Abyss

The Kidney Stone. It’s frightening to know that such a small thing can cause such immense pain that’s hard to put into words. I’ve broken bones, got my appendix removed, got my wisdom teeth pulled, had glass dug out of my heel, massive splitting migraines, nothing I’ve experienced in my life comes close to the pain caused by a kidney stone. If this scares you, you should be. Take it from me, take care of yourself coz you don’t want one, and if you think you can handle it, be my guest, I’ll enjoy saying “I told you so”.

I’ve heard many people say that the pain you go through is close to what a woman experiences when giving birth, now I don’t know how true that is, but if it is, I recommend C-section or an epidural!

My unexpected experience:
25th December 2010, Christmas day. I’m stuck home to work during the festive season, except for the public holidays we have like most people. My parents gone away to visit the family down in Durban and around the KZN area, and I was luckily invited to spend the day with some close friends and their family. From a Lava Lamp, Tool Kit to a complete PC, even Car Keys were presents that day. I got a kidney stone… nice.
Now to be fair, I got my Xmas gift early, combined with my B-day present as it’s close to each other, and I wasn’t really present. Although I find it very unlikely to get a kidney stone perfectly on Xmas day.

Like most families would spend Xmas, we had a feast. Luckily I wasn’t alone that day, or it would have been… the end.
I started feeling a bit off after having too much to eat and also seconds for desert. I thought it might be something too rich my body has trouble digesting or something. Feeling nauseous (you know that cold sweaty feeling) but without the actual need to vomit, I felt the urge to go to the loo anyway. Having trouble with #1 and #2, not feeling my best, I drank some water and thought if I would lie down a bit, it would go away…

I started feeling a slight pain in my back on the right hand side, not too bad though, thinking it could be gas trapped somewhere… or something. What did I know? At that point I wasn’t feeling well at all and couldn’t think clearly.
It wasn’t long, and the pain came through in such a swift manner that I knew something is seriously wrong. I also felt it spreading to my lower right abdomen. The pain kept intensifying, my vision started to blur from its strength.

In the seriousness and concern for my well-being, someone (whose name I can’t remember, soz for that, I’m terrible with names) helped me up, threw my arm around his neck and carried me to the car (army medic style). I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t think. The pain stole my focus and took over.

My friend rushed me to the nearest hospital that took patients with my medical aid, thankfully it was close by. Again each arm over a neck they carried me in. A quick examination and some questions to get a clue on what’s wrong with me, they narrowed it down to 1 of 2 things, appendix or kidney stone. Now unless I’ve grown another appendix, it’s a kidney stone. My friend took care of the admission forms etc, and soon I was to be taken for X-rays to verify the symptoms for a kidney stone. At this point I was shaking from the pain, and I remember hyperventilating. Shock, panic, fear, anger and terrifying pain. If you’re as scared of needles as I am, don’t fret, in such pain my fear for needles faded just to get some direct access to pain meds, and I didn’t care what they had to do, but to rid me of my misery they must!

I think I went through 2 pain drips in about 3 or 4 hours, and it just helped a little. My friend’s wife asked a nurse if they can’t give me anything stronger as it’s clear that I’m suffering, and they said I’m maxed out, they can’t give me anything stronger… but still I was in pain. FML.

At the X-ray room, I was quite disappointed and pissed off being told to get from the one bed onto the X-ray table. WTF people! Shaking from shock and pain, and the drip helping just a little, still stiff from hyperventilating, I must get from one to the other on my own!? Those nurses should be glad they didn’t hear the words shooting through my fucking mind at that point. What kind of medical assistance is that?

X-rays taken and a confirmed 3mm kidney stone. Sounds small right, well whip out a ruler and refresh your memory and think of that and compare it to the thin tube (ureter) running from your kidney to your bladder. Nice fit, is it!? Now I’ve read of stones 5mm to 8mm big, and could possibly be called rocks rather than stones, and I can imagine how much worse that must be. In such cases I’m sure that surgery is necessary to cut through and remove it. In my case, it scraped through, damaging my ureter and decided to drop anker at the entrance of my bladder.

After the nurses struggled to find a urologist on call that day, my friend (as awesome as he is) jumped on his phone and used the power of Google to locate and contact a doc that could help me at a different hospital (thanks again dude).
Finally help is nigh, but wait, I need to be transported to that Hospital and we had to wait for an ambulance. After 3 hours (now about 21:00 or 22:00 iirc), no ambulance. FML. My friend and his wife proved their friendship once more and decided to take me themselves. His brother helped me to the car iirc, and off we go.

Some who’ve had one (or more) said that it’s the worst if it has to pass through naturally, I can imagine, but here’s my options given by the Doc the next morning: Stay in hospital for approximately 3-4 days and hope it passes through, or they can perform an invasive surgery up the penis to remove it… Now I don’t care what your length or girth is, that hole is NOT made for anything to go up/into it!!!

After hearing my options, Mr. Pain on my shoulder was jumping up and down like a Jack Russell fucking terrier, yelling “what’s up mother fucker! What you gonna do about it, bitch!?” so I decided on the removal of the evil I could not endure for much longer.
At this point I think I was probably through my 4th drip, thankfully it did at least help a little, even though pain was always present.

It all started between 15:30-16:00 on the 25th, and I had to endure through the night till 11:00 on the 26th when they’ve scheduled my surgery. Now it’s weird to call it surgery, as they didn’t cut, but they went up where it’s not meant to.
The anesthesiologist introduced herself, and I took the opportunity to ask her not to do ANYTHING to me until I passed out. Thankfully she granted my wish.

I come to. I’m back in my room, ppl around me doing stuff, my first concern is, is it done and what’s the status of my jewels. Despite noticing blood, I was just praying that it could just be over. I pass out again.

Later I wake up and my friends were there.
Going to the loo was a nightmare! The doc said it’ll burn a little when I urinate, with a mild discomfort from my kidney area to my bladder due to the stent(tube) they had to install so my ureter can heal from the damage.
Burn a LITTLE!? BS! And mild discomfort my ass!

Later that day my friends could take me home. Still recovering from the anesthetics, I had sudden vomit sickness. Luckily that was only when I got home. They live close by and said I should call if I need anything. I was fine, for the most part. It took me 3 days before I could walk normally, and sleeping at night wasn’t so easy. Waking up now and then coz it felt like I had to pee and some residual pain from scaring, waking coz I rolled onto my right side etc.

It’s been almost a week and a half since the surgery, I feel a lot better. Although some discomfort and having to go to the loo much more frequent that I’m used to, I thought I would make plan to have the stent removed this weekend. But after phoning the doc, he said they had to stretch, and due to that the stent needs to stay in 4 weeks since the surgery, and I’ll have to endure this discomfort for another 2 and a half weeks.

Not my best festive season, and surely not the way I wished I would spend my Xmas and New Years. I went to a party though, but very little alcohol and plenty of water. Didn’t want to give my kidneys unnecessary work so soon after what it had to go through.

Special thanks:
HawkiesZA, Extremist and spouse. Their family who invited me for the day and everyone that helped when my unexpected present unwrapped itself.

So yeah, kidney stones = EVIL!
If you have questions, feedback or want to share some of your own experiences with a kidney stone, feel free. I know the pain.