My stone was 7mm long and 4mm wide.\u00a0 It was slightly bent as if two stones had fused together.\u00a0 By the time I went to the doctor it was sitting just above the bladder so lithotripsy was less likely to succeed because of the proximity to the bones of the pelvis.\u00a0 The doctor gave a 75% chance of success.\u00a0 The procedure is done under general anesthetic which I wanted to avoid.\u00a0 If it failed, the doctor might go up and get the stone anyway with a basket catheter, and that’s a one way street in my books.<\/p>\n
My doctor told me that the stone was almost out but that the last bit was the hardest.\u00a0 The ureter turns around before entering the bladder, so the stone needed to make a turn to get through.<\/p>\n
I was prescribed Flomax and told to drink.\u00a0 I asked about the risks because while I wanted to pass the stone myself, I didn’t want to have permanent damage.\u00a0 The risk to me was kidney blockage, failure and then kidney death.\u00a0 The symptoms were high fever, pain, etc and I had a few days to act when that happened, so I decided to give it a try.\u00a0 My doctor also gave me a potent pain-killer (Percocet) which I used 3 times one day in September (alternating with Ibuprofen) and once in December.\u00a0 Ibuprofen was usually enough to manage the pain.\u00a0 That day in September was pretty bad.<\/p>\n
I must say, though, that once I knew about the kidney stone, the pain didn’t bother me anywhere near as much as before.\u00a0 It was like I could focus on it and localize the pain.\u00a0 I didn’t stress about it either.<\/p>\n
My doctor gave me a strainer also to catch the stone for analysis.\u00a0 After some time I switched to using a child’s portable potty insert.\u00a0 It was easier to clean and to estimate liquid volume.<\/p>\n
From August to January I drank.\u00a0 I drank gallons a day.\u00a0 I tried jump and bump with no noticeable change.\u00a0 One week I drank a gallon of Coke a day with full strength lemon juice added.\u00a0 I mostly drank home made lemonade with a little salt in it so I wouldn’t throw of my electrolyte balance.<\/p>\n
Other than going to the bathroom a whole lot, I didn’t notice any change.\u00a0 Over the months, I worked with my doctor, had regular X-Rays and an MRI.\u00a0 They showed no kidney distress and no stone motion.\u00a0 As time went on, my doctor started asking how long I was going to wait.\u00a0 He was very patient and always worked with me.<\/p>\n
On January 2nd, I wasn’t feeling well.\u00a0 Naomi and the children went outside to do some yard work.\u00a0 I stayed in and headed for the bath with a big pitcher of lemonade and a potty insert.\u00a0 I also did something new.\u00a0 I turned on the jets in the bathtub and pointed them right at my back.\u00a0 From time to time I rolled over and pointed the jets at my front (about the waistline where I thought the stone was).\u00a0 After a while I started to feel a slight pain inside.\u00a0 It was pain like a deep knife cut on the finger.\u00a0 I retrospect I noticed that I hadn’t used the potty insert at all even though I had been drinking plenty.<\/p>\n
Well, all of a sudden I had to go.\u00a0 I felt a pop inside and the next thing I knew there was a stone in the potty insert.\u00a0 The slight pain lasted for a few months, but as of August 2010, I can say I don’t feel it any more and I don’t remember the last time it bothered me.<\/p>\n
I went back to the doctor.\u00a0 He said the stone looked like the typical Calcium Oxalate<\/a> kidney stone<\/a> and that if I drink enough, and don’t get dehydrated, my chances are that I wouldn’t get another one in my lifetime.<\/p>\n
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