For those that have never experienced one, I'll try to describe the pain for you. First off, not all of them hurt badly. From my understanding, if they don't move in your Kidney, it isn't too bad. Mine started when I was riding a lawn mower and it obviously got dislodged from where it was resting nicely in my right Kidney. I thought it was initially some kind of back pain. I finished the grass and went inside to lie down hoping it would go away. First indicator, lying nor any other position diminishes the pain. After awhile I got up to pee and out came brown. That is when I began to suspect a stone. It was a Friday afternoon so I went and called a nurse I knew in the ER. I told her that I was peeing blood and she asked me questions. I had a Sinus infection a few days prior and she said that could possibly be the reason for the blood but she encouraged me to come in if I felt I needed to. It only got worse from there so I got my wife to drive me to the ER. When I told them that the pain was severe and began in my right side and wrapped around towards the front down to my groin they felt pretty sure it was a stone. They loaded me up with Demerol but not the anti nausea meds. They took me to X-Ray and had me stand up to take one and I puked all over the floor before I could find a garbage can. Anyways, that is where my month long stone odyssey began. That and the time I mentioned earlier when part of it got caught between my kidney and bladder were when the pain was the worst. After surviving the initial weekend my Dr. recommended a Urologist in Montgomery. He's the one that ordered the first Lithotripsy. He said after that that if I have anymore trouble to skip Selma ER and go straight to Jackson in Montgomery where he rotates call. Well, my second flair up was on a Friday afternoon so my wife and MIL took me over there. I learned that Dr. Davis was on call but his mother had passed away so he was in N.C.. A Dr. Larussa, an OB/GYN was covering for him. Dr. Larussa first introduced himself and asked if I had a problem with him treating me. At that point anyone that can push drugs was good enough to treat me. He explained that he was very familiar with treating pain in that part of a body and he ordered Dilaudid saying it worked better on that type pain. I did have them push anti nausea stuff first. After the Dilaudid kicked in I was knocked out only to be awoken by a man in scrubs asking me if I had acid reflux and if I had ever had problems with anesthesia? I answered and then asked what was going on? He said "No one has talked to you?" I told him I had been out of it and he said, "Well, you'll be in surgery in about 15 minutes." Back to the pain, the reason so many compare it to childbirth pain is that it is so bad that it clouds your memory of it. If women had clear vivid recollections of how bad childbirth hurt, they wouldn't be eager to do it again. I recall the pain being a dull crippling pain but can't recall exactly how it felt except at the very start. Just remember if you ever find yourself with a stone, Dilaudid worked better than the Demerol and stay away from Aspirin. They have to wait a week to do Lithotripsy after you've taken aspirin or any other blood thinner. This delayed me getting the first Litho.
