So you have kidney stones.

By gferren, Unfiltered 11-17-05

So you may have kidney stones!

I'm going to share with you my journey (so far) through discovery and treatment of kidney stones.
It will give you some idea of what you may experience and hopefully things will go well for you.

Blood in the urine! An alarming sign that brings fears of cancer.
As timing goes, mid-May, it was time for my DOT physical update and I had begun noticing blood after my morning run. I mentioned it to the doc, who suggested that if the blood flow continued or increased,
I should talk to the urologist.

A couple of weeks later the blood returns. I began to wonder if my plumbing had suddenly changed or
if something like bladder cancer is trying to get my attention. I made the appointment with one of Missoula's traveling doctors, bi-monthly to Superior.

Lab work is ordered (this means blood and/or urine sample). The urologist wants to perform a cystoscope procedure first. This allows him to look into the bladder and through some of the piping.
The device is about the size of a pencil, I think, cause I try not to look at it while I feel it being shoved up my penis, careening off walls and into the bladder. Each push is memorial!
The immediate effect after removal of the cystoscope is the feeling that you are holding the worst leak you have never gotten to take - yet. But once relieved (even if relieved before the procedure), the effect for the next couple of hours is still the same "about to pee on myself feeling". I enjoy this effect and for (3) days after feel like I am pushing a razor blade down the pipeline every time I had to urinate.
Some Fun!

Since the cystoscope turns up no tumors or cysts, the urologist wants me to do MRI scans. One vanilla and one with an IV dye. BTW, these bill out to insurance at over $2K a pop.
Near as I can tell the main purpose of this MRI scan is to look for cancer.
Doc says he will call me and update after he sees the MRI scan results.

After (3) weeks and no call from the urologist or his staff, so I call.
Figure if I do have cancer I should know about it.
Nope, no cancer, but you do have kidney stones.
I'm then scheduled to meet the urologist in a month and talk over an x-ray.

X-ray shows a large stone, thumbnail plus size, and one about one-quarter that size.
Urologist says if I don't get 'em removed they will choke off the kidney and kill it.
Alright, let's schedule a lipotripsy for Oct 14th, that should give me time to get back in the
saddle for hunting season. (wrong!)

A lipotripsy is where the urologist attempts to bust the stones small enough to pass on out of the kidney.
I never did get a straight definition on just what it is, someone said laser, someone said sound waves,
I expect its sound waves generated by lasers directed through some liquid medium?
I could look it up, but since I was going to be unconscience, didn't ever bother to.
*Ultrasounds are used to induce vibrations and mechanical fragmentations of renal and gall bladder stones (lipotripsy)

I get up at 4am to drive 80 miles to Missoula for surgery. No food, no drink since midnight.
Nurse makes a pinayata out of my hand, 3rd try gets the IV in. Good sign?
They come in with knockout drugs (about 10am), tell me I won't remember anything, and I don't.
BTW, day surgery lipotripsy procedure for kidney stones bills out to about $12K.

By early afternoon, I've recovered enough to be driven the 80 plus miles back home.
Weak, but that's too be expected.
Surgery is done on a Friday, so I hope to be recovered enough to survive my part-time job on Monday/Tuesday.
Drugs - Lortab (hydrocodone 7.5), for pain: good for skint knees and great for causing constipation.

Monday evening I'm running a 103-degree temperature, dead tired. I feel a bit better Tuesday am, but going to work is a mistake. By the end of my day, I'm toast. More 103 temp. Looking at an infection that has started since the surgery on Friday. (no antibiotics were prescribed, even though a stint was installed)
My urologist says their patients don't normally get infections. We speak to a personal friend, an RN, who says antibiotics prescribed with stint installs are common practice.
Lortabs are done, can't use 'em, they offer little pain relief and for sure constipation. The urologist prescribes more Lortabs (hydrocodone 5.0); I can't use 'em.
Looks like the rest of this adventure will be sans pain killers.

Tuesday night requires an emergency trip to Missoula and the hospital, IV and liquid antibiotics. (ER room bills out to roughly $1400) My wife and I get back home about 2am.

I start eating antibiotics and by the next week, I'm back to about 60%. Anything more than 2 days work would put me down.

But let me tell you about the stint! This stint is a real treat. Whenever you have to go, you have to go right now, no waiting! The result of trying to hold back until you can get to the closest john is an excruciating pain and cramp. This is caused by the backflow of urine up the stint into the kidney.
With the stint, I have to urinate every (2) hours or less, day and night.

I think the stint is causing the infections, the urologist says its that I'm not drinking a gallon of water a day! Oh yeah, only 3% of stones have bacteria within them, but that could be it too he says.
*Because normal hydration can be maintained over a wide range of water intakes, the AI for total water (from a combination of drinking water, beverages, and food) is set based on the median total water intake from U.S. survey data. The AI for total water intake for young men and women (ages 19 to 30 years) is 3.7 L and 2.7 L per day, respectively.
(Now if the "average" person drinks 3 qts of water a day, my understanding of math tells me that some drink 4 and some drink 2, that's the way we used to do "averages".
Applying an "average" to any individual is anal if it's an assumed fact. IMHO)
And no urine sample was done prior to the lipotripsy; a 2-week-old blood sample was used instead to check for infections.

Urologist wants to see me 7 days after I go through the antibiotics.
I finish the antibiotics and in less than a week I'm running 104 plus temp.
On Monday night, with high temperature, I pass out and fall, denting the kitchen cabinet and my head and neck.
My wife has brought home more amoxicillin, but it takes until Tues for it to really start to effect the infection. We have an appointment Wednesday in Missoula with the urologist.
Previously scheduled date for an xray and the stint removal.

Gist of the meeting is that I'm not drinking enough water. Urologist won't remove the stint, there are stone pieces in the works, stones follow the stint not flow through it he says? Pulling the stint would dump a blockage in the narrowest point in the channel. Rescheduled for the day before Thanksgiving.
Urologist gives me some sample Flomax to take also, sposed to "relax" things.

Ok, started this journey in May, the nightmare on October 14th, and today is November 16th.
Pre-emptive strike a good thing for kidney stones, not in my opinion, at least not the way this is working out. Between the middle of Oct and the 1st of November, two weeks, I lost 12 lbs. In Sept, I was packing out an elk I arrowed during bow season. Some days now, I can't walk around the driveway.
Now I have neck problems from the fall to add to the kidney stone complications.

Lets imagine a liptotripsy where the urologist does his thing, then takes a new xray to confirm what's left.
Let's imagine surgical procedure involving a stint install where antibiotics are introduced and maintained from start to finish.
Just seems like common sense, No?
Now as for drinking 3 qts of water a day, kinda hard for me to do normally, but on top of being half dead?
But surely there is some drug that induces thirst.

To review: expect frequent (and immediate) urination and associated pain.
The process from start to finish may take longer than you expect.
Sex, well let's just say it probably won't be high on your agenda until the k stone thing is history.
Fluids, drink as much as you can, then drink more.

I hope this information is helpful should you face the prospect of dealing with kidney stones.

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