Day 3 of the Blog-a-Thon

Day 1 of #getitout

The History:

Kidney stones. Ever had one? If you have you would not wish them on your WORST enemy. I get them. Plural. I get them a lot! You see I have Medullary sponge kidney disease.

Meaning? Means my kidneys are stone formers. When this really hit me, it was sudden. I thought I was dying for sure. That first one passed ok. (<– That is relative. It still hurt like hell.)  They got bigger and more frequent. The doctor told me my scans looked like I had been hit with buckshot in both kidneys.

Standard Treatment

I was offered medication to comfort me. (Knock me out and keep me from losing my lunch.)

In tears I followed my doctor out of the room and begged him to fix me.

I can’t do that

At the time I was passing 3-6 stones a month. They took anywhere from 2 days to a week to move through and get out. He contacted come colleagues in other cities and offered me a solution that involved open kidney surgery and the equivalent of a medial dust buster. They were just going to suck them out. This option was not a good one and he knew it. It was really risky and he knew with my condition that I would be right back to full kidneys within 2-5 years.

He cared enough to find a solution

After talking to more colleagues, he came back with a different idea and one that could be done right here in Evansville. I would not have to travel to a larger city.  They proposed a ureteroscopy with lazer lithotripsy to be done. This is a “standard treatment” for stones, but only when they are in the ureter. They proposed that they extend the ureteroscope up into the kidneys. They would then go up into each of the 5 or so pockets in the kidneys and blast the stones away.

The happy ending…

I underwent this procedure with great success. I was mostly stone free and after a longer than I expected recovery, I felt like a 100% new person. Amazing how good you feel when your kidneys have room to actually work!  <– That was a little over 2 years ago…