My Wife's Kidney Stone Adventure

[CINDERS]

My adventure was something similar a 7mm stone in my L kidney felt crook all day suffered the night but in the morning @6:00am I was just about crying so off we go to the ED 26 klms away was there for a while they juiced me up on Morphine but it did nothing.
As I am on constant pain meds for my back injury I am very resistant to Morphine's effect so they had to go well above what a normal person would be given it relieved the symptoms so they said go home and see if it will pass naturally (They had no idea how big it was no CT scan!)
So we get home about midday I'm in a pickle again I'd maxed on my pain meds and was just about on the floor so off we trundle again with me practically screaming again same thing 6 hours up there still no scan go home and see how you go, FFS do something please nope go home.

At 02:00am I am again in a crippled state off to ED again this time they decided after getting the pain under some control to do a scan oh looky there a nice big stone no way thats coming out better admit you scheduled me for a 09:00am operation to remove it I got into the theater at 21:00 the next night!

(As a footnote I had a pretty mean night shift nurse who only gave me panadol for the pain which were useless considering what I normally take truly I was at my wits end by the time I was being wheeled into surgery............at least the pre-op needle eased my pain some what then the dream juice made it allot better!)

3 things I learnt from this
1. I do not want to have that pain again ever.
2. Hospitals sometimes faff about as we are paying top medical cover it beggars belief 3 times up there & back!
3. P*ssing blood the next day & a few days later as well, which hurt like blazes constant pain then up every 5 minutes to do a few dribbles but what pain & blood!

Lastly I was discharged with a tube out my johnson that had to stay in there for 2 days I then had to remove it myself, method they said go in have a nice warm shower when you ready enough whilst in the shower;
Take the sticky plaster off and in one continuous not to fast of a movement remove the catheter from your body, the catheter well it went right up to the kidney now that made my knees buckle a bit.
No Aragorn I hope you wife heals quickly and you do not have to go through the trial again as for me anyone who has had the stones I understand fully what you went through.

[Aragorn243]

She's home again. Still has the tube in place. The stone was successfully broken up and mostly removed. The scan shows a few small fragments which is why they left the tube in. They are hoping they will float out the tube. One already has so it was a good call. What's left apparently will not require any further treatment as they are very small and can come out naturally as well. Tube will be taken out locally in their office on Tuesday. No hospital for that. Apparently, they just pull it out, let the hole seal on it's own. Seems weird to be but I know urine is sterile and will be reabsorbed by the body, natural drainage would be through the lower resistance to the bladder in any case.

She will now have to undergo treatments on the right side which has several 2cm stones. These will be broken up with lasers through the urethra so will not be "surgeries". They might even be outpatient, not sure.

[Aragorn243]

The tube came out yesterday and she has improved dramatically with that. So it's apparent that a lot of her issues were mental about having the tube and bag in place. She's much happier today.

Getting it out was the typical adventure. Surgeon assured us that they would have it all set up for her to come on Tuesday, she just needed to confirm the time on Monday. She called Monday and no one had a clue she was coming on Tuesday, and they had to scramble to ensure a doctor would be there. Her surgeon was on vacation, but he was personally going to talk with his colleague in the office to get it done. Never happened.

Anyway, it's out, she's happy, we can finally move on.

[Riter]

Prayers for you and your wife Aragorn243. Once was enough. More H20.

[Aragorn243]

She has procedures on the right side to look forward to. But they are supposed to be non-intrusive. Lasers through the urethra so no cuts, no tubes. Sometime in December.

[42rocker]

Prayers for Everyone. I'm Praying my Son is out of the hospital by the end of Dec.

Prayers for your Wife. May all go well.

Later 42rocker

[mnmkeller]

I work in the medical field and he is correct in the official sense. I'm gonna presume the "tube" being put in is a nephrostomy tube to drain the urine into a bag your wife had to carry around with her. If that is the case, then the scalpal is only used to break the skin to make it easier to insert the tube. Scalpel isn't necessary but it helps a lot. When something is "introduced" into the body through the skin, it is a "percutaneous" technique and is not considered surgery.

Surgery is when all tissue between the skin and the target is opened. 0 to

[Aragorn243]

That is what was done for two of them yes and I understand "official" vs "layman" but when she's under anesthesia and takes 6-8 hours to come out of it, we are going to consider it surgery.

Her next procedure is Friday the 13th, great day I know, and it will be inserting a tube in her urethra so we won't consider that a surgery even though they say she will have anesthesia for that also but they said she will definitely come home after that.

I have my doubts. She was horrible after the last one. Even the nurses were laughing at her once they understood this was normal for her. The funny thing is, she's fully "aware" and can answer questions accurately but she is in super slow motion. She also has a weird "waking up" eyes wide open staring thing every 5-10 minutes or so. They left me in recover earlier than usual because I think they were concerned she had a stroke.

The plan next Friday is to remove what's left in the left side if anything and then to start on the right. He's hoping he can get all out of the right this one time but we are expecting a second proceedure will be needed. This is to be done in December yet also.

[42rocker]

Your Wife and my Son are both planned for surgery on that Friday. Thoughts and Prayers for both.

Later 42rocker

[mnmkeller]

Not sure what should take 6-8 hrs unless that includes the cystoscopy with laser, stone removal , etc but that seems hella long and drawn out.