[gearmesh, inc.]

I got lucky with the one I had. I never had the pain of the stone leaving the kidney. What tipped me off something was up was my morning leak looked just like coca-cola color. A burning sensation accompanied the act of pissing as well. WTF???? Went to a urologist and he said it was blood in the urine, probably from a stone starting to move around in one of my kidneys.

Further testing revealed a large stone 4mm x 6mm in the left kidney. Surgery was scheduled for him to go upstream with some tools (general anesthesia-thank you very much!) and bust it up enough for easy passage. To get tools from the bladder up to the kidney, the passage had to be dilated, so a temporary stent was left in for 5 days after surgery so it wouldn't kink up from being expanded so much. It had surgical string attached that ran through my bladder and out my unit for this whole time. Doc said just keep the end taped to the side of junior there so he could pull it out in the office in about a week. That string sucked because no matter how much I tried to shake dry after taking a leak, it was futile exercise to get drip free.

A week later, I stood in his office pants down straddling a trash can. Doc said to take a deep breath and hold it, and he pulled it on out. It felt like the end was wrapped around my spine for about a second, but he got it out before I could yell holy shit. Luckily, that was the only oh crap pain I had to endure. Whew!

Good luck on yours. An experience like this will turn you towards some more drinking water for sure. Reportedly, a diet high in leafy products like tea or greens can contribute to stone formation, just as well as not enough water passing through the kidneys each day.