Finally got back to whatever's "normal" for me, as the urologist removed the stent this morning after the x-ray showed me clear of stone fragments. Couldn't believe how long that bugger was---at least 12 inches! One end started way up at the top of the left kidney and hung all the way down to the urethra (sic), where it was anchored by a nice little curl on that end. Yeah, real nice. It felt like I had a fishpole stuck up there, and every time I voided it felt as though I was hooked, too. Boy, nothing like having a plastic tube (green, mind you, and about the diameter of a pin worm) lodged "up mine", so to speak.Having it pulled out was soooo much fun! No anethesia, just a dab of lidocane to deaden the pain (hah!) around the hole while the doctor inserted some kind of torture device (I kept my eyes shut) and slooooowly pulled all ten feet of that stent out. Okay, so it wasn't ten feet, but it sure felt like it! Then he playfully dangles the thing over my face and, as I'm not wearing my glasses, I nearly yell because it looks like he's pulled some green parasite out of me. Jeez! Good thing I don't mind snakes. And then he hands me a plastic gallon jug (empty) that I'm to fill with 24hrs worth of urine---so he can maybe figure out why I got a kidney stone---"No hurry", he says. Yeah, like I'm really gonna fill it right then.
At any rate, he said he'd be happy to keep treating me, since he has two kids in college and could use the income, which is only fair, I suppose. But now I can actually sit without using a rubber "doughnut", so it's worth it. (By the way, click the photo to see it larger.) I'm going sledding! Yippee!
