Now, I have a 12mm (1.2cm) (0.472 inch) stone in the upper pole of my right kidney and a 7mm (0.7cm) (0.276 inch) stone in the lower pole of the left kidney. I have never had a stone in my left kidney. They've always come out of my right one. On an X-ray, my right ureter looks like a soda straw that has been twisted or wrung out like a washcloth. Of course, they're always going to come out of that side because it's like navigating the Aleutian Basin of the Bering Sea.
You can't just pass any stone. As a matter of fact, the maximum size that can usually be passed is 3-4mm (0.3-0.4cm) (0.118-0.157 inch). These are, by far, the biggest I've ever had. I'm sure they can do lithotripsy on the smaller one. The larger one is borderline. They may have to go directly into the kidney percutaneously, meaning they'll make a hole in my back and enter the kidney with an instrument to remove it. These are two options, but I won't know anything for sure until I see the urologist. Everyone asks when that is. Well...first of all, I got my CT results before my provider even saw them. She's only in 3 days a week, so she probably won't see them for a couple more days. Then, we have to go through the referral process, which will be another couple of days. Finally, I have to make an appointment with the urologist. We're not sure whether or not the urology department at the naval hospital sees civilians or if I'll have to be seen out in town. That is something else that can hold the process up.
I had lithotripsy (ESWL) (extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy) before in 2003 on a stone that, if I remember correctly, was 6mm and came out in 8 pieces. The next day I wanted someone to kill me. The pain was indescribable. In no way could it possibly be compared to the 26-hour labor and delivery (which ended up with a C-section) and recovery period when I gave birth to our daughter. That was rough and the only reason I got an epidural at the end was because I had to have the C-section. Even with the number of kidney stones I've had, no pain compares to when all of the pieces are vying for first place in the race to your bladder. It's like kindergarteners who still don't know single file, walk, don't run. The last urologist was toying with the idea of placing a stent and decided not to. I have a feeling that's why the pain was so brutal. So, I'm sure they will place at least one. I've heard what it's like to deal with renal stents and they are not nice.
Does all of this have anything to do with Lyme? Yes...it does. Of course, any doctors I mention this to will probably laugh it off simply because they've been brainwashed into thinking that late-stage Lyme doesn't exist. Here are the words from one of my Lyme providers... I asked, "Could any of the meds I've been on affected my kidneys enough to create large stones?" She answered, "The infections increase cholesterol which pushes through organs (kidney, gallbladder, etc.) and calcifies. So, starting treatment kills organisms that are hoarding cholesterol to reproduce and release it and if you can eliminate it effectively the stones develop."
Why do I know what she says is true? Well, I'm the one with the two extra calcium oxalate carry-ons that need to be checked on the one-way trip to the OR, but mostly because I've followed the size of the stone in the right kidney for the past 13 years and have a history of none in the left. Also, what is the ONE thing that I've done that's been different in the past two years? Yes. I started Lyme treatment. So, right now, there isn't a doctor on this planet who is going to tell me that that is not the reason.
Q. Why haven't they done anything about it until now?
A. Well...they have. I've had 4 abdominal CTs since 2007. They all showed it to be 2mm. They can't, and won't, do anything for a stone that small. It's not big enough for lithotripsy, so you have to wait it out, which I've done for all of the others. I usually have pain for months, it goes silent, pain for months, it goes silent...and then it passes. This was nothing new.
Q. Do you know what they're made out of?
A. Yes. After you have your second kidney stone doctors order a 24-hour urine test and also send the stone out to be analyzed. Mine (along with 80% of everyone else who has kidney stones) are calcium oxalate. I've followed a low-oxalate diet for years. Obviously, it was working until when? Until two years ago when I started Lyme treatment in April 2015. Huh. Interesting.
Q, Don't you always get a UTI before they pass? That's what I've been told.
A. Well, you've been told wrong. As a matter of fact, I was working in the lab when I passed my very first stone. I had them do a urinalysis on me. While they were doing it, I felt something drop into my bladder. I collected another specimen, and there was the stone. It was actually two of them fused together. They didn't believe me because my urine was TOTALLY NORMAL. The only time I had anything untoward happen was when the big one I had lithotripsy on decided its sentence was to be commuted. I'd had a deep-tissue massage the afternoon that my husband and I went to Yosemite National Forest that evening for the MLK holiday weekend. There was a hot tub on the front porch of our bungalow. I was in it twice. The next morning, I was peeing ketchup. I'd hardly had any pain, just a LOT of blood. But...most doctors would tell me the combination of the massage and the hot tub had nothing to do with it. I know that it did.
Q. Have you been straining your urine? You know you're supposed to do that when you have a kidney stone.
A. Excellent advice from someone who's never had one. I never would have thought of it! Yes, I was straining it for several days right up until I got the results of the CT. It's pointless. It's not physiologically possible for me to pass a 7mm or 12mm stone. All of that fun will resume once the lithotripsy is over.