Diamonds are a girl's best friend...kidney stones? Not so much.

It's official. I have another kidney stone. I think this brings my official kidney stone count to 9.

Sigh.

Most of you know that I almost always have kidney pain. Just about 13 months ago, I had some tests done and it was discovered that I had a kidney stone in my left kidney. My doctor said it was stuck in a "good" way, and I was sent home with a pill a day for the rest of my life, and the strict instructions to drink more water than I had thought humanly possible.

Well, the little pill a day (well, only 1/2 a pill a day) has supposedly prevented me from making any new stones, but the one from last year apparently decided to make camp in my left kidney. We are certain of this because I was put through the same test as last year. It's called an IVP. Intravenous Pyelogram. Basically, they stick an iv into my arm and pump a contrast material into it which, once absorbed by my body, will show up white on an x-ray. Then comes the x-rays. This time they only did a partial series, so it was only about 8 or ten x-rays. This isn't my film, but it's what an IVP film looks like.



The white lines you see show the contrast material as it travels through the kidney and ureters and down into the bladder. (And, in case you're worried about this guy, don't. HIS kidneys are perfectly healthy.)

Doing an IVP usually takes about an hour and a half or two hours. Since part of my kidney was not functioning properly, mine took four and a half hours. A lovely way to spend a sunny day. :P

Anyway, this batch of x-rays told us that part my kidney was blocked. Only they weren't sure why. I would have to wait for my nephrologist to go over the films more carefully.

Today, I heard from my nephrologist. The bad news is that the stone that was stuck last year is still stuck in the same spot as I sit here writing this. The worse news is that it's been growing for the past year. It could have been worse though. They initially thought my pain could have been caused by scar tissue from a past stone. That would have sucked, since scar tissue doesn't go away and the only way to treat the pain is with the aid of pharmaceuticals. Narcotic analgesics, to be exact. No way to live, I must say.

The good news is that the stone is now big enough to try a method of removal. It's not the same way they took out my first stone, so this will be new to me. We are going to try ESWL. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (lithotripsy for short). This is a procedure in which I am placed on a table and blasted with shock waves that are pin pointed on my kidney stone in an effort to break the stone into a zillion pieces so it can pass from my system.

This is what it looks like.



I don't know when it will be done, but I promise to keep you posted.