Hi, it has been suggested, but not yet decided, that my wife may benefit from a kidney stent 'in case' of future infection. Currently all 'machinary' operating normally.
We have done a quick look up on this and it actually seems that many that have it done get an infection, get a lot of pain and the urge to 'pee' increases.
So we thought we would ask if anyone has had it and was it good, bad or indifferent?
Oh, if done it woudl be a permanent stent.
Cheers
Did the doctor who suggested this give you some information to take home and read and websites to look at? Some hospitals are really good at this. If you can get a list of questions from the various replies you might get on here you could perhaps go back with the list to ask the surgeon. So often we don't think of everything we need to ask when under pressure at hospital appointments.
Hope you feel you can gather all the information you need before taking the next steps.
Very best wishes. Annie x
Sadly our Onc isnt one of the 'give you info' type of guys.....we have looked around but i guess most tend to show the down side to it, i was hoping that anyone on this forum may have had 1st hand experiences. Thanks for your response.
I'm really sorry you haven't had any more information out of the site. It's not really on is it your oncologist not giving you the information you need. Can you explain you need to know more and if he's unable to give you a fuller picture could you call on another doctor in the same hospital - or even a 2nd opinion. I was told a week back that my hospital would arrange a second opinion if I ever wanted one.
The trouble with health advice these days is that they always give you the worst-case scenario just to protect themselves from legal action if things go wrong.
Perhaps Ruth Payne, the nurse at Ovacome could help you - or if she doesn't know the answer she may be able to recommend someone who does.
Best of luck with this. It's a worrying time for you. Let us know how you're getting on.
xxx best wishes, Annie
Hi, I had and still have a uretic stent (not sure if its the same as Kidney stent) but it is in the tube from kidney to bladder. I did initially get the feeling of needing to pee more but have got used to it, so far I have not had any infections and have my stent replaced am on my second one. Hope this helps. Tess x
Cheers Tess and yeah it would be a uretic stent.....i am glad that you have got used to it and it appears that all is ok with it.
Our concern is that the Onc 'appears' to want the stent in (even though renal function is currently normal) in case she gets an infection....and that could effect her on a phase 1 trial he is goint to offer.
Another thing is she is allergic to normal metals i.e nickel, and from what we can gleam, permanent stents are nickel based, so thats a whole lot of trouble just wating to happen, if indeed they are actually nickel based.
Its all still a bit iffy......thanks a lot for the feedback.
Hello
I'm surprised that you have not been offered more information, preferably from a urologist who would specialise in such matters. Any foreign "object" for want of a better word can lead to urinary tract infections and/or the need to urinate more often.This would be temporary. Normally kidney stents would be replaced every 4-6 months. If they stay in longer, it could lead to kidney stones (which happened to my sister this year). You can get permanent metal stents but these are not recommended for those who are prone to kidney stones. It does sound strange that your Onc wants to take this course of action given that your wife doesn't have any kidney problems. I would ask the Onc what your wife's keratin levels are in order to establish normal kidney function. I hope this helps.
SA100
Hi and thanks for your response. We dont yet have her last bloods etc, but I know from the Onc's letter that 'todays bloods are satisfactory with normal renal function'.. so no problems (on paper) there.
He is looking to pre-empts any renal problems, which on the one hand is all fine and dandy, but on the other is a potential recipe for problems anyway. On top of the fact i think having a permanent stent put in 'just in case', is an unncessary thing to do.
My gut feeling as to why he wants a stent in, is my wife is due to go on a phase 1 trial, as yet undetermined, and he wouldnt want anything to interfere with this.
We are going to ring the hospital tomorrow to see exactly why they want this done etc etc.....as i mentioned earlier my wife is allergic to any non-precious metal (which means i cant fob her off with cheap jewellery) so the metal stent is just asking for trouble.
Hi
I have had a uretic stent since last December. It is made of plastic and has to be changed every 6 months (tho mine was only changed for the 1st time last week - over 10 months). The reason that I had to have it done was because my kidney was swelling up with urine and so it was concluded the tumors must be pressing on the urethra.
I have not had any infections and I have not noticed that I am needing to pee more frequently. It does not give me any pain either (but maybe you do with a metal stent). However when you first have it done it is a very funny feeling and you do feel that you need to 'go' more often, but its a bit like having a urine infection in that you don't really need to go and don't really pass much water. This settles down after a week or so.
I wonder if you could request to have the plastic type stent used in order to alleviate your concerns about the metal one?
Vx
Hi ya and thanks for your response....yeah i guess we could have the plastic one but as you say this is designed for short term use.
I do think she has a bit of urine in her kidney but i would have thought that a quick catheter would alleviate that instead of going down this route. She has had so much done to her that i am against unnecessary procedures, especially when they dont have the good grace to actually run them past us properly in the 1st place.
All that said....it is good to hear that you dont actually have any problems as such with it........
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