M"ER"RY CHRISTMAS

[Glen]

“ In my case the stent was installed but in this case they left a string tied to the stent and on Sunday of this week I am supposed to grab ahold of this string and yank this stent out myself...”

 

My stomach turned just reading this.  

If you do decide to go this route, may I suggest you do it like when they give kids shots?

Tell yourself you’re gonna count to 3 and yank it out. But then pull the ripcord on “2” instead 😂

[jft69z]

8 hours ago, Rob Peters said:

In my case the stent was installed but in this case they left a string tied to the stent and on Sunday of this week I am supposed to grab ahold of this string and yank this stent out myself.... now, ask me if am looking forward to doing this or if I would prefer to go back under and let them remove it while I knew nothing about it happening.

It's awful that they're making you pull it out yourself, damn,

In my case, there was no string, they had to go up there a week later and get it. BUT, I was fully awake, and there's no pain meds involved. I couldn't push back hard enough in that seat to get away from them while they pulled it out. I did get to watch it on the computer screen while they pulled it out though (obviously, I would have rather been sleeping). Then another couple days of bleeding, and burning......

One of the times I had the procedure, I convinced the doctor to not place a stent. I was so happy about that when he told me after waking up from the surgery, but on the ride home from the hospital, I started feeling some pain. It got to the point I thought I was going to pass out, and surpassed the original kidney stone pain by a factor of about a hundred. Apparently, they put that stent in place to stop the ureter from spasming after it's been manipulated by the laser, scope, flushing, etc.

I don't recall them mentioning that beforehand though. We were all laughing before the procedure when I was jokingly offering the Doctor and Nurses $20 not to put in the stent. Be careful what you wish for I guess...

[420ponies]

Rob, Your doing What???  "ain't no way I'm Ieaving with this THING in me" would have been my response!

[willie]

8 hours ago, Glen said:

“ In my case the stent was installed but in this case they left a string tied to the stent and on Sunday of this week I am supposed to grab ahold of this string and yank this stent out myself...”

 

My stomach turned just reading this.  

If you do decide to go this route, may I suggest you do it like when they give kids shots?

Tell yourself you’re gonna count to 3 and yank it out. But then pull the ripcord on “2” instead 😂

This is what my Doc did when i went back to have it removed!!!    Not fun at all!!

1 hour ago, 420ponies said:

Rob, Your doing What???  "ain't no way I'm Ieaving with this THING in me" would have been my response!

Jim you have no idea it is in there until they tell you.  After the first time (like Joe) you try to buy yourself out of it, but to no avail, they do what they need to do to protect their interests!!!!

 

 

Rob get better fast!!!

[Rob Peters]

12 hours ago, Dtret said:

Sorry about the “ pun”.  When I posted that I had no intention of it having that meaning until Glen posted and I read it again. That’s not a situation to be taken lightly again I apologize for my untimely response. I’m glad you’re feeling better and hopefully you have a better New Year’s holiday. 

Dennis, really, no offense taken.  I first found out about the stone the first part of November and I too was using that term of "this too shall pass" , it's all good!!

rob

[Rob Peters]

9 hours ago, Glen said:

“ In my case the stent was installed but in this case they left a string tied to the stent and on Sunday of this week I am supposed to grab ahold of this string and yank this stent out myself...”

 

My stomach turned just reading this.  

If you do decide to go this route, may I suggest you do it like when they give kids shots?

Tell yourself you’re gonna count to 3 and yank it out. But then pull the ripcord on “2” instead 😂

Glen, I have watched numerous videos and like you thought the approach of a quick jerk on the string would be the best approach but a nice steady pull on it is the suggested approach.  I certainly don't want to jerk it and break the string and need to go to an ER

[Rob Peters]

6 hours ago, jft69z said:

It's awful that they're making you pull it out yourself, damn,

 

Joe, I might make Patsy do it

rob

[Rob Peters]

From what I am reading, it is suggested to drink3 cups of water and take pain medication about 30 minutes prior to the removal.  I may just substitute 3 cups of adult beverages for the water.

rob

[FrankOC]

9 minutes ago, Rob Peters said:

From what I am reading, it is suggested to drink3 cups of water and take pain medication about 30 minutes prior to the removal.  I may just substitute 3 cups of adult beverages for the water.

rob

Good idea,  3 very tall adult beverages.  

[Canuck]

1 hour ago, Rob Peters said:

From what I am reading, it is suggested to drink3 cups of water and take pain medication about 30 minutes prior to the removal.  I may just substitute 3 cups of adult beverages for the water.

rob

[Glen]

Again… just reading all these follow up comments makes me cringe at the very thought of it.  

Ive always told Amy that there’s no way they’d ever even put a catheter in me if needed… this sounds 100 times worse.  I was thinking about suggesting tying the string around a door knob - like yanking out a loose tooth - but it sounds like that idea isn’t feasible either.  Just kidding, of course!  Whatever approach you take, I hope it is minimally painful, Rob.

[Rob Peters]

I just saw this on facebook, they say it is from a Martian Meteor but it is what my kidney stone felt like....

rob

 

[Scott S.]

On 12/27/2024 at 5:39 PM, Rob Peters said:

Thanks Aaron, yeah, it didn't even feel like Christmas

 

Larry, because of the location of the stone they can not use the ultrasonic treatment, they will have to laser it.

Joe, My doctor would have liked to use the ultrasonic treatment but due to the location that was not an option.  This is my third stone. The one before this one was back in 2012 and the doctor went in to try to retrieve it with a gripper but the stone moved back up into the kidney and he accidently fired the laser which perforated my left kidney which damn near killed me.  When I came out of the antiseptic I couldn't breathe and ended up in a coma in the ICU and hospitalized for a month. A priest was called in to administer the anointing of the sick (that used to be called Last Rites.    I am not a fan of the laser method  

Ron, definitely not a great way to spend Christmas but like I said to Aaron, it didn't even feel like Christmas.  As far as the giving me something good for the pain.  The pain killer they had to use on me is called dilaudid which is anywhere from 2 to 8 times more powerful than morphine.  It is some really good stuff.

Jim, what you have been told is correct, kidney stones are no joke

Bill, No people don't have the choice of when one hits you.  I first started having some medium pain around the first week of November but since the stone was stationary the pain was minimal.  Went through all of our Christmas decorating, shopping wrapping etc and Patsy kept saying "are you ok" and I would always say yes, the pain is bearable, and it was.  On Christmas eve evening we were out at our older sons house for a family get together and all was fine, I was sitting there talking to my sons father-in-law, his father in law turned to our son and said "Your just got real pale, is he ok?" and at the time I was fine but about a minute later it hit me real hard and we headed home and then to the ER where I was admitted.  Yes, it will for sure bring you to your knees and make a grown man cry.

Thanks Dennis, We had some of our Christmas today.  You are right, this too shall pass, yeah, I got the pun.

Thank you Sammy.  The surgery went well but there are still after effects.

Thanks so much Steve, Yes I will be better soon, I pray for better days in your back issues.

Willie, unfortunately this is not an age related issue.  My first one was about 25 years ago.  This was my third one and I hope I don't live long enough to experience another one.  You were pretty close  to right on what time my surgery would be over.  It ended about 10 minutes before your post.  Regarding the pain.  The stone pain is over but I still have considerable amount of burning and kidney pain.

Frank, in reality it is in front of me... sorry I couldn't resist.  I made it home yesterday afternoon.

Too funny Scott on the moving out part.  I think most of them have barbs on them and that is what causes the pain.  Since I have never given birth I can not comment on that but women who have done both have reported the it is worse than childbirth.

Michael, Sad YES but I was not laughing very much but yes Scott's comment was funny.

 

Chris, Thanks for the prayers.

Kevin, thanks for the prayers and good wishes.

Thanks Dave, I feel better today than yesterday.

Thanks Vaughn, I hope to feel much better by the middle of next week.

CK, the way it was going I thought for sure it would hold off until January 3rd when it was scheduled to be zapped by the laser but the fact it grew from 3mm to 6mm I am not sure how much it would have grown by the time of my appointment.

Glen, yeah Dennis's comment about "This Too Shal Pass" didn't go unnoticed.

thanks Wesley for the thoughts and prayers.

 

To all, yes the laser zapping is done but everything is not done yet.  You see, they also, while in there, installed a Stent.  Doctors will install a stent if the opening into the bladder is not large enough for all of the pieces to make it through through, as a matter of fact most of the time a stent is left in.  In Joe's case and in the case of some of my other stones the doctor scheduled to go in a few weeks later to remove this stent.  In my case the stent was installed but in this case they left a string tied to the stent and on Sunday of this week I am supposed to grab ahold of this string and yank this stent out myself.... now, ask me if am looking forward to doing this or if I would prefer to go back under and let them remove it while I knew nothing about it happening.

rob

Been there..... Done that.....

Glad to hear that they dissolved your pain.

[Rob Peters]

21 hours ago, Glen said:

Again… just reading all these follow up comments makes me cringe at the very thought of it.  

Ive always told Amy that there’s no way they’d ever even put a catheter in me if needed… this sounds 100 times worse.  I was thinking about suggesting tying the string around a door knob - like yanking out a loose tooth - but it sounds like that idea isn’t feasible either.  Just kidding, of course!  Whatever approach you take, I hope it is minimally painful, Rob.

I won't go into any details on the stent removal because I would not want to make Glen cringe any more.  Suffice it to just say it is out.  I read the doctor's notes in Follow My Health (the hospitals on line portal) and he stated that when he went in to laser the stone it had grown to 7mm. 

Bottom line is the stent is out and now things should go back to some sense of normal but no lifting over 10 pounds for the next 2 to 4 weeks.

Now, we strive for no more Christmas holiday's like this ever again.

rob 

[Scott S.]

25 minutes ago, Rob Peters said:

I won't go into any details on the stent removal because I would not want to make Glen cringe any more.  Suffice it to just say it is out.  I read the doctor's notes in Follow My Health (the hospitals on line portal) and he stated that when he went in to laser the stone it had grown to 7mm. 

Bottom line is the stent is out and now things should go back to some sense of normal but no lifting over 10 pounds for the next 2 to 4 weeks.

Now, we strive for no more Christmas holiday's like this ever again.

rob 

Beer doesn't weigh all that much, and I've been told that it's good for flushing out the kidneys too...

Here's to your recovery... 

[Rob Peters]

6 minutes ago, Scott S. said:

Beer doesn't weigh all that much, and I've been told that it's good for flushing out the kidneys too...

Here's to your recovery... 

Not a beer drinker but other adult beverages may work just as well

rob

[FrankOC]

Rob,  during stent removal I think I heard the blood curdling scream up here in MA. 
I’m happy to hear things are returning back to normal for you.

[kpcsgasp]

found this on the interwebs

 

[Rob Peters]

2 hours ago, kpcsgasp said:

found this on the interwebs

 

Wow, that hits pretty close to home.  Joe, next time you can request the string rather than having to go back under to get it removed.  It is an experience everyone should go through.  But then again, maybe not.

rob

[Glen]

14 hours ago, Rob Peters said:

I won't go into any details on the stent removal because I would not want to make Glen cringe any more.  Suffice it to just say it is out.  I read the doctor's notes in Follow My Health (the hospitals on line portal) and he stated that when he went in to laser the stone it had grown to 7mm. 

Bottom line is the stent is out and now things should go back to some sense of normal but no lifting over 10 pounds for the next 2 to 4 weeks.

Now, we strive for no more Christmas holiday's like this ever again.

rob 

Glad to hear it sounds like you’re done with the worst of it.

I’ve been lumped up pretty good in knock down, drag out fights, hit/dragged by a car, bit by dogs, had bones broken, bit by a human(?), banged up in numerous car accidents and temporarily lost hearing in one ear wrestling over a shotgun that discharged inches from my head. Just to name a few that come to mind.

Think I’d volunteer for any of those things again before what you (and others) have dealt with in the urology department. 

Hopefully this is the last time you will have to deal with this issue.  

PS - bourbon is good for all things urology related 

 

[cny first gen 71]

1 hour ago, Glen said:

Glad to hear it sounds like you’re done with the worst of it.

I’ve been lumped up pretty good in knock down, drag out fights, hit/dragged by a car, bit by dogs, had bones broken, bit by a human(?), banged up in numerous car accidents and temporarily lost hearing in one ear wrestling over a shotgun that discharged inches from my head. Just to name a few that come to mind.

Think I’d volunteer for any of those things again before what you (and others) have dealt with in the urology department. 

Hopefully this is the last time you will have to deal with this issue.  

PS - bourbon is good for all things urology related 

 

Aren't you going to miss all that when you retire? 😳 I'm sure you and Amy are looking forward to it but yea the urologist is in your future sorry to say. I go back Friday for my follow up from radiation treatment to hopefully find out that it worked.  Hopefully start off new year on a good note.

[willie]

Rob Glad your on the mend and the worst is now over!!!

Glen sorry Amy got the best of you Alll those times!!  LOL

Steve Good Luck on, we can use a good note!!!!

[Leghome]

Glad it is all done hoefully you never have another one. I started drinking a tabldspoon of organic vineger with 3 ounces of orange every morning and again with 3 ounces of V8 each evening and have not had any more stones for over 15 years. I don't know if this is the reason but not haveing had any I will keep theio regimen going.

[Scott S.]

23 hours ago, Rob Peters said:

Not a beer drinker but other adult beverages may work just as well

rob

Vodka is a good disinfectant.... 

[Glen]

13 hours ago, cny first gen 71 said:

Aren't you going to miss all that when you retire? 😳 I'm sure you and Amy are looking forward to it but yea the urologist is in your future sorry to say. I go back Friday for my follow up from radiation treatment to hopefully find out that it worked.  Hopefully start off new year on a good note.

Like they say… I’ll miss some of the clowns, but I sure as hell won’t miss the circus.  And best wishes on your follow up, I’m sure it’ll be a great start to 2025.