Supportive, Coordinated Care Offers Relief from Kidney Stone [Tom Davis]

This video highlights a patient’s experience navigating a painful kidney stone and receiving care at Brookings Health System. It demonstrates the importance of coordinated care, clear communication, and timely surgical intervention in relieving pain and improving outcomes.

  • Kidney stone diagnosis: CAT scans confirmed the size and location of the stone, guiding treatment decisions.
  • Pain management is critical: ER staff and prescribed medications provided relief while monitoring progress.
  • Clear explanations from specialists: Doctors explained the likelihood of passing the stone naturally and the surgical process if needed.
  • Timely surgical intervention: Coordinated scheduling minimized wait times and reduced patient discomfort.
  • Supportive care improves recovery: Staff focused on comfort, answered questions, and guided the patient through recovery.

Frequently Asked Questions

A kidney stone is a hardened deposit of calcium or other materials that forms in the kidney and can move toward the bladder, sometimes causing severe pain.

Kidney stones are typically diagnosed using imaging tests such as a CAT scan or ultrasound, which identify the size, location, and potential for natural passage.

Surgery may be recommended if a stone is large, does not pass on its own, causes intense pain, or blocks urinary flow. Alternatives include waiting for natural passage with pain management if the stone is small and there are no complications.

Surgical removal may involve breaking the stone with sound waves (lithotripsy) and placing a stent to ensure urine flows properly and prevent infection.

Recovery may involve temporary discomfort while urinating and monitoring for signs of infection. Pain typically decreases after the first day, and patients often return to normal health once the stone is removed.

Video Transcript

My name is Tom Davis and I live about 12 miles northeast of Brookings here. I've been a resident of Brookings County my entire life, pretty much, and I'm a farmer and I'm raising livestock and crops.

What brought you to Brookings Health System?

I woke up the first week of October, I had a very burning pain in my lower stomach area, on my left-hand side. And so I initially went to the Sanford Clinic where I had been doing my medical care and the doctor there examined me and then she said, "I think you have a kidney stone and we'd like to make an appointment at the Brookings Health System for a CAT scan."

What is a kidney stone?

Calcium or other food materials that end up in your kidney calcify and then they can fall out of your kidney and try to get to your bladder, you know. And mine just didn't move, you know, hardly ever.

How bad was your pain?

It felt like almost like a starfish poking at you in every direction, you know, extremely painful. I mean, you would go periods of time when it would kind of...there'd be no pain at all and you'd think you had passed it and then all of a sudden, it would move, and then just...the pain just keel you over, I mean.

What were the results of your CAT scan?

They sent the results to the doctor at Sanford Clinic and then she called me and she said, "Tom, you got a kidney stone that's six millimeters across." And I said, "Well, is that big?" Well, she said, "I've seen some bigger, but, you know, that is pretty good sized." So then she said, "Would you like to see Dr. Bhat at the Brookings Hospital System about getting it taken care of?" So I said, "Yes." And so she made an appointment for me.

How was your experience with Dr. Bhat?

He was very thorough in explaining, you know, the kidney scan. He had that...he's got that diagram in his office and showed me the possibility of it passing on its own. He said, "A lot of them pass on their own." He said, "You don't have any infection or anything, so let's just go... You go back home and I'll prescribe you some pain medication." And so I did that. And, you know, a couple of times, I thought it had passed and I didn't know it passed because I went two, three days sometimes without any pain.

What brought you to the emergency room?

Well, then I came back to the emergency room because the pain got so bad that I couldn't stand up almost. And then they did another CAT scan and said, "No, it hasn't moved, but it's right where it should fall into the bladder and pass." So he said, "Why don't you go home? We'll try it again for a couple of days." And then it didn't. So then I came back to the emergency room and got an IV, I believe, three times to kill the pain so I could at least survive.

How quickly was surgery scheduled after your ER visit?

I knew Dr. Bhat said he did surgeries on Wednesday, so this was a Tuesday night. And they called him and he said, "Yes, I can fit that in tomorrow afternoon." So, oh, it was a sense of relief knowing that I only had to, you know, 12 to 14 hours of possibly pain before they took it out.

How was your experience with the ER staff?

Very, very good. I felt that everybody there, you know, their main concern was to get rid of my pain. They asked a lot of questions to make sure they did the right procedure, what other drugs I was prescribed to, and everything like that. I thought they were very, very complete in that research end of that, before they treated me.

How is a kidney stone surgically removed?

First, they went in and broke the kidney stone up with sonic is what he told me, I believe. And then he put a stent, a one-way stent, which is still in my body. I think it was so that if there was any infection or anything in the urine, that it couldn't flow back to the kidney.

How was your recovery?

He was very upfront with me. He said, "You know, the first day or so of urinating, you're going to have a lot of pain. It's going to hurt really bad." And it did. But since then, I haven't had any pain at all.

How is your pain today?

It's just like I, you know...I mean, it feels like I'm in perfect health since I don't have a kidney stone.

What did you appreciate most about your care?

Well, I just felt that everybody that I came in contact with felt that I was, you know, their most important patient. Well, I would just like to, you know, thank the whole staff here for making me feel comfortable and confident and explaining everything. And I'm glad it's close to home.

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