Thursday, June 12, 2008

3 2 1 Blast those devils away!!!


Here's a beautiful picture of the size the 3 kidney stones that were in me. It may not look like much, but this guy needs to go through a space that is about the width of a craft wire. It's been a long month, but I think I'm finally Kidney Stone free! I started having kidney pain in January about a week before Brighton was born. I've had stones before, so I knew what was happening... believe me.. if any of you have had stones before, they HURT! I would rather give birth.. literally.
Anyway, the pain would come and go until a couple months ago and the pain was coming more than going. After several tests, they found 3 large kidney stones. One already moving down (the culprit that was really hurting) and two more buggers in my kidney's that were too big to pass without surgery.
So.. about 5 weeks ago I went into surgery. The doctor blasted the two in my kidneys so they turned into small pieces and put a stint in me which is a covered wire that is supposed to open up the ureter (the space your pee goes through... sorry for the graphic detail) so the stones could pass through without pain. He also took the one out of the ureter with a scope. Well, it sounds like all was going well, but when I went back for my two week check up, they found out that the stones didn't break up the way they liked. I needed to keep the stint in another 3 weeks and go into surgery again. Can I tell you how bad that dumb stint hurt??? Somedays I could barely walk. It was a wire poking at me in all sorts of places. YUCK! I was so sad I had to go back into surgery, but I hoped this time it would work.
So, this past Tuesday, I went back in. To my delight, they took the stent out (finally) and re-blasted the stones in my kidneys. The past few days I've been passing miniature stones like crazy so I hope it actually worked this time! I'm so appreciative of all the people who have helped with my kids, brought me dinner, and just tried to cheer me up. Thank you everyone! I've got the best friends and family ever!

7 comments:

Todd and Heidi said...

That does not sound like fun. I hope that the surgery worked this time and that you won't have any more problems. Let me know if you need anything and try to get some rest and recover.:)

Natalie said...

OUCH!!!! That hurts just reading it!

Hope you get some relief now. Isn't there some medicine you can take to help prevent them?

Jesi said...

That thing looks huge. Sorry to hear you had to go through that. I hear they are worse then giving birth. Hope you feel better soon.

Noriane said...

Turia, you are a brave woman. That's all I can say. Oh and I wish I'd known so I could have helped you with meals or something!

Marinda said...

i feel for you, turia! what stubborn little buggers! i am glad you are feeling better!

Annie said...

Whoa. Talk about a rock and a hard place. You are such a trooper.

The Hyding Place said...

Blasting things in your ureter cannot be a pleasant experience. I had no idea you were having problems again. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help!