About 6 days from now I am supposed to have a Lithotripsy done to remove imbedded kidney stones.
Anyone who has had this done and or doctors here that can tell me more about this procedure?
Supposedly I have a stone the size of a nickel in my kidney with several smaller stones.
I am not having any pain currently.
Is this something that has to be done or do I just need to cancel ? I am going to see the doctor Tomorow again . Just want other information before I talk to him
Or is more of a pre-emptive procedure for down the road to prevent problems ?
Obviously I do not want to have anything done that may cause more problems than it solves/Kidney damage for example. I have had stents place in my heart and had triple bypass about 7 years ago.
I had it done about ten years ago .... I was pissing so much blood my Internist thought I had cancer. Sent me to a Urologist and it turned-out to-be a big kidney stone.
Anyways, long story short .... shave your balls beforehand, and take an el marko and draw a smiley face on each nut. The nurses fondling your balls will appreciate that.
Oh wait, you're doing the lithotripsy thing with the shock waves. Yeah, I had that done back in the 80s, still in my 30s at the time .... the first time I had a kidney stone. They put me in like this hot water thing like we used-to get-in after ballgames ... whirlpool thing. Then they hit you with this like ultrasonic thing in bursts. It'll make you piss in the water and the water turned red and I pissed blood for a couple of days and my lower right back was sore. Didn't stop me from working but I was sore. They're probably a lot better at it these days.
What I didn't like about it was that .... well, passing those stones they busted-up. That'll wake you up I guarantee-it. They'll have you pissing in a screen.
The procedure I had done about ten years ago ... they went-up in there through my johnson (they had to use this really long fiber optic thing ... extra long I was told) but they went up in there and examined my bladder and then snaked it into my kidney and busted-up the stone and took it out in pieces. I was asleep in this like recliner/barber chair the whole time. There was still this tiny little piece I had to pass but not like all the pieces I had to pass in '88. Whew, that was rough. I've always been pretty good about dealing with pain but ... that was rough.
You'll be fine. I'm sure they'll give you pain killers these days.
FWIW I've got 7 stents. Heart issues run on both sides of my family, so do kidney stones.
What you think about, you do ... what you do, you become. In a nation where anything goes ... eventually, everything will. We're almost there.
Seems like it was a very common treatment in the 80s and 90s.
Now you hear more of the catheter deal. Lucky for me, they dont appear in my family. The genetic part. Unfortunately, my wife has suffered through them.
Watched that woman have 2 babies, on with the smallest dose of the mildest drug given. The other drug free. Her only reaction to pain was crushing my hand, and a groan. Kidney stones had her in the fetal position, crying and begging for pain medicine.
Parents who say they have good kids..Usually don't!
Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) is still a very common procedure. And relatively mild when it comes to postoperative discomfort. In the grand scheme of things, it is a relatively minor procedure, usually performed outside of a hospital at an ambulatory surgery center.
It usually takes 45 minutes to an hour to deliver the acceptable number of shockwaves to the stone (maybe up to 3000 for a stone in the kidney). If you were awake for it, it would be unpleasant (like somebody slapping your side over and over again every second or so), which is why almost all patients are put under general anesthesia. Afterwards, you might feel some residual discomfort from the area "slapped," but its usually not described as painful.
It is usually effective at breaking larger stones up, hopefully into "sand" that can be passed. Some stones, though, don't break up with ESWL and will have to be addressed with a subsequent, more invasive urologic procedure.
It is not healthy for a kidney to have a stone. It can, over time, gradually obstruct urine outflow from the kidney calyx where it sits, resulting in dilation and potential infection and damage to the kidney. Larger stones often don't cause symptoms like small stones. The smaller kidney stones, which are small enough in diameter to slip down into the ureters (which connect the kidney to the bladder) and potentially get stuck, typically result in the classic severe flank pain associated with kidney stones. But, the larger stones are still not something to be ignored.
If you're not comfortable with your doctor's recommendation, you could always get a second opinion. But, ESWL is a very reasonable initial procedure to attempt to break up a kidney stone.
I had that procedure done on my second kidney stone. They went and got the first one through an existing opening. The lithotripsy was much more pleasant experience.
What you need to watch out for is when the Dr says, the stone is only 6mm, you can pass that. I'm thinking 6mm low drag long range bullet that just slips through the air. What he was talking about was a 6mm sand spur.
With lithotripsy the pulses just break the stone into sand size pieces or smaller. No problems and not really much pain. It is not comfortable but they gave me something for that. I was awake through the whole thing, no problems.
I have had it done twice. There is nothing to it. You can end up with a bruise but it’s not bad. If they put a stint in you after the procedure you may have discomfort. You will also not like when they have to take it out.
For the record I have had lithotripsy twice and laser surgery once. I know more about kidney stones that I would like to.
Had it done about 15 yrs ago,as mentioned was knocked out,then had to whiz in a screened cone to try and catch the goodies. Thank goodness have not had one since.
