(This entry contains desciptions of medical procedures that may make you wince. I know I did.)
Last August, during a routine exam, an x-ray revealed that I was the proud father of a rather nice sized kidney stone. My doc told me that if I started experiencing lower back pain, I should let her know right away.
So this past March, I get a call from my doc, who told me that she was going through some papers she'd found lying around and found the results of the blood test she'd run when she found the stone, and that I should waste no time in seeing a urologist.
I saw one, who told me I had a huge stone - 24.9 mm - and gave me the choice of two options. The first was undergoing an Extracorporeal Shockwave Lithotripsy (ESWL). I would be put under, then a little fiber optic camera would be inserted into my kidney through the tip of my penis, so they could check out the landscape. Then a stent would be inserted into my ureter through the same entrance. A huge machine, called a lithotripter, would shoot shock waves into my kidney, allegedly breaking up the stones. the fragments would then pass in my urine.
The other option would be a hole in my side directly into my kidney; some sort of tweezer device would grab the stone and yank it out. The urologist advised against this procedure, as he felt it was more "invasive". Why that's more invasive than pushing all those tubes and wires through the tip of my penis I have yet to figure out.
At any rate, my first ESWL session took place on May 5. Afterwards, my bladder, perhaps protesting all the traffic through it, started in with spasms, so the medical staff decided a catheter was in order for the first night. They put one in (ow!); it didn't work properly so they took it out (OW!) and put in another one (OWW!). So I left the hospital with a bag of piss strapped to my leg; I was up almost every hour on the hour that night emptying it. The next morning I went to the urologist's office, where the nurse yanked out the tube (insert stream of curses of your choice) and sent me on my way.
Two weeks later I went in for my follow-up visit. The stone had been reduced to 18.4 mm. A second ESWL was performed on June 14.
Last Friday I went in for my follow-up visit. The stone is only down to 14.5 mm. So I have yet another ESWL session scheduled for July 28. If, when I go in for my follow-up visit on Aug.12, the stone is still there, then they'll go in after it as described above, "invasive" be damned.
That's how my summer is going. | 
