Shock Wave "Lithotripsy" at Newport Hospital
Have kidney stones that you will be unable to pass? Then this treatment may be just the ticket for you. "Lithotripsy" is dervied from Greek words meaning "stone crusher." I hope that it is for me. I have an 8 mm stone which presented in a med test. I was tested because I had a kidney stone attack 2 wks. ago.
Pain? You wanna know pain? I mean beyond childbirth, beyond a fracture elbow & a dislocated shoulder. Unrelenting, agonizing, throbbing pain so intense you can't speak, you can't even move. Do I have your attention now?
The last one I had was 30 yrs. ago. My sister has had a few & so did my Dad. Now it appears to be my turn.
There is some prep the day before, but not much. It most consists of taking "Gas-X" tablets. Evidently any gas present in the gut shows up as black on the pics they take, & that ain't good. It's an outpatient procedure served by a trailer that travels from hospital-to-hospital on a once/month basis here. After the procedure you go to a "recovery" room & then someone needs to take you home.
You are not awake during the procedure which involves shock waves aimed at the appropriate kidney. The hour long treatment consists of appx. 2000 waves sent with a muffled firecracker sound. Hopefully, only one treatment will do the trick.
There is some supposed "discomfort" afterwards. We'll see. 2 wks. afterwards more pics are taken to see if the stone is gone.
No, they can't do the same treatment for gallstones. It would crush it, but evidently the gall bladder doesn't drain so easily, so the stone remnants would remain. Darn!
My wonderful adventure begins Fri. morning. I have already completed the MOST important part of my pre-op- I showered!
What are your pain/stone stories? Like Ross Perot, I'm all ears.
Pain? You wanna know pain? I mean beyond childbirth, beyond a fracture elbow & a dislocated shoulder. Unrelenting, agonizing, throbbing pain so intense you can't speak, you can't even move. Do I have your attention now?
The last one I had was 30 yrs. ago. My sister has had a few & so did my Dad. Now it appears to be my turn.
There is some prep the day before, but not much. It most consists of taking "Gas-X" tablets. Evidently any gas present in the gut shows up as black on the pics they take, & that ain't good. It's an outpatient procedure served by a trailer that travels from hospital-to-hospital on a once/month basis here. After the procedure you go to a "recovery" room & then someone needs to take you home.
You are not awake during the procedure which involves shock waves aimed at the appropriate kidney. The hour long treatment consists of appx. 2000 waves sent with a muffled firecracker sound. Hopefully, only one treatment will do the trick.
There is some supposed "discomfort" afterwards. We'll see. 2 wks. afterwards more pics are taken to see if the stone is gone.
No, they can't do the same treatment for gallstones. It would crush it, but evidently the gall bladder doesn't drain so easily, so the stone remnants would remain. Darn!
My wonderful adventure begins Fri. morning. I have already completed the MOST important part of my pre-op- I showered!
What are your pain/stone stories? Like Ross Perot, I'm all ears.
No comments:
Post a Comment