Updated Kidney News

It's hard to imagine that I have been dealing with this freaking Kidney stone and all of it's complications for a month now...wait, no it isn't! I've felt every single jab of pain, every single stone pass through a hole it's not supposed to, and I've been drugged beyond belief...but I am here Kidney stone FREE!!!

I'll just recap what happened during the past week... Last Monday morning, 3 days after I had the Lithotripsy that was supposed to enable passing the stones, I woke up in extreme pain yet again. It was the same kind of pain I've had in the past-very sharp, stabbing pains that shot down "there", which told me that the stone was stuck again. After taking a very hot bath and drinking more fluids than one can imagine, I called my Urologist on his "emergency" line. Two calls and an hour later later, I couldn't take the pain any longer so Justin, myself and Annie headed to the ER. The sad part is that I walked through the doors, and the triage nurse knew who I was. An IV catheter was started immediately along with a Heavenly narcotic, called Dilottid (sp?). After another CT scan and Ultrasound (that makes 5 each...yeah, I glow green now), it was discovered that the Kidney stone that was supposedly broken up from the previous surgery, was not broken up at all...in fact, it was measured at 7 mm, 2 mm more than the last time!

So, for the forth time, I was admitted to the hospital. As I am laying in the hospital bed, I get the urge to pee. I waddle over to the potty and discover that I can't pee...at all! Sure enough, the stone had blocked the flow of urine. I freak out, call the nurse, who also freaks out and within minutes, a Foley Catheter was inserted "down there"...yeah, can you say OUCH?!?!?

A few hours later, my ever-quick-to-respond-Urologist calls and begins chastising Justin and I for going to this particular hospital, saying that we should have gone to the one that has better equipment to treat Kidney stones. WTH?? I mean, first off, I went to the hospital that YOU treated me at the past 3 times and second, how in the world were we supposed to know to go to the other hospital? Ugh! At this point, Justin became very angry; not only have I been dealing with the 'effin painful stone for over a month now because Dr. Dumbass can't get his act together, he's gonna start blaming us??? Justin tells him that we no longer want him as my Urologist and that we will be seeing Dr. Duke. He was audibly angry and informed us that he would not sign the document for our insurance starting that he authorized the switch. What he didn't know was that we had a PPO and we could switch Dr.'s at any point :)

A few hours later and many doses of the wonderful narcotics, my new Urologist came in and spoke to the Hubster and I. He agreed that 1 month was faaaaar too long to be dealing with this, so he scheduled surgery for that night...that very night! Well, 12 hours later, I was prepared for my third and final surgery. This time, Dr. Duke did an internal exam and did an internal Lithotripsy, using a laser to break up the stone. This was different that the previous surgery because the old Urologist just blasted the stone externally, *hoping* that he got it. This time however, Dr, Duke assured us that the stone was broken up into little pieces because he watched the stone break as he was physically lasering it. Yay!!

I ended up staying in the hospital 2 days following the surgery. The urinary catheter was put back in, as well as a stint, which was put in during the surgery to allow the stones to pass. The stint hurt like a SOB but it was all worth it when I discovered huge chunks of stone being passed. In fact, I was so freakin' excited that I called Justin in to look at my jewels in the toilet :)

It's now Saturday and the catheter and stint have been removed. I feel like I've been hit by a bus though...every single inch of my belly aches and my Kidney starts this spasm thing when I attempt to do much more than pick up the remote control. But overall, I am doing well. The stones have all pretty much passed and besides the aching, I am feeling much better than before.

The stones were sent off to be analyzed but Dr. Duke told us based on the appearance and the fact they weren't visible on Xray, he was pretty sure they were Uric Acid stones. These stones are less common (only about 15% of stones are this type) but they are more preventable. I have another consult with him in a few weeks to discuss the results and preventative measures, but diet-wise, I have given up Coke completely for the past month now and I am feeling really positive about the change. Oh, and Justin has done the same...he saw how much pain I was in and decided to change his Soda habits before he ended up like I did.

Okay, this post is seriously long so I'm gonna end it here. Now go drink some water and give your Kidneys a break!