True stories from a reader

About six weeks ago my urine turned a dark brown in color. Very similar to some dark oak furniture in my house. I had no pain outside of typical lower-back muscle pain, which has been common for me for the last several years.

The discoloration stayed with me for a few days. Then it would clear up and return again in a short period of time. I decided I needed to be checked out by a doctor.

The doctor discovered through a simple urinalysis that the dark color of my urine was a result of blood. He ordered a KUB — kidney, ureter, bladder — X-ray. The X-ray was clear. There were no kidney stones. My urine cleared up.

Because I am a heart patient taking Coumadin, I attributed the blood in the urine as a by-product of the blood thinner.

About one month later it hit. It was in the evening, after dinner, when I started experiencing severe stomach cramps. I spent quite some time in the restroom, feeling like I needed to be there but having little success relieving the pain.

I decided to lie flat on my back on the bed to see if this would help. It was at this time that I noticed the pain was mainly in my lower left back. The pain seemed to start in the lower back region, just above my buttock. It radiated around to my abdomen and continued down into my groin.

After a very uncomfortable night of little sleep and lots of ibuprofen, I got in to see my doctor the next morning. The doctor said this sounded very typical of a kidney stone and ordered a CT scan of my abdomen.

Sure enough, I have a big one. 5 × 5 × 10 mm.

The doctor put me on Vicodin for pain and Soma for a muscle relaxant. I found I had to take the Vicodin every four hours to get any kind of relief at all.

After a few days the pain seemed to go away. I made an appointment with a urologist. He examined the CT scan and confirmed what was going on. He said the stone has just started “its journey.” He says he doesn’t know if I’ll be able to pass it or not. It’s very big. I’m not sure what’s going to happen from here.

If the stone is made of calcium they can “blast” it and break it up into small pieces that are passable. If it’s a uric-acid stone, they might be able to dissolve it. If I can’t pass it and they can’t break it up or dissolve it, I don’t know what my other options are.

It has just left the kidney and is in the top of the ureter.

The doctor has given me a prescription for Uroxatral, 10 mg, to relax the ureter and bladder. Also, he prescribed Dilaudid, 2 mg, for pain. I’m to follow up with the urologist in seven days for another CAT scan to monitor the progress of the stone.

Time will tell. For now… I’m living with a “time bomb” in my abdomen.