I had to have a stent placed in the ureter for laser removal of a kidney stone. It was very uncomfortable, but I just removed it and the world is a brighter and happier place...birds buzzing, bees singing...

Omgosh, Dr. T!

2am in the morning Nurse Cratchit wakes me up to tell me the GOOD NEWS! that later in the morning they are going to remove my catheter. Silly me asks her what is holding the catheter in. She told me. I didn't get back to sleep thinking about that.

Pretty straightforward procedure to remove it, too.

After my bypass I still remember when they removed my catheter. I was pleasantly asleep, but I'd been wondering how they remove them. I kind of liked it because I didn't need to get up to piss. Then out of a sound sleep I had this horrible feeling, like my guts were getting ripped out. Not far wrong. No warning. Just rip. I felt my dong flapping between one thigh and the other. And the girl just laughed and walked out. Geez, she could have warned me.

I had SEVERAL kidney stone surgeries in the mid 1990s.
Two lithotripsy, a few basket surgeries, countless IVP X-rays..

Most of the time the doctor removed the stent.
But one time they said, "oh, you can pull it out in a couple weeks".
I was mortified..

But the day came, I sat on the toilet, pushed like I was urinating, and pulled that string/tube right out.
It sure did beat going to the doctor.

I still have several stones in both kidneys, but as long as they don't move, the doctor says not to worry about them.

A few times over the years, I'll feel a tinge in my lower back, and tell the wife in case she finds me on the floor withering in pain.
A few days later I'll feel it working its way out or hear a small stone hit the porcelain.
As long as they are small, they don't hurt.

Hope everything works out for you.

quote:

Originally posted by 1lowlife:

A few days later I'll feel it working its way out or hear a small stone hit the porcelain.
As long as they are small, they don't hurt.

You must be numb down there. "working its way out" isn't what they do. They rip and tear their way along. Then the dumb doctor gives me a few strainers to catch it. My solution was a bit different. I just found a large beer cup and pissed in it. Then when it decided to come out, I poured most of the urine out, then used the strainer. A lot of trouble for an evil, tiny stone. So I dutifully took it to my urologist, who promptly lost it. Probably the idiot girls who worked for him. To them it was nothing, and kind of yucky. All that effort and pain for naught.

I’ve had over 50 surgeries for stones including loss of one kidney. Stents were horrible! The ones that have a string coming out like a tampon were awkward but the one without were worse. To remove the string model the Dr only has to pull quickly. The model without a string requires them to run a roto rooter scope and grabber up the old summer sausage into the bladder and then grab the stint and rip it all out. I thought I’d be a tough guy once and went backpacking with a stent. The pain from that trip was excruciating and I had to stop every 25 yards or so to piss blood.

quote:

Originally posted by 10X-Shooter:
I’ve had over 50 surgeries for stones including loss of one kidney.

Wow!....I can’t imagine 50 kidney stone surgeries. I know you’re not looking for it, but you truly have my sympathies.

I’ve had 2 surgeries and both came with stents that we’re left in for 2 weeks. I pulled both of them myself. Sitting on the toilet and working up the guts to start pulling on that string is an experience I definitely don’t need to relive again.....But yeah, the world is definitely a more beautiful place afterwards.

Today—or rather last night and this morning—I discovered the joys of post-stent-removal pain. Pretty much as bad as passing a stone. Needed narcotics and oxybutinin (anti-spasm drug) to make it go away. Urology nurse says that’s par for the course.

This was only stone #3 for me; only five years since last stone so I need to be more strict about diet (24-hour urine kidney stone prevention test) checks for oxalate, calcium, uric acid, and pH.
Urologist who specializes in this had me start taking potassium citrate to make my urine more alkaline.
I’m hoping that will prevent further stone formation.

Can’t imagine what **50** procedures would feel like.

After having some kidney stones removed, I had a stent with the string hanging out.

Went to the urologist’s office to have it removed. My wife was in the room with me. My wife and the female urologist actually sat there and argued over which one of them would pull the string and YANK the stent out.

The urologist won. She said she would do it on the count of three. The bitch yanked it on one. It felt like my kidney came out with it.

My wife sat there laughing.

So I'm thinking wives enjoy your pain. They claim they don't, but their actions say otherwise. There is no way I would allow my wife in the room for any procedure. She'd enjoy it too much.

Reminds me of a line from a Billy Joel song.
"Carelessly cut you and laugh while you're bleedin'."
My late wife, God rest her soul, was like that. Could find the humor in my misery.
Ah, those were the days.

sjtill, wishing you a speedy recovery.

I had a large (was told 750ml by urologist) blood clot in my right kidney 10 years ago. The urologist put a stent in to help keep things moving and allow for easier passage of the clot. Nothing like feeling like your being stabbed in the back when you urinate, or constantly feeling like you need to empty your bladder, even though you just went. Was never so happy as the day they removed it. And no, I wasn’t awake for that. I think the urologist felt sorry for me since they had to cath me 5 times over 4 days.

Sounds like a case of in-stent relief, followed by temporary in-tract-able pain.

Sorry . . . .

I went through the same procedure last year to break up three stones (a .45, a.9MM and a .30 cal to put them into context as to size )...had the stent installed to let pieces pass.
Thank God in Heaven my urologist staff put me out and kept me in the hospital overnight...I had heard horror stories about removal of the stent ...so far so good stone wise (knock on woodie)

quote:

Originally posted by rburg:
You must be numb down there.

I've had over 15 kidney stone surgeries since 1988.
Since then, I can tell by a certain a pain in my lower back knowing a stone is on the move.
Usually feeling pain in the balls as if someone tapped me in the nuts.
A dull lingering ballsack pain.

AS LONG AS THEY ARE SMALL, I can literally feel them working their way down the ureter, into the bladder, and wait for them to pop out.
Sometimes I notice it coming out, sometimes I don't.

Having 2 lithotripsies, I've had stones busted up.
Doesn't mean they are coming out right after lithotripsy.
My last MRI 7 years ago showed a 7mm stone in my left kidney.
Doctor said as long as it doesn't move, don't worry about it.

I spent 2 days in the hospital 7 years ago with kidney pain.
Wife came home and found me on the floor rocking back and forth in pain and took me to the ER.
Come to find out, the stone already passed and I was only feeling residual pain from its passing.
Since then I warn her of the pain when it comes.
So far I haven't had an ER required episode.

Small stones pass easily.
Bigger ones not so much.

I will add this;
In the beginning and height of my kidney stone adventure, I was working outside in 105 degree Texas humid heat.
I was so busy with time restraints and dead lines, I didn't have time to take a piss.
I would hold my urine for hours until I had a couple minutes to go.
Also didn't have time for proper liquid intake to offset the sweating I was doing.
Pretty sure that is what started my kidney stone story.

Since changing jobs, semi driving instead of delivery driving with the same company, I have more time to take care of personal needs.
I also have time to consume more liquids than I did delivering.

Knock on wood, I haven't had an episode(?) in 6 years..

quote:

Originally posted by mas4363:
After having some kidney stones removed, I had a stent with the string hanging out.

Went to the urologist’s office to have it removed. My wife was in the room with me. My wife and the female urologist actually sat there and argued over which one of them would pull the string and YANK the stent out.

The urologist won. She said she would do it on the count of three. The bitch yanked it on one. It felt like my kidney came out with it.

My wife sat there laughing.

My wife would have done the same thing..

The string is what I had that they told me to remove myself.
As odd as it was, I sat on the toilet, pushed/pulled it out and was instantly relived.

That was much better than the previous sadist Iranian doctor I had that shoved a 1/4 metal rod/tube down my urethra with nothing but local topical gel to numb the tip and fished out a stent that went from my kidney to my bladder.
2 nurses and a male assistant had to hold me down thru this bullshit.

Some of the worst pain I ever experienced only second to the kidney stone pain at it's worse.
I quickly changed to an American doctor after that..

A few years back I had a kidney stone which put me in the hospital; I had surgery to remove it and ended up with a stent, and later a removal. I had the stent for several months, and every time I heard running water, or took a leak, or someone poured a glass of water, it felt like I'd been kidney punched. Hard. Buckled my knees.

When it came time to remove it, I was told no problem, it will be a simple office visit. Bullshit.

I was put in a chair, and raised up like a car on a lift, while a nurse threaded a device places devices were never meant to go, and a doctor used a long (like several feet long) probe to run up the device already inserted. It had fiber optics, and they inflated my bladder and put it on a screen. I felt like a basketball that was ready to explode from overinflation. A claw device came out of the probe inside my bladder, grabbed that stent, and the doctor yanked it like he was starting a chain saw.

Mark Kelly may have taken the space shuttle to get into orbit, but I didn't need it. Holy fuck. The doc yanked that stent, which ran from my kidney to my bladder, right out my pecker while Brunhilda looked on, acompanied by a spray that mimic'd a propane bottle shot with a .308. Meanwhile I defied gravity and felt more homicidal than I can ever recall.

I left that office feeling like I'd been raped, and was sure of it when I got the bill.

Next time I show up with a kidney stone, I'm hoping the doctor says "don't worry, we know just what to do," and reaches for a .357. Not doing that show twice.

I still have nightmares. At noon. On weekdays. Fuck.

quote:

I left that office feeling like I'd been raped, and was sure of it when I got the bill.

lol. great line