Bladder and kidney stent removal - part 2

Hello. I just wanted to post my story to give everyone an idea of what to expect and there is relief-- soon!

I am a 22 year old female in my last semester of college when the dr. told me about 2 weeks ago that I have a kidney stone after I was rushed to the ER in pain and throwing up. (not fun!) I was told to follow up with a urologist... I had already had a kidney stone that passed on its own so I thought ok no big deal it will suck but it will come out.. I thought wrong.

After waiting a week for it to come out I had a KUB scan, ordered by my urologist (not painful just like an XRAY) and they called saying the stone was still there and hadnt passed. He then told me about this unpleasant :( (to say the least) surgery he would have to preform to remove the stone.

I had a "blue plate special" which is what they called my surgery which ended up being a cystoscopy and retrival of the stone (4mm) with a basket and lazer... I of course was under anesthetic so it was not too bad. I woke up however in the most awful unpleasant pain with my stent, and I spent the next two days urinating blood, crying and taking 2 pain medicines (torodal and hydrocodone) every 4 hours because it was unbearable. I couldnt sleep and had to wake up every 4 hours to take a ton of medicine just to lay down and could only lay certain ways. Needless to say this is the WORST pain I have had in my young life and I had my gallbladder removed about a year and a half ago.

This morning I went to have the stent removed and could barely sit in the waiting room I was in sooo much pain and so very anxious after reading all of this. The nurse even let me just lay in the back until the doctor was ready. Not a good way to be...

The stent removal took all of about 30 seconds and it was a RELIEF. Yes it was uncomfortable when it was coming out and I had no numbing medicine so maybe that would have helped but the dr. said it was unnecessary (which now I agree, not at the time) After removal I went home and could walk and sit in the car a little more comfortably. I took my pain meds that I had been on fell asleep and woke up about 2 hours later. I could go to the bathroom normally and walk around comfortably without pain for the first time in a few weeks. IT WAS THE BEST FEELING - I feel normal and better. I still have a little abdominal pain and am exausted but I can now sleep!

My doctor and staff were however the BEST. They called me when I went home post-op and checked on me. They answered every question honestly and even the doctor called me back AFTER hours to answer my questions and up my pain medicine dosage. The staff always made sure I was the most comfortable I could be. I was extremly impressed with them- I have had crappy doctors in the past- never settle for the best treatment you can get!

I must say I NEVER want to have a kidney stone again and if I had the choice I would pass the stone again a million times over before I had another procedure and stent... but relief came and it is the day of the stent removal and I couldnt feel better!

has anyones doctor told you to pull your own stent out...??? Mine has been in for little over 2 weeks now, hurts very bad when I try to pull it out... Have a follow up appt. tomorrow, but doc is expecting the stint to be out... I cant do it.. hurts way to bad.. Any suggestions.??? " besides tying string to door knob and slamming door shut ???? LOL "actually not funny"

I am 19 years old, I had the "sting" operation done for kidney reflux two years ago. the kidney reflux caused constant kidney infections etc. But after the surgery I had not had a single problem.

Now in the past two months i've had two kidney infections. I went back to my specialist to have them check things out because I went to get tested for what I though was a third kidney infection (turns out no infection as there was only rbc and protein present, no wbc)

So I had an ultrasound and xray done, showing that my pain was being caused by kidney stones not an infection. The one stone is a bit over 1.5cm, and a few smaller ones that are also too big to pass. I will be getting lithroscopy (sorry, i probably wrote it wrong .. i think you know what I mean .. the scope with the laser breakup then basket removal of large pieces?)
After this a stent will be put in place. He told me it will have a string on the end and I will "painlessly" remove it myself after a few days/weeks..

Help!? i'm terrified after reading others experience of stent removal .. and I have to do it myself?! I'm worried I can't do it and will pass out part way through or something.
has anyone else removed a stent themselves?

found this site very helpful and wanted to share my own experience. i am a 37yr male 6ft 160lbs and about 3 months ago was suddenly racked with severe kidney pain and imediately went to the ER. after a cat scan showed a small spec around the ureter tube area i was diagnosed with a stone and a swollen kidney(right side) . was told the stone is less than .5mm and should pass pretty easily on its own. i was referred to a urologist given a basket to catch the stone in and a prescription for vicodon. after few days i went to see the urologist and he agreed with hospital said its small enough stone should pass soon come see me in two weeks. after few more days of pain, cramping and constipation from all the vicodon i was taking trying to find some comfort i had enough and returned to the ER to at the very least get anther injection of diloded to relax me. i told the ER doc that the Vicodon are causing my stomach cramping and constipation making my pain worse and its not helping. i ended up with an anti nausea med and percocet also had to give myself an enema to releive the constipation (interesting experiance lol). after the second er visit pain was managed much better with percocet was able to function again while waiting to pass the stone. after the 2 weeks passed (still no stone to show the urologist) i retuned to the urologist and he did another cat scan and sees the same spec as was seen in the first ER scan but said he doesnt think the stone is in my ureter but just near it and my issue may actually be a congenital (since birth) defect with my ureter tube looks like mine is just too small and something like a small stone must have cut me which resulted in blood clots in my kidney that are not able to drain through the too small of a ureter. the urologist said step 1 is to have a stent put in that will help the kidney to drain all the blood clots and allow the swelling to reduce (should be a great relief) and while he has the scope in place can make sure there is not a stone blocking anything and if there is he can grab it while he is in there. i was scheduled to have this done the following week and when i showed up for the surgery (stent placement) they had me wait for several hours then finally admitted that they had arranged to borrow the scope from another facility and it did not arrive so they sent me home and said to call back in a week to rescedule. i went home and my wife called the urologist office and said no way need stent put in asap not waiting another week. somehow she got someones attn. and they scheduled me the following day and they finally had the scope and placed the stent and also did not see any stones while they were in there looking. once i woke up from the procedure i experienced the worst burning urination imaginable (pissing razors, fire, acid) for the next 24-36 hrs. once the burning stopeed i realized that i felt a lot better kidney sweling reduced pain went away. stent was a little annoying but nothing to complain about compared to the swollen kidney pain. my urologist explained the corrective procedure that he wants to use to repair my ureter were they go in with the scope again and use some type of balloon to stretch the ureter then use another stent to keep inplace for 2 more weeks. so 2 weeks following the stent placement my urologist calls and says he is having issues with the facilty he works for and he will not be able to do the corrective procedure (scope and balloon) at the facility he works for he is petitioning requesting whatever another facility and will let me know when he gets the permission to do it. so several weeks pass and i kept hearing about his political issues with Holzer medical (the facilty) so i demand to be referred to another urologist who can actually get the job done as its not fair i suffer unnecessarily. so after few more weeks i goto see a urologist in the big city who is associated with a university hospital of good reputation. first thing this urologist said is we need to know why my kidney was filled with blood in the first place. he then explained the possibility of a tumor on or near my kidney and gave me a good cancer scare ( i am a smoker for 20 yrs) said first thing he needs to do is remove the stent that has now been in me for over 2 months and when he has the scope in place he will look for signs of tumor or damage to my kidney. i show up at the hospital for the scheduled stent removal and was put under anesthesia and when i woke my wife said the dr told her he didnt see any issues and i am now free of any stent. i feel great like 100% no issues. but i still need to have the ureter repaierd before my kidney swells again so i am sceduled for the corrective surgery the following week. so after a great week of drinking hiking wrestling with my son i show up for the surgery and at this time i assume its going to be the procedure described by the original urologist using the scope and balloon etc. when i show up they tell me i am to be admitted to the hospital for an overnight stay. i protest insisting that this is an outpatient procedure and i have not made any arrangements to stay the night i then request to speak to the dr to clear this up before they put me under anesthesia. dr calls up to the room im in and asks whats the issue i explain that i thought this was outpatient and nurse is telling otherwise. he says we just do that in case u need a bed but otherwise i am free to leave following the surgery might be a little sore in my belly. so i consent and they put me under. when i woke i was in alot of pain and have 3 holes in my stomach. turns out the urologist i was referred to is a robotic surgical specialist (i had no idea, it wasnt mentioned to me) what he did was use a robot with 3 arms (one camera and 2 tool arms) and made 3 incisions in my belly one incision in my belly button and another 6 inches above another 6 inches below. also he actually cut out part of the ureter that was scarred/restricted and then rejoined it together. since i insisted that i go home after surgery about the time i was feeling awake and had urinated for em they wheeled me out to the car for the 2 hr ride home. if i woulda known i was having actaul/real surgery i woulda made plans to stay over at the hosp. that was a long painful ride home and an even longer night of severe pain by day 2 had pain manged well with percocet and its getting better stomach still hurts (the muscles mainly) and i feel the irratation of the new stent that was palced after surgery. i am scheduled to have this new stent removed in his office on feb 17 wich is what brought me to this site. was told he will use a local (numbing) and takes 30 secs to pull it out. i do not have or see a string anywhere and thing he uses a scope to go find and rtrieve the stent. after reading all the posts here i am not too nervous about it any more think ill take couple percocet before i go.

I live in a small town but very lucky to have a good uriologist and good medical care. I went to ER Sunday night and got right in to see the doctor who immediately sent me for a CT and my cousin who is a ER nurse was working. the Doctor came in and said he had talked to Dr Lee our only uriologist (ON a Sunday!) He said he wanted to go in the next morning and remove it. As it turns out I had to wait in the hospital until Tuesday morning because Dr Lee wanted to remove my one stone and break up the others all at one time to save time and money. (we only have access to the machine on tuesdays) I asked him to NOT put in a stent but when I woke up he said I had 2 stones he had to break up and the stone he removed was kinda large. Well day 2 and it has not been anywhere near as bad as some of your posts thankfully.. I have mininal discomfort mostly when I go to the bathroom with the blood and burning which has started to get much better. I should have stent removed on Monday morning in his office at 8:00 I hope to work that day, kinda worried about the choice.to work. Bad news is this doctor is leaving town in March and not sure if we are even going to have a uriologist now. He treated me in 97 and again this week hope we get another good one.

well i just had my stent taking out about an hour ago or a little less. I was hoping it wouldnt hurt that badly... well IT DID!!! n thats because im female. OMG it felt like a razor sharp something going up my part n i felt the whole tugging. the doc was supposedly going to use this spray that would sting really bad n take it out that it wouldnt be that bad. well it was. OMG i never wanna feel that again he kept asking me u sure it still hurts u? n im like DUH! i wouldnt be almost crying mn yelling if it wouldnt. i dont wanna scare you but thats how it happened to me. the thing i am worried about now is the peeing part. it burned like hell when i first had the surgery n the stent placed... i dunno what to do now... i took medication that makes me pee orange but should i go pee already or wait a lil.. any suggestions?

I'm getting my stent removed on 16th.I'm really worried about it till now but after reading all the posts I think there's nothing to worry so much about except for the little discomfort and pain.Thank you guys for sharing.

I just had my stent removed yesterday after being inserted for five weeks and I must say I was a little scared after reading some of the posts on here, But I am pleasantly supprized and happy to inform anyone reading this, that apart being a little uncomfortable it was totally PAINLESS!!! It was performed under a local anaesthetic and I only had slight discomfort from my kidney since, this apparently will subside within the next 24 hours.

Good luck to anyone else going thru this and dont let some of these posts scare you too.

Just pulled mine out today, at first it was very painful. So had a few shots of whiskey, nine before I had no pain Barely remember taking it out, but now pain free

I feel for you girlfriend! There is no two ways about it kidney stents suck!! especially when you are pregnant. I went through the same thing you are when I was pregnant with both my kids. The pain is always there until the stents come out. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's the truth. However, with that being said things will get better after the stent(s) are removed. It make take a little time, but it will get better. Make sure you express your fears and pain you're experiencing with your doctor so they can help you manage. Don't let the doctor's tell you it's no big deal. It is! I have found that doctor's who say it's nothing to worry about or lament over- have never dealt with stents themselves.I know exactly what you are going through. Rest drink lots of fluids and take the pain medicine if needed. There is nothing wrong with that. It's worse if you just try to muck your way through it. Help your body help itself. Good Luck

I'm 34,F. Had a 6.5mm stone discovered 6 mnths ago. Pain started on tuesday morning at 5am and drove myself to the ER, that didn't have a urology dept. Was given morphine, didnt help, they gave me dilaudid, didnt help, finally gave me ketorlac and pain was relieved instantly. Got transfered by ambulance to another hospital that did have urology dept. Urologist decided that I needed a uretal cytoscopy to remove stone and stent placement. They got the whole stone out I was told. Woke up from surgery needing to pee so bad, couldn't pee in a bowl so they took me off it and I just peed probably 6 times in the bed. Felt fine and went home 7 hours after surgery. Gave me hydrocodone for pain If any. Next day had horrible spasm in my kidney. Felt worse than a stone. Took a hydrocodone and it helped a little. Called the surgeon and the nurse said it was probably a spasm And to return to the ER if my pain pills don't help. This pain happened again 3 more times off and on for the next 4 days. I get my stent removed tomorrow at 3 and I HOPE I never have any more pain!

Please let us know how you made out!

Hahahahah, i differ, that's really funny!

Hello, I was wandering how you made out? I’m going through this myself now.....and I found i your list using the description of passing what looks like “ground meat” .....it’s the second stent (the one put in after stones are removed)! I’m in severe pain....the surgery was to be an hour but took over 2 hours! So I thought well maybe I’m in so much pain from all of the work he did in there.... I’m also on blood thinners from having clits in my lungs back in 2010..... so I just wandered how you made out and if it’s normal to be so miserable? Thank You in advance! Charlotte

I'm a 24 years old female who had kidney stone surgery and had a stent placed on after my surgery. It seems to give me a lot of problems. Can I have it removed?