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 Topic: kidney stones
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06/10/2012 at 8:48am
Location: Derby.
Outfit: Karsten 350+Awnings
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Lithotrypsy - (the ultrasound one):
You'll go in, they'll explain the procedure, and fill in the forms. You'll get your gown on, have one of those suppository things inserted, and wait 20 mins or so.
Once in there, you'll lie on your front, they'll gel up your back, then start to locate the stone with some device or other, pushing firmly against your lower back. (the harder they push, the closer and more accurate they can be, to clearly define the stone) This can take 1 to 10 mins, until they are satisfied they can "get a clear shot" at it, then the treatment starts.... You hear the clicking, and you feel what can only be described as a good quality elastic band be vigorously flicked in exactly the same spot, in your lower back. It gets a little harder, and a little faster..... flick, flick, flick.
Throughout all this, they constantly ask you to stay as still as possible, including your breathing, which ain't easy, as you are lying on your front, but the stiller you remain, the more times the sonic waves will hit the stone. The idea is that this smashes the stone up into smaller pieces, enabling them to be passed un-noticed. You will most likely be in there for a good half hour or so, and you may well be asked to go three or four times, probably once a week/fortnight. They don't like to do it too often, as it "may" cause more damage to the surrounding area, than it does to the stone! It's all down to how accurately they hit the stone, and ultimately, how hard the stone is. One visit could blast it to smithereens, four visits could "not even touch the surface".
After the treatment, you will return to the ward, have a cuppa, and a wee. Once you have finished both, they'll get you to dress, and go home. In and out in a couple of hours. On the table for no more than 45 mins. Fully awake throughout, and "rather/very uncomfortable, as opposed to being in pain. At worst, by the time you walk out, you may feel a little soreness in the back, along with a little back ache due to lying on your front.
When you get home, and start to tell the family all about it, if you use the word "agony", you are officially a wimp. If you use words like "slightly painful for a bit" or even "very uncomfortable", then you'd be on a par with my experiences.
Now then, if they keep missing the stone, or it simply proves to be too hard for the Lithotrypsy to blast into dust, and the stone remains, then you come to the lazer....
TO BE CONTINUED.....
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2024: 38 nights thus far...
2023: 47 nights
2022: 40 nights
2021: 30 nights
2020: Just 24 nights
2019: A personal best 50 nights
2018: Just the 30 nights
2017: 34 nights
2016: 32 nights
2015: 38 nights
2014: 34 nights
2013: 36 nights
From July 2012: 23 nights
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06/10/2012 at 9:13am
Location: Derby.
Outfit: Karsten 350+Awnings
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Joined: 01/7/2012 Diamond Member
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| Site Nights 2018: | 6 |
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The laser is nowhere near as bad as it sounds...
They gave me the choice of GA, or wide awake, with an epidural. I opted for the latter, as they said I would recover quicker, and feel better, sooner, as the GA makes you feel 5*ite!!
Once on the table, they even asked if I wanted to watch, on a tv monitor above. How could I refuse!!!
It really was like watching the latest episode of star wars!! First, you see the camera wending it's way up the tube, with all the nasty looking floaty bits zooming by, and then lo.... out of nowhere, there is Planet Agonon!! Bigger than any of our moons, with sharper edges than any numbchucker!! It was massive (Actually, mine was only approx. 3mm, so lord knows what yours would look like at 7mm!!!), and it was blocking the pathway, so it had to be annihilated!!
On with the dark glasses, and... FIRE!!! From this stage, any 9 year old worth his salt would have had a field day. Talk about "shoot 'em up"!!!
Blasted in minutes..... Planet Agonon was dust, I tell you!!
If memory serves, just 3 hours later, I was back on my feet, on my way home. :-)
IMO, either of these treatments are a million, yes million, times better than suffering the absolute agony of what a kidney stone offers once it finds it's way into your urethra.
Should anyone be offered either of these treatments, sign up.... the alternative is so not nice!!!!!!
BTW, I saw mention that once it's over, it's over. Not strictly true! Yes, this/these stone(s) may be blasted to the back of beyond, but chances are, you will, or certainly may, produce more, as is the case here. Two years after successfully obliterating one with the lithotrypsy, 3 returned, hence the above described treatments.
Yes, diet can help, but it can't guarantee they'll stay away.
Coffee, strawberries, rhubarb, dark green veg (spinach etc) can all contribute. Even fags, but they say that anyway, just to "make you think"!! Milk and cheese etc. too. Calcium is a chief cause of these blighters, but not the sole cause, and of course, we need calcium elsewhere, so what is a man to do?
Good luck, martin..... and may the force be with you!!!! 
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2024: 38 nights thus far...
2023: 47 nights
2022: 40 nights
2021: 30 nights
2020: Just 24 nights
2019: A personal best 50 nights
2018: Just the 30 nights
2017: 34 nights
2016: 32 nights
2015: 38 nights
2014: 34 nights
2013: 36 nights
From July 2012: 23 nights
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