Why Oh Why?: kidney stone

Showing posts with label kidney stone. Show all posts

Monday, October 11, 2010

If I'm Pissy, Blame My Kidney Stones

Well, folks, things have been rather quiet here in Why Oh Why? land. I feel like my stories of kidney stones are a broken records and I don't want to bore y'all with my day-to-day struggles. I find the whole thing tedious myself!

When last I wrote, back in March, I had just passed two stones and had the results of the one passed in January.

A whole lot has happened since then so let me catch you up. This is a long, long post so pull up a chair or start reading if you're having trouble getting to sleep!

** THESE ARE MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES. DON'T SUBSTITUTE THEM FOR THE ADVICE AND CARE OF YOUR TRAINED MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS! **

Since that time in March, I had passed quite a bit of blood. When I say "quite a bit," I mean that my pee is dark brown for days at a time. Based on my previous personal experience, I thought it took about 3 months from the time of first blood until the time that a stone passes. In hindsight, I think this was simply a coincidence and there really is no way to determine when all these things take place.

I was afflicted with this on both of my summer trips to NYC. Passing lots of blood, discomfort/pain, and the anxiety of possibly passing a stone. It's hard to enjoy anything when, in the back of your mind, you think that you could be in debilitating pain at any moment. What would I do? Where would I go? How do you get to a hospital in NYC?

The Diagnosis
So mid-summer, after four months of bleeding and I had returned from my second trip to the city, I went in to my primary doctor to get it sorted out. She sent me for a CT scan of my back to see what exactly we were dealing with.

The news wasn't good. You see, every time I would pass a stone, I told myself that it was the last. That it was a leftover from years ago and it had finally made its way to daylight.

The CT showed that I had four stones in my left kidney and eight in my right. Two of the four in the left were 15mm at their largest width. (One was shaped like a boomerang.) Since a max of about 2mm maybe 3mm in diameter can pass — they can be maybe 6-8mm long x 2mm wide like my others...shaped like a grain of rice — these two 15mm's were not going anywhere and would require some form of surgery. On the right, the largest was 7mm but thin and possibly could pass on its own.

I was referred to a urologist and I finally had someone who was going to do all the testing on WHY I keep making these stones. He said that kidney stones are not really a mystery. Once they find out why my body makes them, then we can prevent them, and get rid of the ones I have. The analysis of the January stone showed it to be the most common calcium oxalate type.

I was also told that kidney stones aren't exactly as harmless as I thought. They can cause serious kidney problems that could lead to kidney disease and dialysis! Had I known that, I would have been more proactive in my own care. I thought it was a matter of toughing out the pain and that be that. The CT scan also showed that my right kidney has lost about 20% of its mass.

He ran a series of blood tests and all the blood work was fine. That was great news! I then had to complete a urine collection test. I was sent two 64 oz containers, and I was to collect all urine for 48 hours — 24 hours per jug. When I saw these jugs, I thought it was rather ridiculous. Even funnier was that there was instructions for people that urinate more than that. More than that? I filled about 2" in the bottom on both days.

It turns out that I am severely dehydrated. Not such a surprise since I found out I was supposed to be filling one of those jugs a day! All of the other indicators of stones showed some elevation in the lab tests, but that was because of the lack of water to dilute them.

As I thought about it, I always have a drink with me but I rarely drink. And when I do, I take a couple of swallows and that's it. There's always some discussion about how much water people need to drink a day. Regardless of who you are, your pee should be CLEAR. You may need to drink a quart or gallon to achieve that. If your pee is yellow, you aren't drinking enough. End of story.

The "prescription" for my stones? Drink more water. Now, I thought I drank a lot during the day but this clearly showed me that wasn't even close to the case. I'm now required to drink 3 liters a day in order to pee 2.5 liters. This has NOT been easy but they assure me it becomes habit. Now I drink an 8 oz glass of fluid (usually Crystal Light) an hour. I set the oven timer for an hour so I can't slack off. I was also told to use a straw since we drink more through a straw than just from a bottle or glass. I still have to avoid foods that are high in oxalate including chocolate, spinach, cola drinks, coffee, pepper, peanuts, and a bunch of other items. Luckily, my dietary changes are minimal except the fluid intake.

The Options
What to do with those existing stones? I had 3 surgical options, each of which meant being under general anesthesia.

Option 1 was Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy. That's the process where they send sound shockwaves from different directions to collide on the stone to break it up. I have had this before, once on each kidney, back in the mid 90's. You may have heard about this when people describe sitting in a tub of water. The times I had it weren't in a tub, rather I was on a table with my lower back resting on a "bag of jelly" through which the waves were sent.

I decided against Option 1 because the stones are big and it would take forever. When all was said and done, it is about 70% effective and anything that is left behind would be the basis for a new stone to form. It can also physically damage the kidney and have other side effects.

Option 2 was Ureteroscopy. They send a scope up through the penis, prostate, urethra, bladder, and ureter to the kidney. The scope includes a camera and a laser to break up the stones.

I decided against Option 2 because it seemed the most invasive. It involved a lot more of the urinary tract, which I think has had enough trauma throughout my life, and it is a procedure best for stones caught in the ureter.

Option 3 was Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy. This meant going in through my back. At first I was a little worried about how invasive it would be in relation to Option 2. When I asked about the size of the incision, I was told there would be no cutting. Essentially, they poke a hold in your back, push it through the kidney to the hollow center (renal pelvis) where the stones are, and put the scope through that. It also uses a camera and laser to break up the stones. The fragments are removed through the tube in the back.

I selected Option 3 because the chances of success (over 90%) were much higher. If things went well, all stones would be removed. Another nice about no cutting is that the scar should be a small dot like a puncture wound.

My goal is to have both kidneys stone free so I don't ever have to worry about this again!

The Surgery
When I met with the surgeon, he initially thought that we'd have to schedule for the end of October. When I said that the sooner the better worked for me, we decided to do it the following Monday. In our meeting, the doctor was knowledgeable, reassuring, calming, and explained things very well.

Two weeks ago, I went in and had the surgery. I really wasn't afraid at all. The surgeon had come with the highest of recommendations (my doctor's husband had gone to him for the same thing) and I figured they do these things all the time.

My brother dropped me off at 7 a.m. and I headed up to admitting. I told him there was no need to stay, and if there was a problem, they'd call him. Maybe I shouldn't have been so nonchalant about it but when you live alone for as long as I have, I don't have the need for the comfort of others.

A handsome and comedic nurse came in and took all my vital signs. The next nurse, who was to put the ports in my arm, wasn't nearly as skilled. I still have huge bruises on my right arm where she was unsuccessful. An RN came in and put a needle in my left arm without much trouble. It seems that my veins would collapse from dehydration. Notice a pattern here?

I was wheeled down to the prep area where I met with several anesthesiologists that asked lots of the same questions. Have I had surgery before? Were there any problems? Am I allergic to any meds? Why was I there? When I told them I was subject to motion sickness, they put a patch behind my ear. Apparently people with motion sickness are more prone to be sick from anesthesia and the patch helps.

The surgeon came in and went through the whole litany again. He asked (although he knew) which kidney was being operated on and then marked my left arm with a pen. All standard procedure.

A neighbor mentioned that her niece worked at the hospital and she'd send her my way to make sure I was okay. Talk about serendipity! She came by while I was in pre-op and told me she'd been assigned to my operation! That made me feel a bit better. Although I wonder if she's the one that put in my catheter. *blush*

I was wheeled in to the operating room at 9:30 and I woke up at 1:30. They wheeled me upstairs and into a regular room. Everything felt fine. The surgeon came in about 5 and told me that everything went extremely well, that he'd sealed me up on the outside (sometimes they have to leave the tube in) and that I was able to go home if I wanted. My next door neighbor was on her way from work to visit me so I got a ride home with her. Bod-a-bing, bod-a-boom!

The surgeon also told me that he'd placed a stent through the ureter from the kidney to the bladder. We'd discussed this prior. It assured drainage without the tube coming out the back. Since there is quite a bit of bleeding, they want to make sure that a blood clot doesn't block the passage of urine and causing any post-op complications.

We dropped off my prescriptions on the way home, and I picked them up in the morning. General antibiotic (Cipro), a pain med (generic Vicadin), and another med for the urinary tract.

I peed a lot of blood for the remainder of the week which was normal and I was told to expect it. I was able to walk around immediately. The pain was a dull throb; I took only one pain pill every four hours. By the end of week, however, I was constipated which was causing more discomfort that the kidney. It was a side effect from the pain med. I stopped taking that and things moved through with the assistance of a suppository.

The throbbing kept up throughout the weekend but it wasn't so bad that it was unbearable. All of the online information says that patients should expect to be in the hospital for 2-3 days after this procedure. Being sore for a week was something I expected.

One nice bonus of going home the same day is that my health insurance plan is set up that I pay a co-pay for the various parts of the operation. If it is out-patient, my co-pay to the hospital is $75. If I had stayed overnight, the co-pay would have jumped to $500. So I ended up saving $425!

I went in for a follow up appointment the following Thursday. They took a KUB (Kidney, Ureter, Bladder) X-ray in the office. The doctor thought he saw a little something on the X-ray that he may not have gotten during surgery but he couldn't be sure. I have a follow up CT scan in 2 weeks where we'll know for sure. I hope he got them all!

Also on that doctors visit was the thing I feared the most. The removal of the stent. You see, when the stent is put in, you're under anesthesia. When they take it out, you ain't. When I had this done back in the 90s, it was one of the most traumatic things I've ever gone through. The doctor assured me it wouldn't be as bad this time since they used to use stiff metal hardware as opposed to the flexible plastic used nowadays.

I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't a walk on the park. I laid on the table and they covered me from chest to toe with a 3" diameter hole cut in the center. He grabbed my penis and I closed my eyes! He pushed the probe down through. It pumped in numbing gel that helped somewhat. The doctor had great bedside manner and he talked to me the whole time. He watched a screen on the wall that showed what was going on inside. He wasn't able to grab the end of the stent right away. It was pressed up against the side of my bladder so he had to fish around for it. Once he grabbed it, he started pulling everything out. It was over in about two minutes.

What's Next?
First, I keep on drinking the water and monitoring my diet.

I go for the CT scan to make sure everything on the left is in good shape. Then, we have to decide what to do on the right. I'm inclined to do the same thing but we'll see what the scan shows and what he recommends.

In the interest of clarity, these links are in temporal order.

I wish you well.

Monday, March 15, 2010

I May Finally Have A Solution To My Kidney Stones!

All this talk and activity around kidney stones over the past few days has been really odd.

After passing those two yesterday, the doctor just called to give me the results of the analysis performed on the stone I passed in January.

It is a calcium stone. I had stones tested about 15 years ago and the answer was that they didn't know what was in them nor did they have a solution.

NOW THERE IS HOPE! I'M PRACTICALLY CRYING TEARS OF JOY THAT THERE IS HOPE!!!

The stone is comprised of calcium oxalate and altering my diet can have a very positive effect on the recurrence of stones.

WHAT'S THE NEW DIET?
-- Go light on protein including meat and milk. Ironically, milk for the protein and not the calcium (more on that below).
-- Go light on sodium; don't salt my food.
-- Go light on citrus.
-- Avoid coffee, tea, alcohol, and soda.
-- Avoid spinach, rhubarb, and chocolate.
-- Drink lots of water...that's a given for any kidney stones.

HUGE LIGHT BULB MOMENT
Way back in the day, I could not gain weight. Seriously. I was a rail at 128 lbs and just couldn't get beyond it. The women in my office were so jealous.

When I started to go out to the bars and try to date, not having any muscle was a big problem. The gay scene is so looks-ist and I wasn't cutting the mustard.

I bought a home work out machine and set to remedying the situation. And what did I do? I drank protein shakes like a fiend. Morning, noon, and night. I took supplemental amino acid capsules to give my muscles the fuel they needed to grow.

Not coincidentally, I now realize, it was around that time that I had my two hospital stays with kidney stones. That included two $20K lithotripsy operations. While I did gain weight, getting up to 155 lbs with 25 lbs of that being pure muscle, I looked hot but I guess I paid a hidden price. I went from skinny Minnie to taking my shirt off at all possible opportunities. Now I'm 185 lbs, out of shape, and long for those days.

The recommended diet is very doable. I'll cut out my cup of coffee in the morning. The hard part for me will be the elimination of soda although I've done very well with that lately. If you'll recall, I've suspected the phosphorus in diet soda as the culprit. I switched to regular soda and my waistline has grown with the decision. Soda will have to be a treat now, not my #1 source of fluid!

You may be wondering why there's no restriction on calcium?

There was a study done in Italy among men with frequent kidney stones. It is summarized in this article in The Journal of Family Practice. It compared a low-calcium diet vs a low-calcium/low-oxalate diet. Turns out that the oxalate is the problem. Calcium combines with oxalate and renders it inert. If there is too much oxalate, or too much oxalate and not enough calcium to combine with it, the oxalate goes to the kidneys where the problem occurs.

My diet doesn't contain much calcium so I won't have to make any modifications.

That, my friends, could be the most significant health break through I've ever had in my entire life.

Keep your fingers crossed that it works!

In the interest of clarity, these links are in temporal order.

I wish you well.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

My Horoscope Said What?

Oh, it wasn't too long ago I was bragging about what a great year my horoscope predicted for me.

Well, if the past two weeks are any indication, I'm in for a rough 2010.

Y'all know I love to pass me some kidney stones. I started passing blood about 10 days ago and passed a 3mm x 3mm x 3mm stone four days later. That, my friends, was relatively easy when compared to my past experiences. I'm VERY thankful for that. Only an hour of serious pain.

A couple days after that, I woke up with a splitting headache. Four days after that, I dragged my ass to the doctor's office. I wasn't able to sleep or get off the couch. They gave me a shot for the pain (torpol or something like that). It was for headaches and they promised no woosiness. They were right: headache gone, I was clearheaded, and it lasted for 12 hours. That was Monday and I was able to complete some time sensitive client projects.

I am now 4 days into a Z-pack of antibiotics. The pain is from sinus pressure and Tylenol, Advil, and Benedryl Sinus were having no effect. Things are much better but I'm taking so many pills. In general, I'm anti-medication, if I can do without. I've needed such relief that I've been popping shit left and right.

My neighbor had a similar thing so it's going around. If you have these symptoms, you might want to get to the doctor earlier than I did and save yourself days of discomfort.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Monday Mish Mash

Here are some random items for a Monday:

Academy Awards
I was 6 out of 8 for those I wanted to win at the Oscar's last night. I still think that Gran Torino and WALL•E were better movies than Slumdog Millionaire and Milk. I'm not disappointed that Slumdog won, though.

It was a great night for acceptance speeches. I don't think I heard anyone thank God or Jesus! Here are the two I liked the most.

Dustin Lance Black won for Best Screenplay for Milk.

And Sean Penn won Best Actor for Milk.

I enjoyed the performances by Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway.

Kate Winslet looked stunning!

Kidney Stones
Yup, I'm passing another stone. Last year, when I went to the ER and they took X-rays for the pain I had on my left, they spotted another stone on the right. Well, that must be the one that is moving. Pain and blood on Friday. Now everything I do is with awareness that I could be in excruciating pain at any moment. It really messes with your head and life!

Lotto
The MegaMillions still hasn't been won so I need to get me a ticket today. It's about $150M right now.

Amazon Store
I've started selling my mother's collection of VHS tapes and CDs on Amazon. She bought them thinking she would watch them in her retirement...that didn't work out. Most are still in the shrink wrap. I've listed about 50 items and have sold 3 so far. I'm getting more than if I sold them at a Yard Sale where people would want them for 50 cents each.

That's it for today!

Friday, September 26, 2008

Douche Bags Of The Week: Greedy Chinese Milkmen

The official count is up to around 13,000 babies sickened by the melamine that some Chinese dairy producers added to watered down milk products in order to increase the perceived protein levels in testing.

[Sarcasm ahead.]

Less actual milk at the same price means more profit. Who cares if you have to poison the food supply to make some money? Now that the Chinese have been welcomed into the wonderful world of capitalism and greed, they need to learn a new phrase, "Let the buyer beware." I mean, these babies should have known better than to drink contaminated milk. They deserve to be sick with their reckless drinking and lack of informed research!

Sourced from an article in The New York Times:

As I have discussed here on this blog, I've had some serious battles with kidney stones. I can say I've won them all, but when you are going through that level of pain, sometimes the outcome isn't so clear. I feel so sorry for these babies.

People who profit at the expense of others, particularly the health of babies, are this week's Douche Bags of the Week. [And who said government regulation is bad?]

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Passing Kidney Stones: Spring 2008

Passing kidney stones seems to be about a three month process for me — from the time I sense something is wrong to the time I catch them in the strainer. This time was January to April.

For the sake of future readers of this saga, I've compiled it all into a single post. For readers that have followed along, I've excerpted enough of the posts so that the story makes sense when told in chronological order.

February 11, 2008: It started as just a thought.

March 26, 2008: Next was the pain and then the blood.

March 29, 2008: The pain began in earnest.

March 31, 2008: After a couple days reprieve, the pain was back.

A trip to the Emergency Room on April 4, 2008:

April 5-6: Sporadic bouts of pain and blood.

April 7, 2008: Much more pain and I called the ER-recommended Urologist for an appointment. He was able to see me right away. Here's a summary:
• He looked at the urine culture report from the hospital and said there was no infection and instructed me to stop the Cipro immediately. (I surmise it is something that ER doctors prescribe as a CYA.)
• When I told him one of the prescriptions was 600mg Ibuprofen, I was instructed to stop that immediately. It is also a blood thinner, and if I was going to have surgery, that would cause a problem.
• He agreed with the Flomax and Percocet prescriptions and told me to continue.
• I learned that Percocet causes me to have chills (my teeth were clacking they were chattering so hard), fever, and an itchy sensation over the lower half of my body.
• I learned that Flomax causes me to have splitting headaches. Kinda like a Viagra headache, only exponentially worse.
• Cranberry juice causes kidney stones; it is good for urinary tract infections.
• When the stone is in the ureter, lithotripsy requires the placement of a stent before the procedure. So that is really three "operations," at least two of which require going under general anesthesia: stent in, lithotripsy, stent out. When the stone is still up in the kidney, lithotripsy doesn't require a stent.
• When I refused to go through this (again), I was basically told to drink water and take the pain pills. The remedy is worse than the disease.

I left the office after making the decision to tough it out.

April 8, 2008: I had a bit of discomfort but nothing that require pain medication.

April 9, 2008: I passed two 4mm stones.

Where does that leave me? I'm still worn out by the whole process. It takes a lot out of one's body. And I know I still have the 4mm within the right kidney, and a 4mm and an 8mm on the left that are closer to starting the passing process.

Previous Kidney Stone Posts:I get a large number of hits from Google searches on "Kidney Stone", "Lithotripsy", and other related terms. In an effort to make the subject easier to navigate on this blog, I'm adding the following list of posts to every kidney stone entry to make them cross reference accessible.

If you are reading this because you have, or think you have, a kidney stone, I know your pain. Unless you've had one, and I've had some mild incidences and some really bad ones, no one can even imagine the level of pain.

Consider going to the emergency room. At the very least, make an immediate appointment with a urologist. I am not a doctor and these are my experiences only!

You could be experiencing a kidney stone, but it may also be a urinary tract infection, a tumor, or other medical condition. Don't take any chances with your health!

In the interest of clarity, these links are in temporal order.

To my fellow sufferers, I wish you well!

Friday, April 04, 2008

Well At Least I'm Not Having A Baby

At least, that is, according to the ultrasounds.

I finally couldn't stand the pain any more and went to the ER this morning. I had been up since midnight and the pain was intense for 9 hours and the hydrocodone wasn't even taking the edge off. Walking didn't give any relief, as I was out at 2 a.m. in the freezing cold trying to walk it off and then again in the rain at 8.

So here's the good news and the bad news:
• It is confirmed I'm passing a kidney stone although it didn't show up in either the KUB (kidney, ureter, bladder) x-ray or the ultrasound. Sometimes I psyche myself into thinking maybe it's something much more dangerous like cancer. The only part of the ureter that isn't visible in the ultrasound is the bottom portion hiding behind the bladder so that's where it must be. Good news since it is near the end of the painful part of the journey. The bad news is I still don't know how much longer and how much pain I have yet to endure.
• I have a new prescription for the more powerful Percocet painkiller.
• Of course, after I got situated in the ER, the pain went away.
• This is all occurring on the left. In the collection portion of the left kidney are two stones (8mm and 4mm) waiting to unleash. On the right, there is a 4mm in the kidney and still a ways from leaving its womb. Except for the size of the 8mm, I find this to be good news. I expected to be loaded, and with 4 soon to be 3, that is a good thing. These stones were made years ago so I'm confident the changes I've made in my diet are working.
• They found high levels of bacteria in my urine sample so I'm on Cipro for that.
• The spasming is what really caused me most of the pain and concern. These cramps are so intense that they make you vomit because the stomach muscle is right next door and gets caught up in all the fun. I have a prescription for Flomax for that. Flomax is a prostate drug but they've found it works for this symptom.
• A handsome, well built man roamed the ER under my watchful eye. He had the job of changing the beds when folks left. He was blatantly flirting with the girls and wouldn't make eye contact with me. Definitely gay. Definitely wanted me. :)

And the best part, as noted in the post headline, I'm not having a baby!
*

Monday, March 31, 2008

Catch Up

I was up all night last night with pain from the kidney stone. It started about 10, by midnight I had thrown up because of the spasming, and I laid awake for the next 6 hours — in between all the pacing. For some reason, pacing seems to take my mind off of things and I think it helps move my internal organs around to help the stone move.

There was significant movement today about 2 in the afternoon and the pain is gone. Keep me in your thoughts that I catch something in the strainer tonight.

For those of you that took umbrage at my disclaimer on yesterday's stuffed animals post, I was wondering how that pic would look to y'all. I live in a house decorated by a lady senior citizen (mom). It is stuffed animals, all things wolves, and clowns galore. But the rent is free, so it may bug me a bit, but did I mention the rent is free?
*

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Stone On The Move

It's 4 a.m. and the kidney stone is on the move. Horrible pain in the left front at my waist radiating down to my family jewels. I've been pacing for about 15 minutes and I'm in a bit of a lull on the pain at the moment. I need to go find a pain pill for the next go round.

I'll have to start peeing through a strainer to catch it. That's more for psychological reasons since knowing it's gone alleviates the constant anticipatory fear I'll have from here on out. It gets so it regulates your life. I don't want to do this, or that, for fear that I'm going to get stuck somewhere away from home and have a crisis.

On top of that, I have acid reflux and I'm sucking on a Tums. I told ya I'm the Morton's salt girl!

Update: I lasted until 7 a.m. and finally took half of the last hydrocodone I have...I don't want to "waste" it since more sever pain could be in the offing. I was able to fall asleep by 8 and slept until 10. The pain in my side is gone but the family jewels are still aching.
*

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I'm The Morton's Salt Girl

More fallout from my Post 1000.

I mentioned that some of my most popular posts are those dealing with my kidney stone battles. You may also recall that when I was trying to figure out why I was feeling so crappy a couple of months ago, I speculated that they might be part of the mix. After passing so many stones over the years, I know that when I'm not feeling right but there isn't an obvious reason, it may well be that I'm going to pass a stone. I even mentioned it as a possibility when I went to the doctor.

Last week, I had pain on the left side of my lower back. Not bad, but noticeable, and that's one of the first indicators of stone activity. That is, after the general crappy feeling. Today I was peeing a significant amount of blood.

Yes, my friends, I have a stone(s?) on the move.

So that means carbon monoxide, sleep apnea, and kidney stones. No wonder I felt like shit and my body wanted to sleep all the time.

When it rains, it pours. Fuck!
*

Friday, October 05, 2007

Kidney Stone Link List

I get a large number of hits from Google searches on "Kidney Stone", "Lithotripsy", and other related terms. In an effort to make the subject easier to navigate on this blog, I'm adding the following list of posts to every kidney stone entry to make them cross reference accessible.

If you are reading this because you have, or think you have, a kidney stone, I know your pain. Unless you've had one, and I've had some mild incidences and some really bad ones, no one can even imagine the level of pain.

Consider going to the emergency room. At the very least, make an immediate appointment with a urologist. I am not a doctor and these are my experiences only!

You could be experiencing a kidney stone, but it may also be a urinary tract infection, a tumor, or other medical condition. Don't take any chances with your health!

These posts involve my passing of two giant 6mm stones this summer...three days apart! Wrapped in these posts are stories that detail my lifelong battle with them.

In the interest of clarity, these links are in temporal order.

I wish you well.
*

Monday, July 30, 2007

Hal-le-lu-jah Chorus Part Two...And A Rant

I allowed myself to curse in last Thursday's post since I had finally passed a kidney stone and gave myself permission to express my feelings freely. Well, I'm giving myself another pass after passing another fucking rock. Why the fuck can't these things be diamonds? For all the trouble they put me through I wish they were worth something. I could be like the goose that laid the golden eggs — I'd be the blue-eyed homo that passed the sparkling diamonds!

Here's a pic of this son of a bitch. As I did last time, I included a dime, a (different) grain of uncooked instant rice on the top, the stone in the middle, and a (different) Rice Krispie on the bottom.

This stone's birth size: 6mm L x 4mm W x 2mm H. For comparison, the birth size of Wednesday's stone was 6mm L x 5mm W x 3mm H.

There was no pain or bleeding today. The discomfort came in a different area. As I've explained, the pain usually comes from a stone blocking the ureter that runs from the kidney to the bladder. Today I knew I was going to pass one as I had an irregular stream when peeing...like there was something blocking the way. So I pulled out my good friend the strainer! A man's urethra (that carries urine from the bladder to the outside) has a sphincter muscle at the base of his hoo hoo dilly. That's the muscle we use when we have to pee but need to "hold it". Even in its relaxed state, the sphincter is the narrowest diameter of the urethra and stones can get caught behind it. Thanks to wikipedia "urethra" for the illustration.

I don't know if my three months of torture was caused by Wednesday's stone or yesterday's. I suspect the earlier since it was larger. One of them came from the right side due to the location of the pain the past 3 months...but is that where they both came from? In a previous post about health care and insurance, I said there wasn't much doctors could do except tell me to ride it out, so I didn't see anyone. I suppose if I had and they'd done a CT scan, I would know where they were in the urinary tract and on what side. I'd also know if I have any more — even though I'm sure I do. This isn't the first time I've been to the rodeo. I think in this case, ignorance is bliss. Otherwise I'd be more paranoid than usual about them.

And now for another rant. This makes two in a week!

I don't talk much about my ex since I want to take the high road and, if I trash him, someone who might be interested in me would be wary that if I talked shit about the ex I might talk shit about them. Anyway, since I'm giving myself new permissions...

Lesson #1: How You Know You're In A Shitty Relationship

When your partner, who is supposed to love and support you, is inconvenienced when you are passing a kidney stone, you might just be in a shitty relationship. Writhing around on the floor in pain produces not an ounce of care and/or sympathy. All he can muster is, "Let me know if it gets bad enough and I'll take you to the hospital," and then goes and sticks his nose in the computer. I know, my culpability is that I stayed.

You see, he had advanced AIDS, and as far as he was concerned, it was too bad I was sick but he was sicker. That's right. No sympathy because he was and always would be sicker than me. Being sick became like a competition that I could never win. Despite overwhelming evidence that kidney stones are an excruciating experience, that mattered not.

While I took care of him with cancer, night sweats, flu, shitting the bed with diarrhea on lots of nights, and I think a fair dose of dementia, etc., my severe pain wasn't worthy of special care from my partner. It is for this reason I would be wary of getting into a relationship with someone who's HIV status was not the same as mine.

And on that note, I shout at my ex, "FUCK YOU!"

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Update:

I get a large number of hits from Google searches on "Kidney Stone", "Lithotripsy", and other related terms. In an effort to make this subject easier to navigate on this blog, I am adding the following list of posts to every kidney stone entry to make them cross reference accessible.

If you are reading this because you have, or think you have, a kidney stone, I know your pain. Unless you've had one, and I've had some mild incidences and some really bad ones, no one can even imagine the level of pain.

Make an immediate appointment with an urologist. I am not a doctor and these are my experiences only!

You could be experiencing a kidney stone, but it may also be a urinary tract infection, a tumor, or other medical condition. Don't take any chances with your health!

These posts involve my passing of two giant 6mm stones this summer...three days apart! Wrapped in these posts are stories that detail my lifelong battle with them.

In the interest of clarity, these links are in temporal order.

I wish you well.
*

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Hal-le-lu-jah! Hal-le-lu-jah!

I try not to curse too much on this blog because I don't want my readers to know how little class I truly possess. But this warrants it. I finally passed that mother fucking kidney stone! This was from my right side which seems to be where the last few have come from...I wonder if that kidney doesn't work as well as the other, if it's just serendipity, or the left is loaded with some boulders that are waiting to unleash when I least expect it.

Here's a pic of the nasty bastard. I've included some items in the photo to help you compare sizes. Obviously, you know the dime. On the top is an uncooked grain of instant rice, the stone is in the middle, and a Rice Krispie is on the bottom. When you see the jagged crystallized edges of the stone it's easy to understand how it could tear my ureter as it was forced through and cause the bleeding that passed in my urine.

Birth size: 6mm L x 5mm W x 3mm H. Another stone (or a piece broken off from this one) the size of a grain of sand came out with it. The ureter, the muscular tube that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder and through which stones have to pass, is 3mm to 5mm in diameter.

Now I can drink a whole glass of fluid at a time without worrying that there may be painful consequences and I can stop peeing through a strainer. This stone started back in May so I've been doing that for three months. The other positive aspect is that I don't have that conscious and subconscious fear that something could happen at any moment.

I'm so happy, so very very happy. I'm doing my happy dance!

Update:

I get a large number of hits from Google searches on "Kidney Stone", "Lithotripsy", and other related terms. In an effort to make this subject easier to navigate on this blog, I am adding the following list of posts to every kidney stone entry to make them cross reference accessible.

If you are reading this because you have, or think you have, a kidney stone, I know your pain. Unless you've had one, and I've had some mild incidences and some really bad ones, no one can even imagine the level of pain.

Make an immediate appointment with an urologist. I am not a doctor and these are my experiences only!

You could be experiencing a kidney stone, but it may also be a urinary tract infection, a tumor, or other medical condition. Don't take any chances with your health!

These posts involve my passing of two giant 6mm stones this summer...three days apart! Wrapped in these posts are stories that detail my lifelong battle with them.

In the interest of clarity, these links are in temporal order.

I wish you well.
*

Monday, July 16, 2007

Romancing The Stone

Lots of pain this morning and lots of blood. The good news is that I think it's close to passing as the pain is now lower in my abdomen. I'm now talking to the stone, being nice to it hoping that it will be nice to me in return, and decides to come out quick and easy. Kinda like making a deal with God. "Oh please, dear God, let this pass and I promise I'll never do X ever again!"
*

Thursday, July 12, 2007

I Got My Friend Today

I've been having a higher-than-normal amount of anxiety lately. I've learned that this generalized stress that I can't attribute to any particular factor can be a pre-cursor to kidney stone problems.

Those of you that have read this blog for a while probably remember my descriptions of such passings several months ago. Well I got out my strainer and strained my urine for about 3 weeks after my last attack. Nothing. It didn't pass.

The last several days I've had some pain in my cojones. Not a lot, just a bit. This morning was the blood in my urine.

Here we go again. I wish the emmer effer would finally pass!

Update:

I get a large number of hits from Google searches on "Kidney Stone", "Lithotripsy", and other related terms. In an effort to make this subject easier to navigate on this blog, I am adding the following list of posts to every kidney stone entry to make them cross reference accessible.

If you are reading this because you have, or think you have, a kidney stone, I know your pain. Unless you've had one, and I've had some mild incidences and some really bad ones, no one can even imagine the level of pain.

Make an immediate appointment with an urologist. I am not a doctor and these are my experiences only!

You could be experiencing a kidney stone, but it may also be a urinary tract infection, a tumor, or other medical condition. Don't take any chances with your health!

These posts involve my passing of two giant 6mm stones this summer...three days apart! Wrapped in these posts are stories that detail my lifelong battle with them.

In the interest of clarity, these links are in temporal order.

I wish you well.
*

Saturday, May 26, 2007

I Love Me Some Soda!

Since I'm on a roll of using silly web polls to catch every one up with my trials and tribulations, I found out that I'm a Pepper. My favorite! You'll have to take the poll yourself to see if you're a Pepper, he's a Pepper, she's a Pepper...you get the idea.

Now hold on for this segue: You remember how I said I believe my kidney stones are caused by diet soda, right? Well that leads me to that little gem I'll call my urinary tract blockage. Major pain yesterday at noon and at four and was passing increasing amounts of blood. I guess the good news is that it's moving and the pain, at least up to this point, has not required my hospitalization or even tears although a hydrocodone was ingested to take the edge off. Today there is less blood, no pain, but I haven't caught anything in the strainer. The devil is still inside me waiting to strike at any moment. I have the mental image of a little red imp with his trident or barbed tail getting caught in my ureter. Sorry, TMI.

You Are Dr. Pepper

You're very unique and funky, yet you still have a bit of traditionalism to you.
People who like you think they have great taste... and they usually do.

Your best soda match: Root Beer

Stay away from: 7 Up

What Kind of Soda Are You?

Update:

I get a large number of hits from Google searches on "Kidney Stone", "Lithotripsy", and other related terms. In an effort to make this subject easier to navigate on this blog, I am adding the following list of posts to every kidney stone entry to make them cross reference accessible.

If you are reading this because you have, or think you have, a kidney stone, I know your pain. Unless you've had one, and I've had some mild incidences and some really bad ones, no one can even imagine the level of pain.

Make an immediate appointment with a urologist. I am not a doctor and these are my experiences only!

You could be experiencing a kidney stone, but it may also be a urinary tract infection, a tumor, or other medical condition. Don't take any chances with your health!

These posts involve my passing of two giant 6mm stones this summer...three days apart! Wrapped in these posts are stories that detail my lifelong battle with them.

In the interest of clarity, these links are in temporal order.

I wish you well.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Itching, Burning, And Crazy Pain

The battle is on in earnest with the kidney stone. It started in the middle of the night and now is causing tremendous pain in the upper left side of my back. I just took a hydrocodone so let's hope that helps.

Today's post was going to be all about the sunburn I got on Saturday. (Rich posted a great self-photo of his sunburn on his blog A Work In Progress.) It is at that odd stage where it's itching and hurting and peeling all at the same time. One of the few things in life that feels sooooo good...scratching an itch!

Oh, and my ex called out of the blue yesterday and left a message. Our last contact was early August so he must want something. I haven't listened to the message. I don't need a stomach ache on top of the back pain!

Update @ 4:15 EDT: I took another painkiller at noon. So far, no more pain. I don't know if that's because the pills are masking the pain or because there just isn't any more pain at the moment. I've been drinking water slowly. I know I have to drink to move the stone, but with each swallow I know I could be facing the agony that may accompany them. I spread out the drinking over time so it all doesn't hit my kidneys at once in case the blockage is in place. And I still haven't checked my voice mail.

Update @ 8:37 EDT: Still no pain and the pills should have worn off by now. I checked VM. "It's been a while..." type message. He's also been calling my best friend but hasn't connected with her either. I'm telling you, my dear readers, something is up. I'm not returning the call.

Update:

I get a large number of hits from Google searches on "Kidney Stone", "Lithotripsy", and other related terms. In an effort to make this subject easier to navigate on this blog, I am adding the following list of posts to every kidney stone entry to make them cross reference accessible.

If you are reading this because you have, or think you have, a kidney stone, I know your pain. Unless you've had one, and I've had some mild incidences and some really bad ones, no one can even imagine the level of pain.

Make an immediate appointment with an urologist. I am not a doctor and these are my experiences only!

You could be experiencing a kidney stone, but it may also be a urinary tract infection, a tumor, or other medical condition. Don't take any chances with your health!

These posts involve my passing of two giant 6mm stones this summer...three days apart! Wrapped in these posts are stories that detail my lifelong battle with them.

In the interest of clarity, these links are in temporal order.

I wish you well.
*

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Lithotripsy: A Kidney Stone's Worst Friend

Does Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian look familiar? The left tower was used as the exterior shots on the show Empty Nest. The right tower is new and wasn't there when the following story or the show took place.

Let's bring y'all up to date on my kidney stone saga.

I suspect I've been in process of passing a kidney stone for about a month now. Over the weekend I had some pain in my lower back that I chalked up to carrying bags of top soil but after peeing a fair amount of blood in my urine on Monday morning I know what's in store. If I were a religious man, I'd be praying 24/7 this passes quickly and painlessly. The blood is intermittent at this point and I've started going #1 through a strainer to catch the stone.

Yesterday, I gave you a crash course in what kidney stones are, how they work, some basic anatomy, and what might cause them. Today, dear readers, I'll share my worst kidney stone attack and a description of Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (lithotripsy for short) procedures.

The year is 1990 and I had passed a couple of kidney stones in the years leading up to that point. Severe back pain. And by severe I mean rolling around on the floor writhing in pain from what feels like a knife in my back. I reserve the adjectives "excruciating" and "mind bending" for later in this story. I was scheduled to work an information booth at a pride festival in Laguna Beach, CA on a beautiful summer Saturday afternoon. When I got up that morning, I was peeing a lot of blood and had some discomfort in my back. I canceled the volunteer gig and went to the ER. After taking a urine sample and giving me a cursory examination, it was determined I likely had a urinary tract infection and was sent on my way with a script for Keflex antibiotics.

Fast forward 12 hours to 2 a.m. early Sunday morning. I literally jumped out of bed from a deep sleep with the most excrutiating pain I have ever experienced in my life. There was no questioning of what to do...I put on a shirt and pair of pants with a single-minded immediacy I didn't know I was capable of, said good-bye to my cat, and ran out the door. I drove myself to the hospital which was about 15 minutes away. I simply was in too much pain to call an ambulance let alone wait for one. I needed help, and I needed it yesterday. I went through every red light — which seemed to be all of them, probably 20 in all — down the main drag through Costa Mesa. If the police had tried to stop me I figured at least I'd get an escort with lights and sirens to the emergency room.

I arrived and I was absolutely hysterical in pain. Crying. Hyperventilating. Delusional. I was out of my mind! The chick behind the admitting desk insisted I fill out the paperwork and get signed in. She didn't care what my issues were, she had her own, and that included dealing with the sobbing maniac in front of her. I'm alone so there's no one to help. Her bedside manor included, "If you don't calm down and fill out this paperwork there's nothing I can do." Bitch. I'd have told her as much, too, if I hadn't needed her sorry lot to get me some relief.

I managed to calm down enough to throw my insurance card in her general direction and we got through check in. After I got to a bed, they started me on an IV drip of morphine. Yep, that only took the edge off. I wanted to climb the curtains. Someone knock me out. Somebody help me. Now. Please!?!

Next step in the process was for them to take X-rays which confirmed the stone. Lucky me. And then they started to pump me full of fluids ("Squad 51, administer 250mL IV D5W," for you Emergency! fans). As I mentioned in yesterday's post, the only way to move that puppy is to build up fluid behind the stone and force it out. Hint: more pain to follow.

I ended up being admitted to the hospital when it didn't pass and I spent 2 days laying in a morphine-induced stupor trying to pass it. Didn't get an ocean view room either. Drat. So when I didn't have any luck passing it, then came the first of my "procedures." They got my ass into the operating room wearing an ugly set of white compression stockings so I didn't get a blood clot in my legs, knocked me out, then put a stent in the length of my ureter. The stent was like an 11" bread twist tie. With that in place, the urine was able to sneak by the stone and relieved the pain. What to do with the stone since there's no more pee pressure, you ask? Lithotripsy!

Side note: while I'm in my hospital bed, a police officer entered my room. Hmmmm, a hospital scene and a uniform fetish rolled into one? Nope, someone tore ass into the ER parking lot (similar to me several nights before) and wailed into my car (not similar to me several nights before).

Now that the pain was gone, I'm discharged from the hospital and I went home with the stent in place and had to go back for the lithotripsy procedure a week later "when they have the machine." Lithotripsy is a method by which doctors can use sound waves from outside the body (extracorporeal) to break up the stone. With the stone pulverized into tiny bits, it can pass with no fanfare.

It's a mobile medical unit. Hospitals don't have enough lithotripsy cases to warrant the investment in their own machine so a handful of doctors developed a freaking lithotriptor-equipped Winnebago that trundles from hospital parking lot to hospital parking lot. I got prepped in the out patient facility, they put my ass in a wheel chair, and pushed me through the parking lot, across the street at a light after it changed from red in front of what seemed like hundreds of bulging eyes of people staring at me on their way to work. I was on my way to the Winney in a paper dress!

"Is this going to hurt," I asked the doctor. "It'll feel like a rubber band snapping you in the back. We're going to give you something for the pain, too." Hmmmm, I think, that doesn't sound so bad. They put me on IV Demerol and I got loopy but I wasn't unconscious. I lied on this metal table that has the area where one's back would go removed. In its place, for lack of the correct term, is a bag full of jelly. The sound waves, directed by the surgeon on a video-game like screen, will come from many directions and travel through the jelly bag that will be against my lower back to collide at the point of the stone. Voila! No more kidney stone!

Not so fast, pardner. Okay, so the rubber band analogy. Pretty accurate, except what he didn't tell me is that I was going to be there for 90 minutes and the snapping would take place every second. Snap, snap, snap. Try snapping a rubber band in the same place, oh 5400 times. Not a walk in the park. Not even on drugs. Not even on heavy drugs.

After that and $20,000 worth of medical bills later (covered by insurance), I had a huge black and blue bruise on my back.

Kiddies, don't forget I still have that 11" stent in me that has to come out. Well, that's a procedure that takes place in a doctor's office. Joy. This is perhaps the most traumatizing thing I have ever gone through. I strip and put on a gown and the doctor gets me into stirrups. Ladies, I feel your humiliation. And what's the only way to get the stent out? The same way they put it in, only now there's no general anesthesia. He planned to go up in and get it, of course. Oh, but he'll give me some local anesthetic. Well by now I was wise to his no-pain promises. Bastard.

Up he went with a tube that dispensed something on the order of topical Anbesol, only for your pisser not your gums. He waited a fair amount of time for it to take affect, about a minute I think, and then he came at me with the big guns. Up he went again. This time with a device so terrible, so awful, it must have been invented by the Marquis de Sade himself. See, this handy little (?) thing goes in and then ratchets up in width to dialate the urethra. The urethra has to be opened wide enough so he could go up there with another tool that looked like it had an alligator clamp on the end. In he went and it felt like those teeth were chomping the entire way.

As he passed my prostate he alerted me I'll feel like urinating. Yup, he's there! Interesting, I note, the prostate isn't nearly as pleasurable being stroked from the inside as it is from the outside. But the doctor is not to be deterred. Onward he pressed to the bladder. This is where the end of the stent is...the location where he'll grab it with the roach clip and ~~yank the damn thing~~ gently pull it down into the bladder and then out of my body.

I had to fly to San Jose for a job interview the next day. I was so sick and in pain. I didn't dare cancel since I'd pushed the interviews out for several weeks. Who knew the doctors visit would be one of the worst experiences of my life? I end up nearly passing out by the end of the day and had to lay down after interview number six in their conference room. I didn't get the job. Shocker.

The next time I went through a lithotripsy, it was more preventative. Since I was now getting X-rayed every 6 months (I think they do CAT scans now), we found some huge stones just waiting to unleash their vengeance upon me. Again, time to ride the Winnebago's stainless steel couch, but this time the machine was stronger so I was rendered unconscious.

Update:

I get a large number of hits from Google searches on "Kidney Stone", "Lithotripsy", and other related terms. In an effort to make this subject easier to navigate on this blog, I am adding the following list of posts to every kidney stone entry to make them cross reference accessible.

If you are reading this because you have, or think you have, a kidney stone, I know your pain. Unless you've had one, and I've had some mild incidences and some really bad ones, no one can even imagine the level of pain.

Make an immediate appointment with a urologist. I am not a doctor and these are my experiences only!

You could be experiencing a kidney stone, but it may also be a urinary tract infection, a tumor, or other medical condition. Don't take any chances with your health!

These posts involve my passing of two giant 6mm stones this summer...three days apart! Wrapped in these posts are stories that detail my lifelong battle with them.

In the interest of clarity, these links are in temporal order.

I wish you well.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Kidney Stones: How They Work

Yesterday, I signed off my kidney stone post with a line that I would be talking about Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (lithotripsy for short) today. I hadn't really planned on it, I just thought that was a funny throw away line to end the post.

But after the comment from cb, I think it might be worth it. I am intimately aware of the process and I mistakenly think that everyone else is, too. I'm all about sharing knowledge so this can be my contribution to the field of medicine. I've been doing more medical type posts over on my other blog Alzheimer's Moments lately. Maybe I missed my calling and should've been a doctor.

But I digress. Here's what cb wrote:

If you read no further, let me sum this whole story up in a short answer, "NO NO NO it is NOT cool AT ALL!"

So in today's post I'll talk about kidney stones in general and then tomorrow I'll detail the lithotripsy procedure:

The pain of passing a kidney stone isn't from the stone itself. Most people conjure up an image that it is this huge boulder that gets caught in your hoo hoo dilly on the way out. Nope, that's not it at all.

The kidney stone, as it works it's way out of the kidney, travels down the ureter. The ureter is the tube that connects the kidney to the bladder (which is not the same as the larger urethra that goes from the bladder to the outside world). Think of the ureter as a hollow strand of angel hair pasta. Now think of pushing something the size of a grain of rice down through such tube. Where's the pain? Well the only way that the stone can move through the ureter is with pressure from urine that is backed up behind it.

The stone itself isn't smooth like a grain of rice as you can see in the pic above. It's more like a hard Rice Krispie. It has formed over time to be a craggy, jaggy, miserable little piece of junk that doesn't slip or slide through anything. So it gets caught on the way down, fighting and scratching the whole way. (This scratching of the ureter is what's causing the blood in my pee.) So the larger the stone, the more jagged it is, and how it gets lodged (think of that grain of rice getting caught sideways) in the ureter determines how much pressure will be needed to force it through. And that's where the pain comes in. As the stone fights to stay where it is, your kidneys keep on working like nothing is wrong. They clean, clean, clean your blood, diligently doing their job of creating urine to travel down the ureter. But alas, there is no place for it to go. So it is this pressure of urine backing up against the kidney that causes the pain.

In the best of cases, the stone moves through with minimal effort. It fights but doesn't get stuck. And it passes. Some stones, the size of a grain of sand, can be passed and the person doesn't even know.

What causes kidney stones? There are several factors:
• Genetics. This is inherited. Yep, I can thank my mom for this one. I generally blame her for everything else so why not this? After all, I have the scientific community and physical evidence on my side this time!
• Dehydration. Drink, drink, drink water! The way that kidneys work is that they remove toxins from the blood and dissolve them into water which produces urine. Think of adding sugar to a glass of water. Then you keep adding sugar. Eventually, the water becomes saturated and the sugar will fall to the bottom of the glass no matter how much you swirl the spoon. If the kidney doesn't have enough water to dissolve the toxins, the "sugar at the bottom of the glass" are minerals that form a stone in the kidney.
• Calcium. Many kidney stones are made of calcium. For those patients, they go on a dairy restricted diet.
• Minerals. Some people have a hard time eliminating certain chemicals. After years of trial and error in my diet, I have determined that my body can't process phosphorus. So where does one ingest phosphorus? Diet soda. As I understand it, to get diet soda to have bubbles, a form of phosphorus is added to get the carbonation because aspartame doesn't behave chemically like corn syrup. Ah, better living through chemistry. Not.

Tomorrow: My worst kidney stone nightmares and two lithotripsies aka how to spend $20,000 and not have any fun.

Update:

I get a large number of hits from Google searches on "Kidney Stone", "Lithotripsy", and other related terms. In an effort to make this subject easier to navigate on this blog, I am adding the following list of posts to every kidney stone entry to make them cross reference accessible.

If you are reading this because you have, or think you have, a kidney stone, I know your pain. Unless you've had one, and I've had some mild incidences and some really bad ones, no one can even imagine the level of pain.

Make an immediate appointment with an urologist. I am not a doctor and these are my experiences only!

You could be experiencing a kidney stone, but it may also be a urinary tract infection, a tumor, or other medical condition. Don't take any chances with your health!

These posts involve my passing of two giant 6mm stones this summer...three days apart! Wrapped in these posts are stories that detail my lifelong battle with them.

In the interest of clarity, these links are in temporal order.

I wish you well.
*

Monday, May 07, 2007

My Character On Heroes: Kidney Stone Boy

I'm in process of passing a kidney stone. I haven't had the displeasure of passing one since I started this blog. The last one was almost a year ago at the end of July. I'm an old pro at this...a veritable kidney stone making machine. Too bad they aren't worth anything cause I'd be rich. Rich, rich, rich I tell you.

So the symptoms have been with me for a while. I've had some unreasonable depression going on. Usually I have a reason to be depressed. In fact, I seem to have a treasure trove of reasons to be depressed. As luck would have it, life is pretty good right now. So when I'm depressed for no reason, I have come to learn it is related to my body being out of whack. This time around I said it was because of allergies, I was tired, etc. But now I know.

Yesterday I started with the back pain. Now, the pain is never quite the same and never in the same area, so until the pain is excruciating it isn't the best indicator. It depends on where the stone is and where the blockage happens to be. I can have pain in my back, in my belly, in my balls, or at the tip of my hoo hoo dilly. Pain in the back wasn't so much a cause for concern since I have been doing quite a bit of yard work. Carry heavy bags of soil, bending a lot, taking photos of my daffodils. The usual.

Today was the definitive symptom. Blood in my urine. Yep, I'm gonna pass a kidney stone. I ask you to send positive thoughts my way...and some Oxycontin wouldn't hurt. I never know if it is gonna be a bad one or not. It depends on the size (the last two were the size of a grain of rice), how jagged it is, and if it gets caught in my ureter sideways or not. The picture of a stone in the wiki link above is exactly what mine look like.

I know that I get them from drinking diet soda — it's the phosphorus. That caused my last two as I was on a strict diet and lost 25 lbs to get down to 155. Well, on a depressing side note, I found those 25 lbs and I'm back at 180. Anyhoo, I haven't had diet soda in a year so this is probably left over from that. The last two were from my right kidney so I suspect this will be from my left.

In tomorrow's episode: Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy. Been there, done that. Twice. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Update:

I get a large number of hits from Google searches on "Kidney Stone", "Lithotripsy", and other related terms. In an effort to make this subject easier to navigate on this blog, I am adding the following list of posts to every kidney stone entry to make them cross reference accessible.

If you are reading this because you have, or think you have, a kidney stone, I know your pain. Unless you've had one, and I've had some mild incidences and some really bad ones, no one can even imagine the level of pain.

Make an immediate appointment with an urologist. I am not a doctor and these are my experiences only!

You could be experiencing a kidney stone, but it may also be a urinary tract infection, a tumor, or other medical condition. Don't take any chances with your health!

These posts involve my passing of two giant 6mm stones this summer...three days apart! Wrapped in these posts are stories that detail my lifelong battle with them.

In the interest of clarity, these links are in temporal order.

I wish you well.
*

Monday, October 11, 2010

Monday, March 15, 2010

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Monday, February 23, 2009

Friday, September 26, 2008

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Friday, April 04, 2008

Monday, March 31, 2008

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Friday, October 05, 2007

Monday, July 30, 2007

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Monday, July 16, 2007

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Friday, May 18, 2007

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Monday, May 07, 2007

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