Saturday, July 9, 2011

More Kidney Stones

Written by Kodi Wolf at 7:16 PM

I just passed what is hopefully my last kidney stone for a while (at least the last CT scan didn't show any more in my kidneys waiting to be passed at a later date like the previous two scans did).

For those of you who have never seen or passed a kidney stone, this is what they look like (and why they hurt so much as they move through the tiny tubes of the ureters and urethra):

As you can see, they're like little quartz crystal geodes turned inside out with little crystal spikes all over their surface. For me, passing a kidney stone feels like I've been stabbed in the back and then the knife is slowly twisted in place for several hours at a time. It has to be the most excruciating pain I've ever felt. My normal blood pressure is around 120/85, but for the stone I passed in June, it was around 165/110. That's how stressed my body was from just being in that much pain for several hours.

Anyway, I'm just glad it's over. At least now I can stop taking that particular set of drugs, though I'm still on the pain meds and muscle relaxants for my back and neck, which make me dizzy and sleep all day, not to mention a little stupid. However, in the few hours of relative clarity I've had every few days, I've gotten the site a little closer to being done. I'm pushing really hard to have the site open by the end of the month, but since I'm not supposed to spend more than a few minutes at a time at the computer, I might be deluding myself.

But here's hoping anyway. :)