One of the most important rules as a journalist is not to become the story. But, as with any rule, there's always an exception.
For me, that exception took place at 5 a.m. Sept. 18 when I woke up with stabbing pains down my left side. I felt cold and clammy and nauseous, as well. While I initially had no idea what was causing all of this, I discovered at urgent care hours later that I had kidney stones. This was right before an ambulance picked me up and took me to the hospital.
Well, as a health reporter, I became the story because kidney stones are a common ailment and one that I believe is important for people to understand. So, my pain is your gain, so to speak. I will also soon be doing a story on how to avoid kidney stones and will delve into the causes of and treatments for this condition, including an interview with my urologist.
According to the Mayo Clinic, kidney stones are hard objects made of minerals and salts in urine. One way they can form is when an individual doesn't drink enough water, leading to those minerals and salts sticking together.
Well, guilty as charged, as it appears a life of drinking too much soda and coffee and not enough water had caught up to me. In addition to dehydration, other risk factors for kidney stones can include a family or personal history of kidney stones, obesity, digestive diseases and a diet high in protein, salt and sugar.
After being rushed to the hospital, I was in hurry up and wait mode, but, thankfully, with heavy pain medication. It turns out that, in addition to several small kidney stones that were still in my kidneys, I had a stone in my urinary tract that was seven millimeters in size.
Take a minute if you need it.
OK, I'll continue.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, a kidney stone this size is often too large to pass naturally and frequently requires medical intervention to break it up or remove it.
What followed was two days in the hospital until an operating room opened up for my urologist to put a stent in my urinary tract. Doing so prevented any blockage of the tract, which could lead to an infection. The stent also kept the stone from moving, which is what causes the pain.
I was then released from the hospital Sept. 19, having gained a stent, but having lost ... my shoes. Yep, my shoes disappeared while I was in surgery. Despite efforts to find them by hospital staff, my sneakers were gone and I was ushered into my daughter's car in the bright yellow socks that the hospital gave me to wear before surgery.
The next week was a cycle of pain medicine and discomfort. It was hard to forget the stent in my body as I was often in some kind of pain, although never as extreme as before the kidney stone was held in place. This continued as I waited to schedule the procedure to eliminate the kidney stone and remove the stent.
Finally, I was back at the hospital on Oct. 1 for a laser lithotripsy, where my urologist used a laser to break up and remove not only the kidney stone in my urinary tract, but the ones in my kidneys.
During the procedure, a flexible laser fiber was inserted through a scope, which is a long tube with a camera on it, to break up the stones. The urologist then removed the stone fragments and the stent was removed.
I awoke from the surgery and was able to head home, this time without the stones and without the stent, but, thankfully, with my shoes.
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