Yup. Not pretty. Woke up with a little pain. Half an hour later it was 6 on a scale of ten. Half an hour after that I called my Doctor & suggested they squeeze me in, which they did. On the 20 minute drive to th office, the pain escalated to a solid 9 & I had a VERY solid grip on the wheel of the 914. By the time I saw the Dr. (an hour & a half after my call) it had scaled back to a 7 & holding. He did the poke & prod thing & told me to go downstairs for lab work. Another half an hour & they're taking blood & urine & the pain has scaled back to a 4. By the time I get to the pharmacy for vicadin, the pain was pretty much gone. I call the Cap'n to fill him in, and that I hadn't decided yet whether I was coming in to the shop or not. He calls back a few minutes later about our normal lunch order, and I told him I felt good enough to head down, & go ahead & get me a sandwich. I get to the shop at 1pm & eat lunch. The pain is about a 2. Eat & then go to work on the black car for a while. Cell phone rings, it's the Dr's office, blood in the urine sample, let's do a CAT scan. I get the # for the lab, and they can get me in at 3. It's 2 now. It's a 45 minute drive to the Lab from the shop. I head out on the hiway, & the lab calls on my cell phone, the appt is at 2:45, not 3. OK, I can still be on time. Meanwhile, the pain starts back up. By the time I get to the lab, it's back up to a 6, & rising. They get me right in (after a huge dent is taken out of a credit card, I hate deductables). They get me right into the machine, and by the time they're done having me scanned by the cats, the pain is back down to a 2 again. They tell me to wait for the scans, & to take them to my Dr. I had no idea they were gonna give them to me, so I sat & waited. Thankfully the pain stayed down. Get the scans, head back over to the Dr. The Nurse says to wait, & the Dr will look them ove with me. Dr sits me down & shows me this little speck that's the kidney stone, & shows me how far it has yet to go before it exits my bod. He also tells me it's gonna hurt some more before it does finally exit. By this time I'm pretty sure this is not gonna be a fun week for me. To shorten this story some (I know, too late) I'm drinking water by the gallon, & am so tired of peeing you can not believe. Dr. told me if it hasn't passed by the end of the week, call him. This is definately not gonna be fun. Soooo, I'll get to decide in the morning whether to go in to the shop & try & get some work done, but I'm not even gonna play the hero. I hate pain. If it gets over a 7 for a half an hour, I'm headin' home to the vicadin. Wish me luck, and a painless passage.

Drink lots of that nasty cranberry juice. Helped mine quite a bit. I know that pain. I can't believe you were driving like that.

Oh, man. Here's to a speedy and painless recovery! (all the beverage smileys I could find) Drink up!

You poor thing!! I'll keep my fingers crossed that the pain stays down.

Uhh...just kidding!!

Hmmm, I probably could scan the CT scan........



Maybe not.

QUOTE

painless passage

I hope that is possible...
I've never had this , but...Never mind

I hope you can get through this, get it through you, quick.

KT

Dude, you need to get some Toradol (sp?) it is an anti inflammatory that will help ALOT until it passes. if you have not had it yet you need to ASK for it ASAP


I have BTDT with the stones

I have been off work for a month due to one lodged in my tube they doing surgery on weds to remove it (second one) it's be awhile till I can walk normal

QUOTE (mk114 @ Apr 11 2005, 07:34 PM)

I have been off work for a month due to one lodged in my tube they doing surgery on weds to remove it (second one) it's be awhile till I can walk normal

OUCH!!

Knowing what you're going thru, you have my heartfelt best wishes.

I know your pain. I have passed a few of these. The last ones were at Martinsville while sitting and watching the Busch race. These were easy ones only intense pain for a few minutes and then nothing. Nothing that is until I went to the bathroom and found blood. I knew I was in for something. Then on Sunday it happened again watching the CUP race. Good luck to you and I hope you never have any more.

Mike

my dad went through a kidneystone episode last year
not fun, so I can relate to what you're going through...
my dad's a tough guy, so when I see him turn pale, break a sweat and starts to swear, I know the pain is serious
I got physical with an emergency doctor that refused to give him a sedative
Took the damn doctors 3 months before he was rid of em
He went through 2 kidney stone crusher sessions (imagine a boxer punching your kidney for an hour) first of which without a sedative (my dad's immune for certain sedatives, and they "forgot" about that)
just a day before his 3rd session, he finally peed it all out...

go for lots of rides in a stiff sprung teener... that will help crush and move the stones!

and hang in there!!!

So....passing lot's of water helps? Like drinking copious amounts of wine and beer? OK...I'm there....

I have had four of them. The first one landed my fat ass at the hospital. The triage nurse asked me they pain, i said 9 out of ten. She asked about blood in the urine, i said yep. She said Kidney Stone - God's revenge for childbirth. Now, i don't know about that, but it sure did hurt. On a side note, if they offer you Demerol (sp?) Intraveneoulsy (sp? again), just say YES!

Mark,

I know what you're going through. Had my first introduction to a kidney stone last April. While getting dressed for work the first pain cycle struck, then repeated a few times before I said to my significant other that it was time for the emergency room. Thank goodness she was there to drive me as I can't imagine driving myself with that sort of pain. Yeoww!

After the ER diagnosis and some pain killers I was referred to a urologist, who turned out to be a great guy. He showed me the x-rays, ponting out that this was one major single stone lodged in the urueter duct, and told me that while the stone might pass he wouldn't bet on it. He advised removal by scope and scheduled me for the next morning. Next morning, yep, right up the pee-shooter! Luckily I wasn't conscious during the procedure. But I did feel the after effects for the next week or so.

Nope. Not a fun experience.

But at least you'll have your own kidney stone story that you can trade with other stone veterans!

BTDT….about a hundred times over the past 20+yrs.
I even passed a 7mm X 5mm stone one time.

Toradol won’t even touch me, plus I have a good tolerance to painkillers because of it.

I finally had a benign tumour removed from my Para thyroid (sp?) and now my blood work is back in the normal range. I still have a couple of left over small stones that don’t bug me.

Believe me, I know your pain…

Just a few from my collection

YIPES mark! that's quite the collection . what do you do, pee through a screen?

k

Geez, that looks like POPCORN....and it came thru yer winky? Bet you can turn a truck around in it now....

Anti-inflammatories are magic for this problem (I've gone through it several times). Most of the pain is caused by the inflammation, not by the stone itself.

You need to look at your diet, esp. for recent changes in it, as that's what causes them in the first place. There seem to be many triggers, and it varies from person to person. For me, it was vitamin C. For most people, vitamin C = good. For me, vitamin C = kidney stones, so I avoid it. Tea, iced or otherwise, will also trigger it for me, as will certain kinds of vegetables. There's lots of information on the web about known triggering factors, and you should look them up and look to see what you did to start this. For myself, there was always a trigger I could associate with every bout, once I figured out what it was. Switching to drinking fruit juices regularly started the first; drinking iced tea started the second; a series of spinach salads the most recent.

Drink LOTS of water when you feel one coming on, and down anti-inflammatories.

QUOTE (rhodyguy @ Apr 12 2005, 10:05 AM)

YIPES mark! that's quite the collection . what do you do, pee through a screen? k

A paint strainer.

These are about half their original size, as they shrink when they dry out.

Was working on paving my driveway with them...But I think I'd rather pay for a load of gravel...

There are several different types of stones, anti-inflammatories had little effect on me. I'm glad the Para thyroid (sp?) operation worked as I would have lost my kidneys if this had of gone on much longer.

I was an extreme case, my one doctor said if there was a lottery for the highest uric acid and calcium levels I would have won every time.

I've had more scopes, stints, blastings and operations than you could ever dream (nightmare) of...not fun.

Geez, after hearing these stories, I am definately not looking forward to this. No pain last night, and so far nothing this morning. Could it have passed without me noticing? Yeah, I know, wishful thinking. But really, could it have?

Mark, what kind of scale are we looking at with that coin? If it's the size of a U.S. dime, it's one thing, but if that's the size of one of our half dollars......

A paint strainer, huh? I've been going thru coffee filters, but I like the strainer idea better.

I called the Castle & warned them of what the Dr said, and that if I call in sick because of this, there's no way I'm going in, even if there's no on available to cover for me (there's only 7 of us on staff that can legally do my job). I'm a wimp when it comes to pain, so if I need the vicodin, I'm gonna take it!

When my stone was removed by scope they broke it up and removed the main chunks. For the next few days I was passing sand particles. They gave me a little filter type funnel so I could catch them. Why? I don't really know.

The doctor showed me the larger chunks. These are not smooth like pebbles. They are irregular calcium crystals that look like sand spurs. They don't just slide out, they grab and hold, and your body let's you know it!

Just what I need at lunch time......... Sittin' here readin' stories from a buncha' stoners .......... The Cap'n

A US and Canadian dime are about the same size.

The pain will come and go, it only hurts when it's moving and that is really a good thing. My stones got stuck most of the time. Not a good thing.

If your taking a piss and you hear a "clink" you might of passed a small stone. Bigger one will put you on your knees...so you'll know you passed it.

Mark H's case is quite unusual, as he said. The pain can come and go in waves, over the course of hours or even days, depending. For some, moving around helps. For others, lying still helps. It really varies all over the map.

So far today, drinking gallons of water & cranberry juice, and no pain at all. This is probably gonna be one of the ones that sits for a while, then moves, then sits for a couple of days, then moves...etc.

With my luck, it'll do nothing until the day before the WCC, then move again.

- when the pain stops - they are typically gone - had a few myself - they come around every 10 years - if they stay - get ultrasound treatment - basically you sit in a bathtup and they smash the stone with ultrasound - its paynless - especially compared to the pain that the stone causes when it goes through your system - Good luck

Someone asked me in a PM so I'll also post my reply here.

The Para thyroid and thyroid are two different glands.

Para means "two pair". They are in your neck behind the thyroid. They are not fully understood, but for the most part they control the body's calcium levels.

This operation is usually done on people with advanced kidney disease or diabetes as the Para thyroid goes ballistic. They remove the whole Para thyroid, but it's a double edge sword. They stop one problem but create others, as your body then has no way of controlling calcium. You are now on drugs to control calcium.

In my case they removed 1-1/2 of my Para thyroid so I don't need to worry about it.

My case is a bit extreme but I’ve met several others with it this bad. So far the Para thyroid op did the trick.

BTW if you think it's gone skip rope for about 10 min.
If it's still there, it will let you know.