First stone and lots of anxiety. Should I cancel my upcoming vacation?
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Hi, so I found out that I have a 10mm stone through an ultrasound, and my doctor has asked me to do a 24 hour urine test to see what could be causing it. Apparently I've passed smaller kidney stones before, but I never noticed them.
The one they found is not causing me any pain at the moment and they're unobstructed. However, I'm getting a ton of anxiety, because I remember my dad getting one and it put him down for a while. I haven't been able to stop thinking about this for the last 2 days.
I have a solo vacation coming up to Europe in 3-4 weeks and I'm wondering now if I should cancel. It's for about 12 days and I'll be staying in hostels the entire time. One of the cities is Paris and the idea of being in horrible pain in a city where I don't speak the language is keeping me up.
My doctor is asking to see the test results of my 24 hour urine test first, and said that if I do get any bad pain that I should go to the emergency room.
Is it worth pushing for the soundwave treatment if I still have 3-ish weeks left before the trip, or should I hold out until after the trip? I'm going to of course meet with my doctor at least once before leaving on the trip, but curious how people handle it here.
Comments (7)
If you can do ESWL, I would definitely take it. With some luck you’ll be rid of it immediately.
One of my kids had an emergency appendectomy 5 weeks before a solo trip to Asia and did fine. Lithotripsy isn’t anything near that so if you could have it done very soon I personally would consider it. Obviously listen to your doctor, but it’s usually a pretty quick recovery. I don’t know if there would be any contraindications for flying and such after that but your doctor should know.
You need to get your doctor to order a CT of your abdomen and pelvis to clearly evaluate your diagnosis and if you confirm a stone, the location can help estimate the risk of traveling. Ultrasounds are not reliable for assessing stones for treatment and risk. Getting a 24 hour urine at this point is not important and may be a waste of time and money.
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