Complete renal failure. A trip to the emergency room.

Starting last Friday I began to have trouble holding onto objects and getting trembling in my hands and fingers. I couldn't type on my phone and begin to act confused. By Saturday the symptoms became worse and I began to also get some pains on my right side. Sunday I went to a birthday party for a friend at a Mexican restaurant and dropped my coke all over the table and myself. I went home and went to bed. Monday morning my symptoms were so bad that my wife and daughter took me to the emergency room. I was examined and admitted for a possible stroke. I was in extreme pain and could hardly stand. I had numerous tests including CT scans of both my head and abdomen and an MRI of my head. The results of the tests showed that I had 8 cm by 3 cm kidney stone which completely blocked urine from my bladder thus causing complete kidney failure. I was immediately scheduled for laser lithotripsy the next day and had to undergo tests for cardiac clearance which included ultrasounds of my coronary arteries in my neck and an echocardiogram of my heart. When I went for the laser lithotripsy I was put to sleep and when I woke up was told that they stopped the procedure because of massive infection in my kidney. I was put on heavy iv antibiotics and rescheduled for the laser lithotripsy on April 10th. In addition to the above, I was found to be diabetic an had 3 insulin shots while in the hospital and was given 3 vitamin B-12 injections because that was low. By the time I left the hospital on Thursday night I had made almost a complete recovery. I was given a prescription of cefdinir for the infection, glipizide for the diabetes and four injections of B-12. The main thing that I learned was that a kidney infection can mimic the symptoms of a stroke. I also had to bring my Embeda and Horizant from home because the hospital doesn't carry those pain medications. The surgeon left a stint in my kidney to allow the urine to bypass the stone. You can't imagine how frightened I was when I thought I had a debilitating stroke. I now feel almost completely normal although I must rest and take it easy until they remove the stone. I know that this sounds improbable but I assure you that it is true. Maybee some of the medical members can agree that kidney failure and infection can mimic a stroke. If anyone has any questions I will try to answer them.

That must have been terrifying - I feel relieved for you just reading your post.

Positive thoughts/vibes to you for your recovery & I hope you are feeling 100% soon!

Yikes!

That is positively frightening!!! So happy you're doing better now! Please take it easy and continue to take care of yourself.

Thanks to all those who wish me well. I have just had the kidney stone removed as an outpatient procedure with no complications and am feeling fine. I haven't had any blood in my urine and there was no pain at all. They did put in another stint without a string, and they put me on another course of antibiotics just to be safe. They are going to remove this stint on April 20th. Since there is no string attached to the stint they will use a cystoscope to remove it. That will probably hurt more than the actual laser lithotripsy even if they numb my urethra. I will be in strips for this procedure. It was a lot simpler when all they had to do was pull it out by the string. After this, I only have two operations left. On May 1st. I am having an ankle replacement due to too many sports injuries and eventually, a reverse shoulder due to the accident I had in 2015. I know that this seems like a lot, but I know people who have had both knees and a hip replaced. I am actually in very good shape with no problems other than those due to my accident. Again, thanks to all those who expressed their concern.

Mike.

Glad it went well, Mike. Hope the other procedures go well, too.

Bigmike, 4 years ago I had hematuria and upon cystoscopy they found a polyp that was removed and was malignant. The polyp was very close to one ureter, so after the urologist cut it out, he put a stent into that ureter for a week. The "fishing line" attached to the stent was hanging in my bladder. He scoped me again and pulled on the line and out popped the stent, through my bladder and out of my urethra; no more uncomfortable than a regular cystoscopy.

I now get scoped every 6 months for 5 years, then yearly for life to look for anymore polyps.

Thanks, I've never had a cystoscopy while awake, however, I did have a catheter used to collect urine one time. The nurse who used it was so good that she had the urine flowing before I realized that she had started to insert it. None of that preparation as seen on the videos. Just take the catheter in and done.

I had my kidney stent removed today and it was nothing like I expected. I watched the procedure on youtube and thought that I would be in the lithotomy position and fully draped. I was given a Cipro antibiotic as a precaution, asked my height and weight and had my blood pressure taken. I was instructed to lower my pants and underwear to my ankles and cover myself with the paper drape. I removed my pants and underwear since it was more comfortable. The assistant entered and swabbed my penis with betadine and took a syringe and numbed my urethra with a lidocaine gel. She put a penile clamp on the end of my shaft to hold the gel in. After a few minutes, my doctor entered and proceeded to thread the cystoscope into my bladder. The assistant stood over his shoulder and pumped saline solution as needed. When he got the cystoscope where he wanted it, he instructed the assistant to open and close the clamp, trying to snare the string. Since the doctor had both hands on the scope and the assistant could not see in my bladder he had to tell her what to do. After the second try, she snagged the thread and took out the stint. Very simple with no pain. On the video, I had watched the I could not figure out why the doctor was saying open and close. Now I know. No viewing screens, stirrups or other embellishments. Great. My ankle replacement has been rescheduled for June 26th because my GP. felt I needed at least six weeks since I had left the hospital. I'm glad that he cared enough to go against all the other doctors who had given their ok. It would have been easy to have just went along.