Kidneys

[ralphmelton]

Read on only if you want to know all about my current medical conditions.



So, there is a stone lingering at the top of my right ureter (the tube connecting the kidney to the bladder). It's about 5mm in diameter. It's far more dense than anything in the neighborhood; it stood out like a little star on the CT scan.

The ureter is about 1mm at its narrowest point. So, if the 5mm stone tries to come out intact, it will involve extreme pain.

So I'm getting a lithotripsy. (I recommend following the link; it seems like a decent explanation.)

The lithotripsy itself is an noninvasive outpatient procedure. This is good. But if you followed that link, you may have noticed the mention of the 'stent'. This is a tube that gets put up the ureter to help dilate the ureter and help fragments pass through. And this talk of putting things up my ureter makes me just as happy that I'm to receive general anesthesia for that.

So on October 5, I'm to go to the hospital at 6:30 am, and I should expect to return to consciousness around 1 or 2pm. I am not allowed to drive myself home, and I'm told that I shouldn't expect to get any useful work done that day.

I'm a little worried about getting up early enough for it, since I failed to get the spiral CT scan when I had that early-morning appointment. I was tempted to just stay up all night, since I'd be trashed the next day anyway, but Lori thinks that's a poor idea.

Comments

[mrpeck.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry.

[cellio]

Ouch. :-(

[elletweedy.livejournal.com]

What causes kidney stones? Is this a hereditary thing? That sounds really painful.

Re: 6:30am. I don't know about you, but I'm so scared of getting general anaestheics that I hardly slept at all before getting my wisdom teeth out (my first experience with general anaesthetics). If it's a problem, I can call you at 6am, when I get up. ;)

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

I get up early too, so we should make it. But thank you!!!

Besides, I think the plan will be get up at 5:30, leave at 6:00.

[lothie.livejournal.com]

*big hug* Best wishes, hon.

[sethcohen.livejournal.com]

You're in luck. Karen says the big ones hurt less. It's large enough that if you're tired of having it, they could zap it with sound waves & break it up. Make sure that you get a prescription for Dilaudid before you do anything that involves making little stones out of big stones...my colleague J.P. says it's the only narcotic strong enough to do the job.

[ralphmelton.livejournal.com]

I think the "zap and break it up" is what the lithotripsy is next Thursday.

Is the Dilaudid for "during" or for "after"? For during, I'm under the general anesthetic. And the stent is supposed to ease the egress a bit.

So glad to see you on LJ, btw! And what a great picture!

Re:

[sethcohen.livejournal.com]

Dilaudid is for after. Well, it's a pain medication, so it's for pain, so it could be for now if you're in that kind of pain. I suspect you're not, if the Vicodin is giving you enough relief. But keep it in mind for later. Tell the MD or surgeon that it comes under recommendation from your pharmacist for control of pain from kidney stones.

If you're under general anaesthesia, you won't need it then, 'cuz you won't notice the pain. But why should you have more pain if you can avoid it? Pain actually slows healing, so if you're in pain, you'll be in pain longer.

Glad you like the picture. Blame Arthur. 8^) I would have signed up for LJ earlier, but it's been a busy couple of weeks. *sigh*