Is it ok to fly on holiday with a 9mm stone while I wait for surgery

Hey everyone,

Looking for some advice/experience if anyone has been through something similar.

Right now I have a 9mm stone sitting in the lower part of my kidney. I’ve had 3 rounds of lithotripsy with no real success. The first round shifted it about 2mm, but since then it just refuses to budge. At the moment I’m basically symptomless.

I’ve got a meeting with the consultant next week, but from what the technicians have said it sounds like surgery will probably be the next step. This will be done on the NHS here in the UK, so the waiting list is looking more like 6–9 months.

The problem is that I’m supposed to be flying from the UK to Italy in 3 weeks for a week-long holiday on the Amalfi Coast. The flight is roughly 3 hours.

I’ve read a lot of conflicting advice about flying with a kidney stone. The technicians basically said, “You shouldn’t, but people do,” and explained that the risks are fairly low, although it was definitely worded in a very “we can’t officially recommend it” kind of way.

I know people obviously do fly with kidney stones, and you can still get travel insurance that covers pre-existing conditions, so I’m planning to make sure I have a really solid policy in place before I go.

Has anyone here flown with a stone this size or been in a similar spot? Would really appreciate hearing other people’s experiences.