. She wasn't just going along with the gag, she totally believed it; we didn't have the heart to tell her any different, although I think one of my sister finally fessed up.........
Thanks guys, check in is Friday the 29th @ 07:30. Procedure @ 09:00.
Good luck Chris.
You'll wake up from surgery and be in a bunch less pain. There are always a few of the larger pieces that take a while to get rid of, and they can make you feel like you have to pee all the time, but that sensation is nothing compared to the pain you are feeling now. They'll probably give you a screen to filter out any "gravel" that's left in your system.
I'm getting a pain in my groin area just talking about kidney stones :-\ Think I'll go chug a bottle of water!
Take care and keep us posted.
Dang, didn't work. Doc said they cranked the machine all the way up. It didn't bust the stone. Didn't even crack it from what they could tell. Ran the machine for the maximum time. Not so funny now, they are going in that down there first with a fiber optic laser he says will break it up. Then remove the fragments with a basket. My cuz's story/joke played on him by the frat brother doesn't sound so funny now.
Chris, I had one and it took about 4 days to pass it!!! take a bunch of advil and drink all the cheap bear you can stand !!!!!!! the beer numbs the pain,and the fluid will help you pass it !!!!! believe me i know the one i had hurt so much it was hard to breathe !!! when it passed i heard it hit the bowl !! good luck. Don
Cris,
I'm feeling your pain. Lithrotripsy worked great for me on my first stone, as I was able to pass all of the gravel within a few days. The second time, a large portion of the stone stayed wedged in my ureter about an inch away from my kidney, and it took a few weeks for it to eventually pass into my bladder. For me, once they make it to my bladder, peeing them out is a cakewalk.
If you get bored, do some googeling on how to naturally get rid of kidney stones. The last one that I passed started out at just over 8mm according to the X-ray. It wasn't hurting that bad, so my urologist decided to wait and let it work itself out. I didn't necessarily agree with him, so I did the lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil procedure every night before bed for about 2 weeks. The lemon juice breaks the stone down slowly and the olive oil acts as a lubricant. When you wake in the morning, you'll have lemony fresh urine with an oily consistency. It worked great for me. I passed the 6.5mm stone mentioned in one of my other posts at the end of the 2 weeks, as well as a few smaller ones since. Recent X-rays and CT scans show I am free of stones now. I'm now taking proper natural supplements, as well as concentrated cherry juice to hopefully prevent future stones.
I experimented with one of my stones to see if the lemon juice does actually break them down. A stone from my body will lose its hardness and will crumble to the touch after a 10 day soak, so I'm a believer!
Good luck Chris
loggah, Won't happen 1.1 cm stone vs 2-3mm ureter. Be like trying to stuff a basketball down a 4" stove pipe, ain't gona happen.
martyinmi, Thanks and I will look in to "how to naturally get rid of kidney stones."
Well, they went in that way this morning. Touched it with his lazer and it moved back into the kidney. Once it was backed up into one of the pockets, he began boring holes in the 1.1 cm. stone. He said he busted it up to pieces small enough to pass. Because of the swelling in the area, he installed a stint to keep the ureter open. With the stint in the way the pieces won't be able to come out. Doc will remove the stint next Friday. Pee'n razor blades along with blood ain't no fun. First try started to, pain cause and immediate shut down of the not now. Constant feeling to take a constitutional. I usually take care of this after my morning coffee, which I did this a.m.
I wish you luck and a SPEEDY recovery, too!
Oh goodness :). That is bad.
Well that sucks Chris, hang in there. :)
Not having much luck,or you? But I'm sending a bunch to you. ;D Sorry to hear of the hard time you are having.
Norm, the doc must have been using a do-all farm implement clearing a path. That's about what it feels like.
Hopefully your urologist is better than my FORMER urologist was when the stint is removed. If they are good and use modern scopes, as my NEW urologist does, it is not very painful. My old doctor was just that - old - and so was his equipment. I have no way of knowing for sure, but his scope (it's hollow in the middle to incorporate the pliers-type instrument used to pluck out the stint) FELT like it was a half inch in diameter or more and two inches in length. I'm sure my "by feel" measurements are exaggerated some, but it definitely hurt, and he was not gentle. He also took 4 or 5 stabs before he hooked it well enough to pull it out.
My new doctor had me take a couple 10 mg KETOROLAC (generic for TORADOL) an hour or so before I came in for the removal and that really, really helped with the pain.
Hope it goes well for ya Chris. Sounds like you'll be stone free in a week or two.
Quote from: Chris Burchfield on July 06, 2012, 08:46:46 AM
Norm, the doc must have been using a do-all farm implement clearing a path. That's about what it feels like.
Awwwwwwwwwwww, man! I feel for you.......
I had a stint removed, and I was a little worried about the process. This thing must have been 16" long. I was talking to the Doc while he was checking me out. I was asking about how he would do it and if it would require anesthesia. While I was taking, he just reached down, grabbed the string, and pulled it out in one motion :).
I was going to tell you about my stint removal after yours is out. :-X
You are right..........I should have waited, too :-X.
Quote from: WDH on July 06, 2012, 08:40:41 PM
I had a stint removed, and I was a little worried about the process. This thing must have been 16" long. I was talking to the Doc while he was checking me out. I was asking about how he would do it and if it would require anesthesia. While I was taking, he just reached down, grabbed the string, and pulled it out in one motion :).
I'm quite sure that Chris's stint is in a different location than yours was. His will be "hooked" in his kidney and travel down to his bladder. The stints used on me were basically a piece of rubber with hooks formed on each end. You definitely know that they are in there, and their removal is unpleasant, but a bunch more bearable than the 1.1 cm stone he had.
Yup, Mr. Happy has a sensitive side. :D
My stone got stuck above the y intersection and there was no way it was gonna pass. Doc went in to get it and sent me home same day procedure. I got to remove the cath and bag strapped to my leg the next day while in the shower.
The stint came out 2 weeks later in his office.
I will never go see that guy again.
Whew :).
I don't know about Chris but I cross my legs ever time I open this thread....and you guys aren't helping one bit! :o
Amen!
He'll be better soon and it'll only be a memory. ;D
Reading this is as close to those procedures that I ever want to get. :o
The stint is looped at both ends. One end is up in the right kidney where the stone fragments are. Then it extends down the ureter toward the bladder. Thursday and yesterday were rough even with the pain med every four hours. Though I don't like pain, I don't like dope (pain killer) unless absolutely needed. I laid off the pain med last night. Got up this morning cut/bagged, edged the front yard then blew the sidewalk and driveway off. Came in showered, and took pain med. It's suppose be 101° F this afternoon and did'n want to wait for the sun to go down. It would still be hot around 100° F. It was about 78° F while I was out there this morning and though sweating not too bad. Bobo and the boys don't want to be cramped that's for sure. At times it's like when a guy has been racked. I did take pain med after I got out of the shower this morning.
I took half a pill of pain meds when I had mine done and almost passed out from it.
It was a good thing I was sitting down because my wife said my eyes were rolling around the back of my head. The over the counter stuff is good enough for me.
Like I've always said.... medicine is pain and some Docs are better at it than others. ;) You can take that any way you want to read it. Good Luck Chris!
Hey Chris,
I've been wondering how you've been getting along. Did you pass all your gravel yet?
Here are just a few of the stones I've passed over the years. The two largest ones are a little over a quarter inch(6-7mm). If I remember correctly, my first one was only a bit over 3.5mm, and I thought I had a burst appendix and was dying.
Sorry for the bad picture. I know how to zoom out on our camera, but I don't know how to focus it on close-ups.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/25594/Kidney_Stones_001.JPG)
OUCH! Grrrrr! >:(
He busted it up with a lazer on the 12th. Ex-ray of it on the 20th showed the gravel still there sitting in the bottom of the kidney. Doc said he didn't know why and suggested I spend any time I could laying on my side. Seems the ureter attaches off to the side and just above the bottom of the kidney. I've not realized anything coming out. Small enough I probably won't. I don't think he left anything in there large enough to cause pain on the way out. Said busting it up took about an hour. Wants to check it in three months.
Whew :).