Wondering if you ever had a lithotripsy or if it just wasn’t an option for this one.
My dad had it eleven times, so we know the drill.
Best of luck with your recovery!
I’ll be thinking about you, will send up a prayer on Friday. I think I can honestly say I know how you feel, I fought my right kidney for almost six years before winning the battle in January of this year. It was removed! 
You can ask Horseflesh about my Linda Blair impersonation, the day he visited.
My mom’s had conscious sedation a couple of times. Her memory of the surgeries boil down to “I’m going to give you something to relax you.” (pause) “We’re done!” 
Man, I just passed one of those last week. Damn, they hurt.
Do you get to keep the stone?
Can you post pics?
What kind of stone is it? I understand that there are different kinds.
Feel better soon!
Never had lithotripsy. About a year ago, I had two stones that were good candidates, but at the same time, had two stones that weren’t, so since he had to open me up anyway, he just took them all. This particular one, he’s afraid of doing lithotripsy because it’s right up against the wall of the kidney; the waves from the lith blast the damned thing, and could end up rupturing the kidney wall, which is what we’re trying to avoid in the first place.
Baker, I was aware that you had had yours removed (you think this is my first kidney stone thread? Hah! 
), and we actually asked the doctor about that, but he said that as rotten as my right kidney is, it’s still got enough healthy tissue to be viable if something should happen to the left one. But I do think that the right one’s gonna have to go sooner or later.
whiterabbit, yeah, that’s pretty much what I’ve heard about conscious sedation. In fact, my oldest daughter had it about a year ago, when she needed to get some bone marrow drawn. She talked and laughed through the whole procedure, but 15 minutes after the procedure was done, she didn’t remember anything at all. I understand this is not uncommon. The drugs they use often cause amnesia.
I already have three kids, a husband and two fish; I do not need a pet rock! As for posting pics, probably not, because chances are good he’s gonna have to bust it up and take it out in pieces. I can draw you a little cartoon representation, if it’ll make you feel better .
Mine are calcium, which means my goal is to keep my urine as acidic as possible (coffee, tea, cranberry juice, grape juice) and keep my kidneys flushed (lots and lots of water, plus a valid medical excuse for drinking beer). Unfortunately, mine are such that limiting dietary calcium doesn’t help, because if I don’t get calcium in my diet, my kidneys will leach it from my bones and make stones anyway! Then I end up with kidney stones and osteoporosis!
Well, my friend who’s driving me will be here in about an hour and a half, so I’d better go shower and stuff. Mr.norinew will be coming home from Baltimore this evening, showering, changing and coming up the hospital to check on me. Don’t know if he’ll get to post this evening, or not til tomorrow morning.
Posted by non doper hubby…
She came through it without any problems except one, THE DOC WAS UNABLE TO REMOVE THE FREAKING STONE!!!
No kidding, it apparently was “encapsulated” (his word), by other stones and he could not get it out. He did remove a bunch of smaller stones that would have caused problems later, but the big kahuna is still there. I have not spoken to the doc yet so I do not know what will happen next.
Since she still has this golf ball in her kidney just hoping it will go away is not a good option, so it looks like major surgery, not just the minimally invasive procedure she just had, will be necessary.
She is out of the hospital now and will post in the next few days when she is feeling better.
Oh my God. Poor norinew!
:Good thoughts:
Thanks for posting, Mr. New.
Well, that stinks. I’ve had three kids and one kidney stone. I’d rather go through labor again than have another kidney stone. Maybe with surgery it will keep the stones at bay longer. I sure hope so. Best wishes to you both.
Damn, damn, damn. I’m glad to hear she’s out of the hospital, but to have that big honker still in there? Yuck. Tell norimew if she needs to chat to send me an email.
Hey, guys, it’s me. I’m back on a very limited basis (it’s uncomfortable for me to sit in the desk chair for very long). As my hubby said, all went pretty well, except for the fact that they didn’t get the stone they were after. The did manage to fish out a couple of other ones. As for the one they were looking for, the doc told me that if I get kidney pain, a fever and puking, go straight to the ER. If this happens, and my kidney is on the verge of rupture, they’ll just have to flat-out cut me open.
As for this time, went like this:
Took over an hour on Friday morning to get an IV into me; they had to stick me nine freakin’ times! Then, I got pumped full of antibiotics to head off a possible blood infection. Then, off to radiology, where, with the help of a CTScan, they punched a hole into my right kidney and put a drainage tube in there. For this procedure, I had a combination of fentanyl and Verset (painkiller and sedative). I wasn’t asleep, but they numbed the area pretty well, and I was stoned enough to be joking with the guy who was punching holes in me. Some parts were a little painful, but, all in all, it wasn’t as bad as getting the IV. Then, over to Cysto for the retrieval. Anasthesiologist put a mask over my nose and said “You’ll be getting sleepy in a minute” then, as always, lights out for norinew. Then, waking up in recovery, asking for morphine. My doc had written for 4mg. of morphine every two hours, which I much prefer to 8mg. every four hours. By 6PM they had me in a room. I had asked the nurse about food (I wasn’t hungry right then, but figured I might be later) and she said a “light dinner tray” had been ordered for me. Someone brought me a tuna sandwich, some fruit salad and a piece of cake. I took about two bites of the sandwich, then decided I might do better with the fruit. I was picking at the fruit when I began to feel nauseous. Called the nurse, and she left to call the doc to get an order for phenergan. Well, about 30 seconds after she left the room, I knew I wasn’t going to make it. With a nephrostomy tube in my right side, an IV in my left arm, and a catheter up the middle, there was no way I could roll over. The best I could do was turn my head to one side. Lemme tell ya, folks, second-hand tuna salad is not yummy! 
But the nurses were great. Of course, changing my bed linens involved a lot of rolling me over, which hurt like a bitch, but they gave me more morphine almost right away. Saturday morning, I had a little fever, but the took my tube out, and drainage wasn’t too bad. They sent me home about 7PM Saturday night. I have hydrocodone for pain and macrodantin for infection.
The doctor is just gonna leave to golf ball stone alone until it starts making trouble. Unfortunately, there’s no way to predict when that’s gonna be.
Sounds darned unpleasant all the way around, norinew! Sending prayers and good vibes for a quick recovery from the current misadventures and a safe trip through the shoals ahead.
Well, norinew, that’s one more thing we have in common. LIke I said in an earlier post, I was doing my best Linda Blair impression when Horseflesh came to visit me in January. Yellow and green Jello, yumm. You know someone is a friend when they hold the pan for you!
Glad to hear you are home, though. Take it *easy, * and make jubby do everything. Keep in touch as you can!
Baker, the nurses’ best guess was that my vomiting episode was due to the general anesthetic; that’s happened to me once before, but it happened while I was still in the recovery room. When it happened Friday night, I’d been out of the recovery room for about two hours. I was still feeling nauseous Saturday morning, and didn’t eat anything solid until Saturday afternoon. Honestly, though, skipping a few meals is never gonna hurt me ). As far as making hubby do everything, well, he has to work in Baltimore all week this week, but I do have plenty of help. I’m not feeling all that bad, but am very worn out and my side does still hurt (pain being well-controlled by my meds). It’s my understanding that to get to my kidney, the doctors had to go through some muscle tissue, so I’m not supposed to lift anything that weighs more than 10 pounds, until the next time I see my doctor.
I’m going to try emailing you later in the week. It sounds like we have a lot in common!
Twicks, thanks for the good wishes! All you guys are so great!