Kidney Stones

IF you are scientifically minded, here is a great article.  

After a month of battling the passing of a kidney stone, I received the diagnosis: 2 9mm kidney stones impacted and needed to be surgically removed. (Go up through urethra, bladder and blast with laser).

I had my procedure last Wednesday.  It required inserting a stent for a week which was not very comfortable. Yesterday they pulled the stent out.  It looked like speaker wire! Still experiencing some residual discomfort--enough to interrupt sleep.

I remember reading where bladder pain/issues ranked pretty high up on the misery scale for affecting quality of life.  I agree. I typically slog through things--and I drank copious amounts of water in my self diagnosis, self-treatment (both a bad idea).  I finally went to Patient First after not being able to get through to my regular doc.  Got a bladder infection diagnosis.  Put me on meds.  Did not xray me, though they should have as I said that I thought I was passing a stone.  As soon as my 5 day regimen of antibiotics completed, my symptoms were back.  I went to a urologist.  Best decision ever.

 At the urologist, I was xrayed.  After reviewing the xray, the doctor said I needed a CT scan to get a better picture.  I made the mistake of hearing "calcification" in the bladder area and feeling I should read more about it--in the middle of the night of course.  I found all manner of bladder cancer articles and was awake for the rest of the night.  

The only reason for my heightened sense of concern was that two of my English Setters had bladder cancer.  There is only a 2% rate of bladder cancer in English Setters, and 50% of the ES's I owned had it.  So my mind went to our "contaminated" well water, thinking that I might have arsenic in the water which is the typical cause.  Such is the calculus that a troubled mind goes through at the midnight hours.

A stone that will not pass causes the ureter and kidney to dilate due to pressure build up. That means that slogging through an unpassed stone is not a good thing. If you think that you have a stone, make sure that you pass it (yes you should collect and sieve your urine).  If you do not pass it, seek medical attention.

Part of the procedure is to have the stones analyzed to determine the mineralization.  My stone was predominately Calcium Oxalate, the most common form.  My stone formation is likely due to my not drinking enough water.  I'm not water drinker.  Or a soda drinker.  I just simply do not drink much.  That's a problem and causes an imbalance of mineralization to urine production.  More mineralization means greater chance of stone formation.

So there you have it.  I have to go from my parsimonious water consumption--poor habit which led to the stone formation-to floating away.  The recommendation is at least 10 10z--that's about 3L of water per day.  I will feel like I need my own personal ark to keep from floating away.