Back in February, I had ESWL to treat a Kidney Stone in my right kidney. Today, I am having a follow-up ESWL treatment. If everything goes as it did last time around, I will go into the hospital at about 8 AM or so, and I should be home by 10:30 or 11:00 AM.

What is ESWL?

You may be wondering what ESWL is. ESWL stands for Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy. Basically, they use a machine that shoots shockwaves aimed at your kidney stone. The shock waves pulverize the stone.

The procedure is done while you are under a general anesthetic, so you sleep through it. After you wake up, you can go home almost immediately.

Why a second treatment?

Since I had my ESWL in February, I went from having constant kidney pain (sometimes quite severe) to having no pain at all. I still have no pain, so why have the treatment again? Last week, I visited my urologist, and he did an ultrasound. He could still see some smaller pieces of stones in my kidney, and he felt that a second treatment would clear it up. Even though I have no pain at this time, the problems could return later because some of the stone material is still present. Also, the hospital offers to follow up treatments for half price if they are done within 3 months of the original treatment, so I see no reason not to try to take care of it right away.

I will report back

I feel pretty confident that the procedure will go very smoothly, as it did in February. One way or the other, though, I will report back within the next few days to let you know how it goes.