Ureter stent removal

Thanks for sharing your experiences on having the stent removed. If I ever get one, I will know what to expect so thank you for that. I appreciate what all you have done! :-)

I have had a stent in situ for three months; it has been removed today removed today. Having read some of the comments about stent removal, I was dreading the situation!
The procedure lasted only a couple of minutes, with no general anasthetic, injections or medications, it was only mildly uncomfortable. My fears about the predicted agonising pain were totally unfounded. I passed a small amount of blood almost immediately after the porcedure. A little later I developed back pain and passed a couple of small stones. Now four hours later I feel perfectly OK and am ready to go for a walk. Back to work in the morning!
Do not be terrorised by some of the remarks you will find on the internet.

Most people are not going to post about their positive experiences but I think that posts like this are very helpful. Thank you for posting on your experience!

hi guys...i had a 4cm calcification on the left ureter. doc put a stent in me and under anathesia, afetr awakening i felt i needed to pee every minute damn the burning sensation was awfull. no major pains...this was taken our two weeks later under anathesia, hell i even drove home 2 hours later and normal now. the burning sensation this time was not bad. guys please dont be afraid, i never had any1 to give advise on whether it would pain or not therefore i became afraid and the anticipation was killing me more...its not bad after all hey.a prayer would help and its over.i even had sex both times after the stent being put in and removed the same night hehe so guys no worries.thanks

I had my j stent removed today and had light anethesia...I'm home now but it feels like a part of my kidney had been ripped out!! Its extremely painful!
Hope this is normal and the pain goes away soon

I had a 4 mm stone removed and a double J stint for a week. My advise is to insist that the doctor give you Prosed DS...it is similar to the stuff that makes your urine orange, but this one is blue. It is specifically for "urinary pain, burning, and spasm associated with UTI's, diagnostic procedures, and inflamation"...that about covers it. The first day post op I didn't have it and it burned every time I went to the bath room and spasms in my back as well...until I asked for this stuff. The spasms and urinary burning went away!!! I have another stone in the same kidney I have to wait on, but besides the pain meds, I know what to ask for!!!

Sounds to me that some had string attachment and some did not. It is much easier to remove with the string. The patient can do this himself with just steady and continuous pressure while pulling. So, no scope needed. Scope hurts! However, there is increased difficulty during sex and increased possiblity of infection. So pros and cons to both.

Good Luck and hope it goes well.

-Susie

Hahaha, sounds like we've all seen some interesting times, war stories! Eighteen years old, multiple renal failures, multiple stones (a dozen over the last six years), kidney failures, tomorrow morning is going to the end of my seventh stint insertion and removal, you get used to them after 5... definitely most painful thing I've had is the stones and that's ranking it amongst a collapsed ureter/swollen kidney combination. The stint, though making you feel like you need to pee every twenty minutes is a relief compared to keeping the stones in the kidney I think we can all agree. I have had stint's with string's attached and stint's without string's attached (string's attached are WAY better), seen local and general anesthetic, being awake for some and not for other's. Would have to say that being awake for them is a lot easier because then you dont have to deal with the post surgery anesthetic hangover if you can sit through about a minute worth of the most agonizing pain you have ever felt in your life, definitely not for the the first timer's as far as stint's are concerned, I would never wish it upon anyone, but do the general anesthetic approach before trying staying conscious.

All the same, my advice to anyone going through this garbage, grit your teeth, it's saving your health, a collapsed ureter is a lot worse when you have to get a pilio plaste (giant scar across your flank) done to fix the damage the stone's have caused. It's going to bother you to pee the first time through after insertion and removal but close your eye's, take a DEEP breath and hold it and pee, it's going to burn like hell!But beleive me, the first time is as bad as it get's every other time after that is progressively better! When it's gone though, you'll know.

Good luck!

Justhad a stent removed after a week. Here's the bottom line, if u have a string the pain is going to be minimal. If u do nit have a string attached to your stencil it is probably going to hurt like he'll. I had an awesome surgeon who placed my stent with a string. Therefore one gentle pull and it was out with nothing more than the feeling of having to pee.

I have had a stent in for 5 weeks now (post ureter reimplantation). My stent comes out in 9 days, and I am counting down the hours. I am taking ditropan, pyridium and tylenol 3...and still continue to have stent pain. Burning during and after urination, constantly feeling like something is poking my bladder, feeling like I have to urinate ever 20 minutes. I will say the heating pad helps some. But does anyone have any other suggestions to help ease this pain? (The only way I have been able to tolerate this, is by constant resting...which I am sick of!)
Any helpful advice is greatly appreciated!

I had a stent removed about 10 months ago following a ureteroscopy where they removed a 6mm stone. My kidney was very infected when the initial stent was placed, so they gave me antibiotics and waited for the infection to clear before removing the stone. After they removed the stone they replaced the stent. After the second stent placement, they removed it after a week. I remember being very scared walking into the doctor's office to have it removed. The nurses could see I was visibly shaking (partly from reading people's experiences from their stent removal). I did not have a string attached to the end of my stent. I have to say that I really didn't feel a thing and there was instant relief as soon as the stent was out. I remember walking down 4 flights of stairs in lieu of taking the elevator because I felt so good. However, last week I got my final kidney stone removed (over 1 cm). The doctor's discharge papers stated that I would have the stent in for 3 weeks. I called today to schedule the appointment and now he thinks it should stay in for 5 to 6 weeks!!!!! Anyways, at least I know the removal won't be bad at all...

I originally had surgery for a 6mm stone back in late feb. Had a stent in for about 10 days. Took 3 Ibuprofens beforehand and went off to the docs today to have the stent removed. Like most others who have posted on here I was a big scaredy cat walking in the door. My hands were trembling while I was working on the signoff sheets to do the procedure. So I get into the room and they check my BP and heartrate; both were OFF THE CHARTS! The nurse was very calm and understood how I felt. She asked me to drop trouse, lay down with my hands crossed, and went ahead and numbed the head of my shaft with a cold gel. Next she inserts a small object that squirts even more gel inside the urethra to prepare for the dr. and cytoscope to enter. The dr. inserted the cytoscope with a minimal burning feeling as it made its way toward the bladder. Once he got there (it took less than 30 seconds) he squirted water and filled up my bladder to the point where it made me feel like wanting to urinate. The next thing I knew was the dr. saying he was latched on to my leprachaun green colored stent and was ready to make an exit. I told him I was ready and within 10 seconds and a manageable burning feeling the stent made its way back into god's green earth and had fully exited my insides. Short trip to the bathroom and I was outta there. Overall it was far easier to deal with than what I was imagining it to be. Kidney stones are never fun by any means but I can atleast be assured that removing the stent is really just a minor part of the process given everything else that you're probably going to go through in order to get to this point. Definite soreness afterwards but not like the fireworks that you get when you encounter the stone itself.

I don't know what you guys are talking about. I've always removed the uretral stents myself, my threshold for pain is embarrassingly low (though went up after these last two stones) and I just peed a little as I pulled it out by the string and went on my way. However.....this last stent was removed 5 days ago, and I'm still having ureter pain, especially several hours after a work out. I think I should not work out....I don't remember it taking this long to heal last time. oh well. I see my urologist in a week or so for a check up, but what do you guys think? how long does it take to feel "normal" after a stent is taken out?

I just pulled out the stent my urologist had put in after my last procedure about 2 weeks ago. I now know why he put in the stent with the self-removal string. I had a cystoscopy with the scope a few years ago and it was rather painful; so I was a bit apprehensive (to say the least) about pulling this thing out myself. For me, pulling it out with the string was more weird than painful.....FAR less pain than the scope. AND.....now it's out!

My 19 year old daughter jumpted out of nowhere and scared the heck out of me.  I am doing that to her now and again... for some odd reason I think it is funny.  But I starting having some odd pains and said, "Emmy... you don't do that to a 55 yr old man..."  She said, "Well you do it to me!"  LOL  But the pain radiated from my lower left back but was all the way up in my chest and I considered I was doomed.  On the way to the ER my daughter called... worried she had killed me.  I told my wife to tell her that I was feeling the pain hours before hand (I really wasn't... I considered she may have done me in).  [half joking]  It turned out to be a 4.5mm kidney stone in the top 1/4 of my utheter (tube from kidney to bladder).  It would not  pass and later a CAT scan showed the left kidney was swelling with backed up urine.  Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg did a laser liptrophy where they snake a scope up my penis throught the uthera (tube from tip of penis to bladder), through, bladder, into ureter to the stone and they blast it away with a 30W YAG laser and leave behind a plastic tube (stent) to keep the ueter open.  Apparently damage in that tube from the passage of a stone can cause it to seal shut.  They told me they would take the stent out in 5 to 7 days. 

The pain from the stone and buildup of urine in the failing kidney was enormous.  I consider myself to be a tough guy and an ex-martial artists who has gone home with broken bones (ribs mostly, but also a vertebra once) and "slept it off".  I consider myself to have a high tolerance for pain.  This became laughable.  This pain brough me to my knees.  Now I understand that women who have had these stones say it is comparable to child birth (and they have larger tubes of shorter distance and so experience less pain and problems then men regarding stones). Imagine that.  The pain humbled me.  I remember it was a aching pain that was more like a cramp or muslce spasm and non-localized.  I mean I couldn't really tell exactly where the pain was.  The tell telling symptom as I understand it is that no matter what position you get into looking for relief --THERE IS NO RELIEF.  No position is less painful than another!  I remember sleeping the first night (trying to pass the stone) on may hands and knees and waking up rolled in a ball. Not that this position was less painful but it was as comfortable as any I guess.

A 5mm stone should pass naturally... but it did not so I had to have the laser procedure.  The ultrasonic procedure that can break the stone up to small fragments from outside the body won't work well on stones that small.  I had the laser procedure done... there is now a couple of nylon strings coming out the end of my penis and rolled into a few loops like rope on the deck of a ship and taped down. I figured out the extra string is to accomodate erections.  The idea is that the Dr. will pull the stent out by pulling the string...  I am a walking "party popper" now.  He heard me refer to it as a "Rip Cord" and didn't like that much and told me I would be disappointed if I think it will hurt when he removes it.  I do appreciate what this very very good Dr. did for me and I plan to send me a gift or something later... I can't let that go... I imagine when he shot out the stones he got my pee and blood all over himself too.  THe folks at Mary Washinton treated me like a king and the food was great!  A menu and everything.  I will have to report back on the stent removal this coming Friday but I do intend to take two (2) of those  Percoset Oxycodeone/Acetominiphen tablets (10mg Oxycodone total) to take the edge off if I am to believe some of the stuff here.  My observation is that those that experienced pain in the stent removal it was due to the Dr. having to put a scope back up you to reach the stent.  It is best to have a "Rip Cord" installed as a prep so they don't have to do that.

Some tips... in the hospital when you are in pain tell them and they will give you dilaudid or morphine.  Not much but enough to make it no longer painful. You can then watch the TV and fiddle with the paper and stuff instead of rolling around moaning.  1 cc of liquid morphine contains 2 mg of the drug and it is the best thing. It won't make you high or anything at that dose but it can be pushed into your IV and it will make you comfortable.  Percoset makes me very sick to my stomach... won't stay down.  Avoid the pills.  When you get a prescription to take home eat a half a slice of wheat bread and take a pill and eat the other half of the wheat bread.  The drug will aborb into the bread fiber and be released slower and less stomach upset. Use 1 slice per percoset. 

Take the pills that make your urine Orange (I forget what the med is called)... but it stains everything... even the toilet lid and seat.  Go early and often so you don't have an accidents because the urge may come on fast and there may be pain with it.  The pain may force you to go before you have everything ready so make sure you wear loose pajama bottoms, are close to the bathroom, the seat up, the light on and everythign ready to go.  I find there is less pain going when I am seated and leaning forward some (rolled up into a bit of a ball).  Good to get up a couple fo times during the night and go pee instead of holding it till the morning.  You could have an accident or the full bladder could cause you some pain to your already traumatized system.  Set an alarm if you have to to get up every 3-4 hours to empty your bladder. The pills that dye your pee orange actually help to control spasms in your traumatized pee making and dispensing system.  LOL  True.  Take them and they will help.  Take one before bed so you have a good dose of it in your system when you wake in the morning for that morning pee (which can be painful).

Hope I helped someone a bit... Dr. told me to remember no one dies from a kidney stone.  At least he has never heard of it.  The way I experience pain that bit of knowledge helps.  If I know the pain doesn't mean I am futher damaging myself or risking death then it becomes more bearable to me.  This pain turned me into a "little girl" though... my first taste of something so painful.