Shooting lazors up yer peehole
Apr. 19th, 2018 10:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drwexNo, seriously. This is an update on my undesired passenger so ...
Got to see the urologist this week to talk about the (non)progress of my kidney stone. We looked at the CT together and that's a big mofo. Actually 7.3 mm. The urologist was pretty blunt - at that size the chances of it passing naturally are 5% or less.
He was surprised that the pain from a stone of this size is being managed with simple Advil. I don't think I'm any kind of hero nor do I have a pain tolerance especially different from other people like me. I've had to use the narcotic twice so far. The biggest change for me has been taking medication proactively; I'm used to taking meds reactively, when my back or arthritis flare. Here I'm using the drugs to stay ahead of the pain and it's working pretty well so far. The urologist warned me against doing workout-like things ("no going to the gym" was his exact phrase) but otherwise no limits.
So that brings us to medical intervention. The recommended intervention these days is to thread an instrument up the urethra and sample the stone, then use lasers to pulverize it, to grains about the size of beach sand, that are then flushed out naturally. A stent is placed to stabilize and help the ureter heal, then removed later in a second procedure.
It's day surgery, and the risks are said to be low. Based on the analysis of the removed stone sample, there may be follow-up action ranging from diet changes to a few months of medication.
If this doesn't make you cringe and want to cross your legs then YKIOK but YKINMK.
Got to see the urologist this week to talk about the (non)progress of my kidney stone. We looked at the CT together and that's a big mofo. Actually 7.3 mm. The urologist was pretty blunt - at that size the chances of it passing naturally are 5% or less.
He was surprised that the pain from a stone of this size is being managed with simple Advil. I don't think I'm any kind of hero nor do I have a pain tolerance especially different from other people like me. I've had to use the narcotic twice so far. The biggest change for me has been taking medication proactively; I'm used to taking meds reactively, when my back or arthritis flare. Here I'm using the drugs to stay ahead of the pain and it's working pretty well so far. The urologist warned me against doing workout-like things ("no going to the gym" was his exact phrase) but otherwise no limits.
So that brings us to medical intervention. The recommended intervention these days is to thread an instrument up the urethra and sample the stone, then use lasers to pulverize it, to grains about the size of beach sand, that are then flushed out naturally. A stent is placed to stabilize and help the ureter heal, then removed later in a second procedure.
It's day surgery, and the risks are said to be low. Based on the analysis of the removed stone sample, there may be follow-up action ranging from diet changes to a few months of medication.
If this doesn't make you cringe and want to cross your legs then YKIOK but YKINMK.
