After passing 20 or so stones and two lithotripsies I thought I was getting good at this. My last few have been passed without the help of a Doctor or Hospital and confidence was high that I had developed an immunity to the pain. That ended this week when I woke up Tuesday morning at 4:00am with a stabbing pain in my left side.

I knew immediately what it was and started my usual routine of flushing water, drinking cranberry juice and pacing the floor. Unfortunately I vomited the cranberry juice and after 6 hour of pacing I couldn’t stand the pain. After waiting 5 hours at the nearest hospital emergency room I left and went to a different hospital who was nice enough to find me an empty bed and within an hour gave me a shot of Dilaudid, which provided nearly instant relief. Upon Catscan I was told the stone was 4×6mm and I had a 90% chance of passing it on my own. They sent me home with a prescription of Norco for the pain, which has barely helped.

Upon returning home I started “pounding” water and by Thursday morning at 5am I was pain free. Funny thing though - I hadn’t actually seen the stone. My answer came around 4pm when the pain returned. I immediately started flushing water again and 8 hours later I am still in tremendous pain. They say it can take awhile - I can only hope for the best - good luck to the rest of you, but one word to the wise - don’t consider it “passed” until you see the evidence.