This is an excerpt from our MONTHLY eNewsletter, enjoy!
Many of you know that I have suffered from numerous kidney stone attacks over the past several years. In fact, I believe I have passed around 12 to 14 of them! I hear from women that have given both childbirth and had kidney stones state that stones are worse!
Well, let me tell you about my latest attack. I was doing some work around the house about a week ago and woke up the next day with a lower back spasm. The kind of spasm that made me realize maybe I am not as young as I used to be and I need to be more careful with doing things around the house. It was extremely uncomfortable. I did all of the usual things…ice, heat, etc.
These spasms went on for several days and appeared to be getting a little better. Then on Friday morning out of nowhere out popped a kidney stone! As it turned out, it was not a muscle spasm from old age, but from a kidney stone travelling.
However, it gets worse. After having the stone come out Friday, we had 20 people over at our house Saturday for the first night of Passover. Then the following night we went to someone else’s house for the second night of Passover. Needless to say, I was wiped out from all of these things happening.
The next day I go back to work and just didn’t feel right all day. Later that day I started getting horrible back pain again. It reached a point where I told my wife I needed to go to the emergency room. Monday night at 6:30 I went to the ER and found out I had a large (6 mm) kidney stone stuck in my ureter. The doctors gave me pain meds and said to drink a lot of water to try and get this stone to the bladder.
Tuesday, I went to work and by noon was on the floor and felt like I was going to vomit because of the pain. I cancelled the rest of my meetings and somehow drove back to Weston to Cleveland Clinic hospital. After three rounds of heavy-duty pain meds and a second CT scan in 24 hours, they determined my right kidney was getting backed up and they admitted me for surgery. By Tuesday night I was in the operating room and found out I had 3 stones in the right kidney area. There was a 6 mm, a 3 mm and a 10 mm that would never make it out without surgery. Thus, they went in and blasted the stones and put a “stent” in to help make sure they all passed properly.
I am now post-surgery 24 hours and have a stent in my “private area” until Monday morning. It hurts to go to the restroom and my kidney feels like it has been in a fight with Muhammad Ali…and lost! At this point, I am meeting with a nephrologist that specializes in kidney stone prevention so I never have to go through this again!
I have had surgeries, injuries and a heart attack over my many years. I will tell you that this latest kidney stone issue and the pain that I had was worse than my heart attack!
What is the morale of this story? Well, I have done everything right and even then it sometimes does not matter. I have lost weight, eat very healthy, drink plenty of fluids and exercise regularly. Even after doing all of that, look what it did…nothing! I still got these kidney stones. The point is even the best of intentions and doing the right things still cannot stop certain things from happening. Remember that when it comes to getting your estate planning affairs in order!!
As always, be safe and live well!