Traditionally during the time between Christmas and New Year is quiet. Generally in Australia, it is taken as holidays to take advantage of our summer. Not for me. I usually work through that period. It is quiet and you tend to do work that you normally would not do during the rest of the year. This year was an exception.
It started like any other year. I usually work from home most of the time, but took the quiet period to spend in the office. I was planning a few office activities I usually do not get time for, like rebuilding a UNIX machine and generally refreshing my Notes databases ready for the new year. Monday the 29th came and went like any day. Got in early and parked the car across the street from the office. As I am hardly in the office these days I do not have a car space, so I either commute or park in the office parking garage as a visitor. But the car spots across the road are empty and are cheaper than the parking garage which is also closed for the break. The parking spots only have one drawback. I have to feed the meters every four hours but then again after eight hours I want to go home anyway.
The next day (Tuesday 30th) I did the same. Parked the car and said goodbye to the wife. Around 11 am it started. While sitting at my desk at work, sipping on some water, I noticed a dull ache in the left hand side of my back. I discounted it and thought my back was acting up again (a few years ago I injured my back on my bicycle). I decided to go for a walk and refill my glass of water. The pain started to get worse. I decided to see if it just went away over time, like it sometimes does, and stick it out.
The pain worsened and worsened. I checked the medicine cabinet for pain relievers but no luck. Well, I had to make a call on this pain, as I was at the vomiting stage.
Do I call an ambulance now? Do I panic the few people in the office? Do I leave the car in the street to be ticketed or towed? Do I chance a drive home? I decided to take the latter as it was the best approach at the time.
I tried to contact my wife and left a message on her voice mail. I gathered my stuff and attempted to get to my car. By this time the pain was growing worse by the minute and I could hardly breathe. Gathering my will about me, I made it to the car and proceeded to drive. Luckily the traffic was very light. The pain seemed to drop a bit as I drove but I was sore. I dreaded every red light I had to stop at. Twenty minutes later I made it home. I parked the car in the driveway and proceeded to get into my home. The pain was still with me and back to its former glory. There is nothing for it, I would have to call an ambulance myself. I paged my in-laws, who luckily live next door.
As they came over, I reached for the phone and called an ambulance. While waiting for the ambulance I retrieved my medical details and waited. The pain would not let up and then came vomiting again. Not good.
I decided to call an ambulance as it is holiday time and this guarantees me access to a doctor pretty quickly. It also gets me some pain relieve and emergency care if this gets any more serious.
Ambulance arrived. Two paramedics help out and check my vitals. They radio ahead to find a hospital emergency that is open (I did say Australians take this time off). They found Freemasons Hospital is open. They walk me to the ambulance and place me gently inside. One paramedic gives me an inhaler with pain killer inside. "Take a deep breath", she says, "It will take your breath away". It did. They drive off informing my in-laws of the details to tell my wife.
As we drive, the paramedic is taking more vitals and checks my pain levels. The inhaler is not working. They stop the ambulance to administer some morphine. That seems to ease the pain a little. A couple of small doses before we reach the hospital.
The doctor on duty checks my vitals and gives a bit more morphine as he noticed my pain level was not manageable. For the first time in three hours I was able to get comfortable. Off to X-ray for a quick check. My wife arrived. They found the cause I told her. It was a kidney stone lodged in my ureter. It was 2 cm from the bladder and was stuck. See the diagram below.
I suspected this as I had a kidney stone 2 years ago and it felt the same (but less than this). They tried to access my regular urologist but he was on holiday as was his backup (there seems to be a theme here). I decided to use the hospitals urologist, who turned out a colleague of my regular urologist. The kidney stone was over 7mm in size and was not going to move itself. I would be unable to pass the stone myself. I was to be admitted to see the urologist straight away.
I was admitted to the hospital. I had a choice of rooms as it was basically not busy. I chose a private room just in case things got worse. Room 123.
The urologist came and saw me very soon and confirmed the emergency room diagnosis. He explained that it would need to bet extracted manually. He explained the procedure. He would go in with an instrument through the "you know what" (men can say OUCH!!! now), through the bladder, up the ureter to the stone. Once there the stone could be broken up and extracted. A couple of problems though, the instrument is abrasive and will cause bleeding. That means I will be sore after the procedure and they need to place a "stent" in the ureter. With the bleeding blood can seal up the ureter, the "stent" prevents this. It holds open the ureter for blood and urine to pass through. There is also some chance of reflux, urine that goes back up the ureter to the kidney causing pain and in rare occasions the kidney can be damaged. He said "he has never lost a kidney and is not about to start". I laugh. I agree to the procedure.
He says there may be problem get and an anaesthetist this time of year. There seems to be a theme here. He comes back and says he has found one for tomorrow. Oh, well spend a night in hospital. Food and water arrive and I settle down. My wife arranges my mother in law to bring some clothes. A night in hospital.
I slept well, probably from the morphine and was ready for the procedure. They were going to use a Ureteroscope to remove the stone. See illustration below:
From "Kidney Stones in Adults":
"No incision is made in this procedure. Instead, the surgeon passes a small fiberoptic instrument called a ureteroscope through the urethra and bladder into the ureter. The surgeon then locates the stone and either removes it with a cage-like device or shatters it with a special instrument that produces a form of shock wave. A small tube or stent may be left in the ureter for a few days to help the lining of the ureter heal."
While he was down there the doctor checked out my bladder and prostate. Both Ok. Here is a picture of my stone from the ureteroscope.
After the removal the doctor sent half to be analyzed and the other half he gave me.. Here is a picture of the fragment (50% of the stone) he gave me..
After another night of recovery in the hospital (New Years Eve!!!!) I was home again.... Awaiting for the time when the stents placed in my ureter were removed... But that is another story...
They say having pain from a kidney stone is the closest a man can be to feeling the amount of pain a woman feels during childbirth... I gave birth... to a 7mm bouncy baby kidney stone....
BTW The Title was inspired by the remake of the movie "The Taking of Pelham 123" which was advertised on the TV while I was in the hospital.
The stent was removed today and it was an experience. The anaesthetist failed to turn up so they did it using a local. Not recommended. Having your member washed, stabbed with a needle and then poked with a urteroscope to remove the stent was not fun. All this while you are conscious is not recommended. The stent looked like a long coiled black and white banded snake. It is all over now. Just need to stop the pain in my groin....ouch....!!! BTW the stone was an Uric acid stone.. Not enough water...
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This page was last updated on Friday, 09 January 2004 03:20:32 PM
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