A Week in the Life of a Cystine Kidney Stone Patient

I had to see my Doctor's partner because he wasn't in today but when I told them about the pain they rushed me right in. He pulled it out like a tampon essentially with no local anesthesia - unlike the past. Strangely it didn't hurt any worse than usual. I feel better already.

Thursday, November 15, 2007 - indescribable pain

It took one hour and five minutes for my Lortab to kick in. Yes, I kept track as it was the only control I had at the moment. Lortab is like Percocet but it is supposed to be less harsh as far as the puke factor.

I came home from the ER at 6:30pm feeling great after a new IV antibiotic, Toradol - a powerhouse anti-inflammatory and staple for all kidney stone ER patients, Demerol and a couple bolus drips of saline to flush out my kidneys. At 12:30am the pain went from 0 to 10 in less than 60 seconds. Thankfully I had already taken my Zofran for nausea so I took 2 Lortab. I sat here on my bed in 10/10 pain from 12:35 until 1:40. Now I feel dizzy and my pain is gone.

Here is why I hate pain meds - is the pain really gone? Like did my kidney and ureter calm down or is the medicine masking the pain completely? The reason I didn't take my Percocet or Lortab before now is because I felt fine and not as if it had to do with the ER drugs. I felt human and thought it had passed and I was okay.

I know I'm going on and on but I found out tonight that I have a blood clot and a post-operative infection. I'm afraid I will have to go under again because this happened to me once before after a kidney stone operation, but my old doctor in Japan was a miracle worker and I was never left in this kind of pain.

I'm thinking about contacting him to see what kind of stent he always used on me so I can suggest it to my current urologist.

I swear I want to scream at the top of my lungs in frustration and hopelessness.

Friday, November 16, 2007 - Desperate

Out of complete desperation I telephoned my old urologist in Japan only to find that he had moved to Virginia! This is wonderful news. I might not be able to reach him now until Monday, but at least we are in the same time zone. I took one of my prescribed Flomax pills to try to get this blood clot to pass. We will see in the morning.

Saturday, November 17 2007 - There's a light...

The Flomax did its job. I passed a whopping 8mm blood clot this morning. I felt like, "Well, there's your problem ma'am!"

Flomax relaxes the smooth muscle found in your ureter and acts like a medicinal stent without any pain. You take one pill at night and your first urination of the day is almost indescribable. It's like turning a water hose on full blast. Over the past couple of years it has been prescribed to help dislodge ureteral stones but for me, it allowed my clot to come out painlessly. Now for some well-deserved healing.

Conclusion:

After I passed that blood clot I felt much better. I was able to get in touch with my old urologist and he said ureter stents always have strings but he's found that less irritation is experienced, especially in women, when the string is left just barely outside of the bladder in to the urethra. He also talked about different stent sizes and how the smallest possible size for an individual is the way to go. The more the ends are coiled up the worse it hurts.

He also thinks that severe cramping had to do with the blood clot the entire time and not the stent specifically. I had assumed the blood clot happened after the stent was yanked out but now that I think about it, before makes more sense.

Armed with this new knowledge I will be sure to take control during my next urology appointment and any future surgeries.