My dad is in the hospital...

[Rupture]

... kidney stones.

At least we think it's just kidney stones. The x-rays haven't shown anything else, but he hasn't seen a consultant yet...

I mean, not that kidney stones aren't bad enough, but....

(is fretting, just a little.)

Sorry to hear that, hope all goes well. my brother in law had those not long ago..



Hey!! Suffolk, UK?? Norfolk here.

 

[winterknight]

... and he's got to go back in again. He woke up this morning, and the pain was back.

 

[Riverrick]

... and he's got to go back in again. He woke up this morning, and the pain was back.

That's fairly normal for kidney stones. They usually try to let them pass on their own first.

Sorry he had to go back in, though. How is he today?

 

[winterknight]

In agony, and on morphine.

And he hasn't even seen a fucking doctor yet, despite having been at the hospital since 8am this morning.

 

[iosif2]

If they get stuck, the pressure that builds up behind them can damage the kidney.

This is true, but it takes a bit of time for this to occur. The Kidneys do have some resiliance. The pain of stones occurs in the process of passing not by the fact that the stone(s) exist. The ureter which drains urine from the kidney is smaller in diameter than a grain of sand. Even a stone that size can cause agony and is many times undetectable on x-rays or ct scans. Many times the symptoms and urine samples are the tools for diagnosis. It's entirely possible that your dad did pass a stone, felt better but is in round two with another one, especially if they are tiny. Passing them can come in waves. A stone is considered passed when it dumps into the bladder where it can roll around harmlessly and most often be excreted in the the urine without even being noticed. I wouldn't bet on him having any real worries with a blocked kidney unless a larger stone ties to work it's way down and gets stuck and left untreated. Since the ureters are elastic, urine can often squeeze by. Don't know how anyone could tolerate the discomfort long enough not to seek treatment with a true blockage, but it happens. Anyway it will never get to that point with your dad as long as he keeps being seen. If need be he would get a stent placement, which would bypass the blockage and allow urine to drain into the bladder. Generally if there is no sign that there is a blockage, then nature will take it's course and meds will be used until the stone passes.
The aggravating thing about all this is that there's so much pain involved that people who aren't accustomed to stones can't understand why they are supposedly left untreated for so long. The answer lies in the fact that the condition is not critical or life threatening for the most part. Pain is not a strong enough reason to make a urologist rush a patient to the OR for stone extraction, especially since it's common knowlege that these things tend to take care of themselves. So tell your dad to hang in there. It's a major nuisance and disruption for sure. I don't envy him, but I don't worry for him either. Just let him enjoy the pain meds while he has them! Peace

 

[alley]

I also just passed one a few weeks ago. My sympathies to your dad.

 

[buzzj]

I hope by now he's feeling much better! Please keep us posted.

 

[pkacrotjs]

Not sure how I missed this the first time around... I hope he's doing better, and you're all in my prayers...

 

[Riverrick]

What a nice review of the subject, iosif2.

It makes me wonder why the ureters even carry pain sensations in the first place, since there is really no purpose for it. Prior to recent techniques, there was nothing one could do but wait it out.

I hope your dad is doing better Winterknight.

 

[iosif2]

It makes me wonder why the ureters even carry pain sensations in the first place, since there is really no purpose for it.

I'm glad they do carry pain sensations. Even though things usually take care of themselves, the pain is pretty much a safeguard against neglect. It's precicely those stones that do get lodged in the ureters, that must get taken care of. Imagine what would happen to the kidney if a blockage couldn't be felt. The kidney is a one way filter. It depends on constant drainage to work properly. The resulting buildup of fluid that can't find an escape causes intolerable stress on the organ. It will slow its function and ultimately shut down if pressure isn't relieved. With enough time, the failure can't be reversed. Without a viable method for the excretion of fluids, blood pressure rises, and the blood itself becomes saturated with toxins, leading to all sorts of toxemic disorders. The worst case scenarios from total neglect of both kidneys would be organ removal, thereby putting a patient on dialysis and the transplant list. But I speak horror stories. There is so much that can be done these days to treat stones that this hardly could come to pass unless one were completely cut off from medical attention. But the gist of what I'm saying is that yeah, it's important to feel the pain and nip it in the bud. Peace.

 

[Ninja108]

Glad everything is okay. Hope he gets better soon!