In other words, has a doctor ever played Space Invaders with your kidney stones? What was it like?
My surgery is 7:30 Monday morning, and I have this sick fantasy that I’ll be back at my desk by 8:30, in no pain at all, and peeing painless sand.
How wrong am I?
I’ve had, I think, 3 shock wave lithotripsies, and enough cystoscopies I lost count. I understand that in a cystoscopy the scope goes up into the ureter (there wouldn’t be much point stopping before reaching the stone) so I don’t understand the distinction. I also had a lithotomy. I don’t know about laser lithotripsies.
I think you are overoptimistic, unless things have really improved in the last few years. The last lithotripsy had me peeing some sand and one 5 mm boulder, which hurt plenty until I felt (and swear I might have heard) a “poink” deep in my delicate diaphanous parts as the monster cleared the UBJ and fell into my bladder. I’d had 30 mg of oxycodone and maybe 5 mg of hydromorphone and could not really tell if it was helping, though when the pain passed I realized I was very dizzy. This would have been about 7 years ago.
Most of my experiences left me alternately scabbing up inside and getting blocked and full, and then dislodging the scab by peeing, which was really painful and made my urine vividly red. I think a couple or three days recovery was typical.
The lithotomy was much bigger a deal. I was hospitalized for 10 days and out of work for a few months. There were 4 stones jammed together, of 13, 9, 5 and 4 mm diameters.
On the plus side, it just plain hurts, good old fashioned pure ordinary pain, and it doesn’t feel urgently weird or make me crazy, like being afraid of a back spasm, or guarding a surgical scar, or having a big cast start itching. You just have to put up with the pain and/or use painkillers.
Thanks for sharing that.
From my discussion with the nurse this morning, I don’t think that mine will be all that bad, but I’ll probably spend most of Monday in a hospital bed. And out for half of Tuesday.
I’m really not looking forward to this.
Had several kidney stones removed a few years ago.
Some were removed by extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy. This involved lying on a large rubber sheet partially filled with warm water. Sound wave pulses were then directed at the stones for several minutes, with pulses happening every few seconds or so. Best way I can describe this would be like being stung mildly by a small insect. No real ill effects afterwards apart from some discomfort passing urine.
Others were removed invasively by ureteroscopy under general anesthetic. Went into surgery late one afternoon. That night was spent being periodically woken by nurses to drink water, and to pee quite painfully (the worst part of the whole experience for me was the sight of peeing what looked like pure blood - I nearly passed out each time). I was able to get myself home by taxi by the middle of the next morning, although I think I should have stayed a few more hours in hospital as I was quite groggy from the anesthetic. I hate hospitals though so I forced myself to struggle home.
None if it was too terrible though. Hope that helps.
P.S. I may have passed some blood after the shockwave lithotripsy as well now I come to think about it.
Holy crap! Sincerest regrets for your experiences. How might one avoid kidney stones to begin with? Because whatever it is, I’m going to start now.
IANAD so I’m sure you’ll get better advice than this from others. But I seem to remember being told to keep well hydrated, avoid sugary drinks and don’t be overweight amongst other things.
The removal is nowhere near the worst part though; the worst part is if the stones start to move down the ureter. That is quite unbearable agony. On the way to the E&R in the ambulance I must have depleted their supplies of gas and air and morphine, and I was still clutching the ambulance guy’s leg for dear life and screaming like a stuck pig!
After that you’re more than happy to undergo any procedure to get the damn things out.
Oh, and good luck tdn!
Thank you!
The thing is, they are not going to move out on their own. They’re stuck there until they get removed.
Drink lots and lots of water and an occasional shot of cranberry juice. I had a kidney stone in 1987. That was my doc’s advice and I haven’t had one since.
Yes, well, how do you know? Doctor’s prediction on the basis of their size, or what?
I always figure a millimeter doesn’t get noticed, 2 or 3 will pass and just hurt, 4 or 5 or 6 may or may not get hung up for a while and need somebody to go chasing after it, 7 and up I’m figuring probably needs help. But that’s just been my experience. Do you have a size estimate?