Wildly wooly and off the wall, totally unexpected

A few minutes ago. 8mm and 2 tiny stones. Bringing my total for 4 weeks to 22.

I’ve had people ask me, how come I’m suddenly passing so many kidney stones?

I guess my lithotripsy warranty has run out.

I have a serious birth defect of my kidney, called Medulla Sponge kidney.  A very severe case of it, apparently.  I worked with a man who had a similar problem, and he said that a lithotripsy surgery would last him about 2 years, until he would have formed and began to pass stones large enough to pain him.

Here’s the thing.  If I had insurance (which I don’t) or had the money (which I don’t), I’m not sure I’d have the lithotripsy repeated.  The urologist was surprised, that as full of stones as my kidneys are, I have 100% function of them.   

I don’t know how many times they can blast away at things in there before I form enough scar tissue or adhesions that I don’t have full function of my kidneys.  

And while I’d rather have a kid any day than kidney stones, I have learned to live and deal with the pain, and I’d rather live with the pain than to live on dialysis.

Hello darkness (chronic pain), my old friend.