Kidney Stones

I don't even know where to begin.  Kidney stones were never something I had to deal with until this past April.  In April, our entire family came down with the stomach flu.  It was absolutely awful!  All of us were throwing up and so sick.  Joe and I got it especially bad.  It lasted a few days with us.  After finally feeling like I was recovering from that, I woke up on a Sunday morning experiencing terrible pain in my back on the left side.  I stayed in bed most of the day, but couldn't get comfortable.  I had some vicodin left over from being sick a couple months prior, so I took that and it dulled the pain.  But later that night the pain was so bad!  I don't think I had ever experienced pain like that before.  A friend came over to stay with the girls and Joe took me to the emergency room close to midnight.  We waited in the waiting room and the pain just got worse.  I have had 4 children and this was by far more painful than I experienced having them, which was a lot.  Finally, an MRI showed that I had a kidney stone.  I was sent home with pain killers, a urine strainer and told to drink lots and lots of water until it passed.  It took a couple of days, but finally it passed.  I just thought that I got the stone because I had been so dehydrated from the stomach flu.

Then a couple months went by.  In July, I started feeling really run down.  I was tired and having occasional pain in my back again.  I waited to go to the doctor, because I just thought I caught a bug of some sort, but after a couple weeks I finally went.  They took some blood and did a urine sample.  The urine test came back with a lot of blood in it, so they were concerned I may have had another kidney stone.  They immediately sent me for a an X-ray.  I wasn't prepared when they called me later that day and told me the X-ray showed I had 11 total kidney stones, 7 in the right and 4 in the left.  I couldn't believe it!  I freaked out not knowing why I had so many, wondering how I got so many and scared I would experience the same horrible pain I did in April.

I went to the urologist later that week.  I found out that there is no answers as to why I had the stones and was also told that there were no answers as to when or if I would pass the stones.  My doctor told me I could pass them all at once or they could stay in my kidneys for the rest of my life.  He told me that I had to drink ridiculous amounts of water, lemon water and lemonade to help prevent getting more stones and to help in the passing of the ones I had.  He also recommended me having a procedure, called a lithotripsy, which would blast the kidney stones into smaller pieces, so they would be easier to pass.  The only problems I had with this option was I would have to be put under anesthesia, which I have never done before and since I have stones in both kidneys, they would have to to the procedure twice to make sure there were no complications and leave me without a functioning kidney.  I agonized over this decision, but ultimately didn't feel at peace about it.  I struggled with deciding to undergo this procedure and recovery, when at the time I had already passed a stone and was feeling perfectly fine.  I was worried that I would regret not having it done the next time a stone passed, but decided to wait.

Flash forward 2 months and I am dealing with passing the kidney stones again.  In fact, as of today I have passed at least 3 in the past 2 weeks.  I decided that I needed to schedule the lithotripsy, but because I waited too long I had to go back to the urologist and have all the testing done over again.  Meanwhile, I was passing a stone that was a similar experience to the very first one.  I was in so much pain, that I was taking percocet for several days until the pain subsided.  Fortunately, my amazing husband was able to take the weekend off of work and did everything for me and the girls.  When last Tuesday rolled around, I had to try and deal with the discomfort while Joe was at work, so I could care for and teach the girls.  Finally, Saturday and Sunday I started feel somewhat normal again.  I actually got out of the house and went to church.

I met with my urologist yesterday to review all the testing and lab work I have been doing.  I found out that I have actually passed 5 of the 11 stones in the past 2 months, which is good.  We decided to still do the procedure to blast the remaining ones.  It is too stressful wondering when they will pass and every time I have kidney pain, being scared that I would be in severe pain and being out of commission is not an option with four children and homeschooling.

So, next Tuesday I will be going in to have the remaining kidney stones blasted.  I would appreciate your prayers.  Thank you to everyone who has called to check on me, offered to help, brought us dinner and been praying for me.  I feel so blessed by the family and friends that I have!