The Kidney Stone Epic

 Usually I blog about other things, but I figured I would post a blog about my first encounter with a kidney stone.

On June 5th I woke up early with a slight pain in my left flank. I didn't think much of it in the beginning, and went about my normal routine even though my back hurt. After a couple hours of the pain was getting steadily worse in my back, it also started flaring up in my lower abdominal area. At that time, the pain index was a 5-of-10. My pain tolerance is usually quite high. I went downstairs and told my Mother what was happening. We agreed that if it didn't get better in 30 minutes, we would drive to the hospital. After 15 minutes the pain was now becoming excruciating. As I explained to my Mother, it felt like I got punched a few times in the kidneys by Mike Tyson along with the sensation of being repeatedly kicked hard in the nuts. And now it was a hard pain at a scale of 8 out of 10, but it was a pulsing, wrenching pain. We decided it was time to leave, so I got dressed and off we went.

 She asked how I was doing and I replied that I hope I can make it to the hospital. I could not really close my eyes, for the fear of passing out, so I tried to watch the surroundings as we traveled. The pain was over a 9 at that point. We quickly decided to stop at the local Fire Department as they usually have an ambulatory staff. They were closed. We got back on the road and stopped at the Fire Department at the next town. They were also closed. Mom called the number on the door, and after about 10 minutes, an elderly man pulled up who was a 30 year volunteer for the department. He was unequipped for the situation, so we called 911 to get some quick help. The pain was still at at a 9 going up to a 10, and all he could try to do was take vitals, but his hearing was bad so no BP. It has been just over half an hour since we left home. He called 911 and had an ambulance dispatched from over 25 miles away. After another 20 minutes they arrived. I was able to slowly walk into the ambulance and lay down on the stretcher. As they got me situated, they tried to take my BP with 2 different cuffs connected to the digital BP box. They could not get a reading, but confirmed I had a faint pulse. One of the responders got the regular BP cuff and took my BP. The got a 180/96 reading, and were bound to the Emergency Room 30 miles away. Every bump they hit felt like a punch in the nuts. The 2nd responder inserted an IV in my hand. They first tried 50mcg of Fentanyl for the pain. It didn't help, so they administered an additional 50mcg of Fentanyl. After a few more minutes with no relief, they administered another 100mcg. It wasn't doing anything, so I had to endure the remainder of the ride with 200mcg of Fentanyl that didn't cut the pain threshold. It maybe knocked the pain down to an 8.

 Once we got to the ER at the hospital, they prepped the other hand for another IV. They needed two ports. One for IV and another for meds/tests. They pulled 5 or 6 vials of blood for labwork to see what they were dealing with. My temperature then was 96.6F (35.8C) so I was also cold. Once they isolated the problem, I was injected with Toradol 15mg. After about 30 minutes, the pain began to subside. At that point, I was more relaxed and my pain levels were down to about a 4. Shortly after that, the ER doctor came in and explained what was going on. The CT scan (with contrast) showed a 6mm kidney stone in the ureter, and that was what was causing the organ spasms. Oddly enough, I did not experience the nausea or vomiting associated with this. On top of the kidney stone, he also said they found a tumor on my adrenal gland, as well as a small lesion on my liver. Since the stone is my priority now, I am not concerned about the tumor. It's benign, and will probably take years to grow. The lesion on my liver is also small enough that it doesn't concern me either, as I have not experienced any pain in the area. At this point, my vitals are starting to level out, and they started prepping for discharge. The doctor brought up pain killers, and I confided in him that Hydro based drugs (Vicodin/Lortab/etc) don't work on me and they give me a huge headache. So we agreed that a moderate dose of Oxycontin would suffice. They called in my prescriptions and we would pick them up on the way home. When we got to the pharmacy they rang up the 3 prescriptions and it totaled over $225. They mispriced the nausea meds (usually about $4), so I told them to keep it. I took a pain pill when I got home and went straight to bed as the medicine they gave me in the ER was wearing off. After a few hours in bed, the pain woke me up (another 8 on the scale), so I had to take another dose of Percocet. After 30 miserable minutes of standing or sitting in my chair, the pain subsided and I got back to sleep.

 I have an appointment on the 20th at a staffed Urology clinic. The ER hospital didn't really have any Urologists on staff. They have a urologist that comes in a couple times a month, and wanted me to go to their office over 70 miles away. So far the pain has been bearable, with pain indexes anywhere from a 2 to a 6. I figure I'll tough it out until it gets to a 7, then I'll take a pain killer. Meanwhile, I have been drinking a liter of lemon tea a day along with other fluids in an effort to push it through. After a week, no results. There are several options at this point. The first 2 are off the table for now. They involve invasive surgery. Well, one of them is shoving a rod into my junk into the bladder and retrieving it there. The other is a laproscopic procedire to remove it from wherever it is. The third option involves the use of ultrasonic sound waves to break it up into smaller pieces, which will pass through easier. The downside is after that, it becomes a collection of small sharp shards that will still need to naturally pass through. We will see what options are available on the 20th.

 It has been said that the pain is on the scales of childbirth. While I cannot make that comparison, I have been told by several women that they are about the same, if not worse. I can only confirm that it is a horrible, miserable, excruciating pain. And there is no 'comfortable' position to ease the pains and spasms. I have had to 'take it easy' for a while now, as too much moving around aggravates the condition. I have not been able to work out due to this, and I look forward to getting back to my routine.

So, there you have it! You're all caught up. I'll update as new info comes in.

Update. On the 18th of June, the stone passed through. It was concluded that it was a calcium stone. Since then, no problems. Back to normal :)