Scared about lithotripsy

Hi folks... I was diagnosed with MSK 5 yrs ago. I've had tons of stones for the last 15 yrs so I'm not new to the whole stone passing thing. Unfortunately the circumstances right now are new. I have the biggest stone I've had yet, 1 cm at least (judging by the x-ray - getting a CT tomorrow). Right now the stone is right in the joint and volleying back and forth from my kidney to the ureter. The urologist says it's unpassable and I'll need lithotripsy, but it's possible that with litho all the broken bits could hit my ureter at once causing it to jam up and block my kidney. He said they could go up and take it out but going up that far up to get a stone could damage my ureter.

Back in 2007 I had an experimental surgery for MSK where the doc when up into both kidneys through my ureters, and laser scraped my kidneys clean (with the hope of eliminating all my pain). Unfortunately it wasn't successful and the pain from that surgery was the most horrifyingly painful experience of my life - screaming bloody murder kinda pain. So I'm no stranger to pain but some things have changed since that surgery. I've since developed fibromyalgia (the doc thinks it was because of the constant kidney pain) so I'm much more sensitive to pain. Also, since that surgery 5 yrs ago I have been seeing a pain mgmt doc but my most recent pain doc closed his practice suddenly and even after going to over a dozen pain docs I've failed to find one who would take me. I had been on the fentanyl patch all this time but tonight I officially run out. My urologist gave me vicodin but it's still a big difference. So on top of everything I'll have withdrawal issues.

I've never had straight up lithotripsy before (despite having so many stones). I've usually just passed them and the 2 times I required surgery it was the basket kind. I know my particular situation is ... different... what with the withdrawal thrown in there, but does anyone have any advice? Also, I live alone and I do have my dad driving in to take me to the lithotripsy and back home but he can't stay with me afterward. My only close friends that lived in the same city as me just moved away a few weeks ago. I have tons of friends but their either far away or not close enough that I could ask for this kind of support. I know after my last surgery I didn't really need much assistance (I mean sure it was really really painful but it wasn't like I couldn't walk) so I'm thinking of just toughing it out on my own. Is this a mistake? Thanks for any suggestions or advice you may have.

[ChitChatNine]

Hi and Welcome!

How did your litho go?

Just saw your post and wanted to stop by.

C~

[only_bridget]

Thanks for asking :) The first night after it was horrible but after that it slowly got better. Now I'm back to just my normal chronic pain - my left side still hurts a bit more than my right but the stone (or most of it) is gone. Except for the first night it wasn't too bad dealing with recovery. I just wish my doc had sent me home with nausea medicine. I had even asked about it and he said I wouldn't need it. Really? I beg to differ. And why not just give it to me just in case? It's not like nausea medicine is bad - I mean compared to pain meds it's nothing. That's my only complaint - otherwise it was good :)

[savaedbygrace]

Ive had lithotripsy a few times its better than passing the stones

[ChitChatNine]

thanks so much for stopping back to post .. I have never had litho because all mine have been too small ( less than 5.0 mm's).  I hope you continue to feel better .. and the other pain, hopefully we can all share ideas and support here.

C~