This is what a stent looks like inside of a bladder.
Until a few weeks ago, 2012 had been a pretty miserable experience for me, but I’m feeling better, and I’m going to take on the world!
Back last year (all the way back to 2011), I had what I thought was a gall bladder attack, and I ended up going to the doctor and getting a ton of tests done, but they all turned up negative, so we just waited it out. I had a kidney stone attack in November and ended up going to the hospital to get it checked out, but they couldn’t find anything, and I swear it must have passed.
January started out with pneumonia, and a nice little sinus infection. My pneumonia ended up requiring two different courses of antibiotics, and I was left with a cough that hang around for three months (they call it a 100 day cough).
The week after I was diagnosed with pneumonia, I was in the emergency room at 6am (after suffering through it from 1am until I couldn’t handle the vomiting and agony any more) with the worst kidney stone pain I have had ever had. By the time I got to the hospital, the pain had vanished, but they took blood, did tests, and the whole bottle of wax (there was definitely blood in my urine), but again they couldn’t see the stupid thing.
Luckily that doctor referred me to Dr. Razvi, a urologist here, who did a battery of tests including a CT scan. That was the first time that my kidney stone had been seen, and it was a 7mm sucker that was stuck in the right ureter causing me grief and swelling up my kidney.
He gave me some FlowMax medication which would hopefully push the stone out, and set me up for surgery at the end of May.
The stone was still there, but between the pain medication he prescribed, and me just naturally being a tough bugger, I managed to gut it out.
My surgery was on May 11th, and it was a pretty quick process. I got to the hospital at 6am, and was in surgery by 8:30. I was back in recovery by 10 (with something called a urethral stent), and on a mission to pee so I could be released.
Who knew something so simple would hurt so much? It was like fire coming out of me, and even though I nearly fainted, ten minutes later I had to go again. What was worse was that I could feel the stent inside of me, and when I peed, the feeling of the kidney and bladder spasming around the stent was absolute agony (the burning feeling of the pee going out wasn’t much better mind you).
I went home and rested for a couple of days, popping T3’s like tic tac’s for a couple of days at the nurse’s orders…she kind of chastised me for not letting her dope me up.
For the next couple of weeks, I was in an endless loop. Not drinking enough would cause my kidney to hurt constantly, drinking a lot would stop the constant pain, but result in peeing, which hurt like hell to start and to stop.
The day finally came for my follow-up appointment. The Doctor told me that there were a few kidney stones backed up in there, and that my ureter was significantly swollen. He agreed that it was time to take the stent out, and I was sent off to disrobe.
In the procedure room, I had a numbing jelly applied to the “procedural area” (also known as my business…my man business), and then a small wire with a camera attached was sent in the area. It didn’t hurt, but there was pain, until he went through the bladder area…that hurt. However when he was IN the bladder itself, it wasn’t painful. I could see everything on the monitor, and it was kind of cool to watch him fish for the flexible tube that was in there, he grabbed it, and then pulled it back out where it came from.
AND HOLY MOTHER OF GOD IT CAME BACK OUT!!! OH MY GOD THAT HURTS, and relief.
With that, I was told to go re-dress, and head home. That’s it. I asked if it would hurt to pee, and he said “not anymore”, but I didn’t believe him.
I can’t tell you how hesitant I was for that first pee. Last time someone had put an instrument up that area, I had nearly passed out…so I wasn’t really looking forward to this time.
I held off as long as I could. Finally I had to go.
Incredibly it didn’t hurt! Despite all of the anticipation, and everything that the previous two weeks (and even before that previous several months) had told me would happen…peeing was a relatively painless proceedure!
Since then, I’ve successfully peed every time completely pain free (pauses to knock on some wood).
At the end of August I go back for a half day follow up to my “Metabolic Stone Clinic” appointment, and find out all of the things I could be doing to stop getting kidney stones.
This is why I’m considering 2012 just started for me. Now that I can pee pain free, the next six months are going to knock some socks off!