Kidney Stone Follow Up

Backstory- I have medullary sponge kidney which is a birth defect where the collecting vessels of the kidneys are improperly formed and do not drain correctly, and in my case, it causes kidney stones. Each of my 3 pregnancies has caused kidney infections and with the last two - stones. During my last pregnancy I spent 8 separate weeks in the hospital while my stones caused extreme pain. In the last 5 years, my stone production has increased to the point where I pass hundreds of stones per year. Most have passed with relatively little pain, but the bigger ones landed me in the ER on a semi yearly basis up to bi monthly. In April 2016, I had a large stag horn stone roughly the size of a tennis ball which required a renal nephrolithotomy (a tube placed through my back and into the kidney to facilitate removal of the stone). In April of this year, I had a renal neurolysis (ablation of the renal nerves) to prevent pain from the stones in the right urinary tract). This did not come without risks as large stones could then, potentially, obstruct the flow of urine causing it to back up and damage or kill my right kidney. As a result I have to have semi annual, and now annual x rays to check for obstructing stones, hopefully before any renal damage occurs.

Yesterday, I met with my urologist to go
over the results from the first of these x rays. Unfortunately, I've now experienced an increase in flank pain on my left side and my dr confirmed I have a large stone sitting in my left kidney. The options were pain medication to make me more comfortable while waiting with the hope that the stone will move out of the kidney and pass without intervention OR lithotripsy. As a single mom of three who works full time and owns a fledgeling business, neither of these options sounded great but after having 6 lithotripsies, I know that the recovery is painful and gets a bit harder each time. I opted for the pain medication. My doctor also prescribed an antihistamine as pain medication (pretty much any opioid) makes me super itchy.

So here I am at 5:45am, unable to sleep because I forgot to take the antihistamine with the pain meds and I am itchy from head to toe. Ain't chronic illness fun? I need enough spoons to photograph a special needs young lady for her senior portraits and get my kids to their swimming lesson, and I'm not sure where those spoons will come from. 🥄 🥄 🥄

This is cross posted in Chronically Ill Nerdfighters on Facebook