Last thursday morning I woke up at 5.30 AM and it felt like I was kicked in my groin by star player Ronaldinho. The pain was just unbearable so I took one Dafalgan and went back to bed in the hope that the pain would leave my body before my soul did. Unfortunately about 45 minutes later I woke up my girlfriend and ask her to get ready to take me to the Emergency Room of the local Hospital Sint-Maarten in Mechelen. We arrived at 6.45 AM and the pain was still not gone. After talking to the nurse and describing my pain she knew exactly what the problem was and called the Urologist who would arrive at 8.00 AM. The diagnose: Urolithiasis which is a medical term for Kidney Stones.
The doctor arrived at 7.50 AM and took me to Radiography, in the meanwhile the pain killers started to work and instead of feeling one constant pain it felt like I was being kicked in my groin by several 6 year olds which is far batter than Ronaldinho's magical and golden foot.
At 8.20 AM the radiologist took a radiopgraphy of my kidneys and the urologist located the kidney stone but said that it was too big too large to pass on it's own but too difficultly located to remove it using Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL), which is a procedure where shock waves are being sent through the body to break-down the stones. The urologist decided to go for the Ureteroscopic approach, which is done using an ureteroscope through the urethra and bladder into the ureter: an ureteroscope is a small fiber optic instrument. The operation was scheduled for the next day at approximately 1.30 PM. In the meanwhile I had to deal with the pain and get enough rest. I slept for most of the time but had to call the nurses several times because of the pain.
The next day, Friday, was D-Day for me. The nurses came at 12.45 PM to take me to the Operation Room, the last thing I remember before the operation was that it shivering, partially caused by the low temperature in the OR and by the tense of not knowing what will happen next. The anesthesiologist told me that I sould not worry, this is a standard procedure and that I will be sleeping in a couple of seconds. So there I was laying butt-naked in a room filled with nurses, an urologist, an anesthesiologist, a radiologist an god knows how many people I couldn't even see standing.
The next thing I remember was opening my eyes slightly and noticing that I was back in my room. I saw my girlfriend, my mum and my brother and I could hear my mum ask the nurse when I would wake up. Beside that single moment I was not able to keep my eyes open and feel asleep again. A couple of hours later I had to take a leak, still half sleeping I got out of bed and strumbled to the toilet where apparently (according to my girlfriend) I made quite a mess (rofl). I can barely remember that but I do remember the pain after taking the first leak after the operation. I felt bak asleep.
The next day, Saturday, the urologist paid me a visit and explained that they tried the approach with the ureteroscope but that there were some difficulties using the cage-like device on the ureteroscope to remove the kidney stone so instead they had to use another ureteroscope that had an instrument that could crush the stone with shock waves; this procedure is not the same as ESWL as I explained earlier.
It is Sunday now and it still feels, by moments, that I am still being kicked in the groin by a leprechaun but the pain killer they have prescribed me, Voltaren, an NSAID, works like a charm.
What I have learned from this experience: having kidney stones is by far the most painful experience I have had the pleasure dealing with. What causes kidney stones is not an exact science but apparently foods and beverages like strawberries, tea, coke, coke-light and so on. Once you have had kidney stones it is likely that you will have more kidney stones in the future and since this whole experience has been very painfull I guess I will stick to drinking water of coke and coke-light.
My girlfriend also said (she had read this somewhere) and it was confirmed by one of the nurses that for a woman the pain of having kidney stones is comparable to the pains during childbirth. Whether this means that we guys experience the same pain is uncertain but I hope that next time I don't have to give birth to a twins :-)
Cross-posted from
The .NET Aficionado