The Absolutely Massive Kidney Stone I passed yesterday

[u/Bronxanator]

A let's say... interesting thing to witness come out of your body.

Edit to address some FAQs:

I am okay. Honestly I was only in severe pain one day.

Yes it hurt. Mostly when it was moving from the kidney to the bladder

I hydrate well at a minimum of 64 oz of water per day.

I had a full metabolic work up after my first kidney stone and the best the urologist could tell me was it's stress related.

I used a strainer, I didn't reach into the toilet.

Dimensions are roughly 15mm x 5 mm x 4.5mm at the thickest region.

[u/humsterdaddy]

Probably American. I have Medullary Sponge Kidney so my kidneys are the perfect shape to constantly form stones no matter what I do but I don’t have insurance because my employer doesn’t subsidize the cost so it’s $600/mo. I passed a 7mm one earlier this year. My doctors also won’t stop calling and mailing letters to come in because I’m supposed to go every 6 months but I can’t afford to until I find a new job but the job market is horrendous right now. 😭

[u/Aggressive-Sort-115 → u/humsterdaddy]

Starbucks has insurance for part time employees, 20 hrs a week is all you need

[u/ifnotthefool → u/Aggressive-Sort-115]

What a nightmare to have to worry about.

[u/dan420 → u/Aggressive-Sort-115]

Really? Guess I’ll be doing that this winter

[u/Ready_Nature → u/[deleted]]

How are they legally charging more for preexisting conditions? That’s been banned since the ACA went into effect.

[u/two-of-me → u/Ready_Nature]

You are correct. I worked at Starbucks for seven years with a preexisting condition and my premiums were the same as everyone else’s. That said, working there was miserable and I was only there for the insurance but I couldn’t take it anymore so now I work for myself and pay out of my ass for insurance from the marketplace.

[u/rampant_shenanigans → u/Ready_Nature]

Trump admin is trying real hard to get rid of the aca

[u/CupcakeAteMyFaceOff → u/[deleted]]

I work closely with medical insurance (medical claims denial specialist) and I feel like you are grossly misunderstanding something that you know little about. I can't tell you what exactly is going on in your specific circumstance, but there is SO much here that is incorrect, illegal, or horribly vague. (Last paragraph regarding the ACA is a absolutely wrong)

What could be happening is Starbucks is offering an option for a short term medical plan, or limited benefit plan. These are plans that are not governed by the ACA and can do many of the things you're asserting. However, these are not "major medical" plans. They can't even legally call themselves health insurance. IMO they're scams of sorts.

I won't really interact in regards to this subject further, as this really feels like laymen who thinks they know better than the experts because they have "lived experience".

[u/CallMeTheHyacinthGrl → u/[deleted]]

In some state if you’re not full time you don’t get insurance and guess how many people are full time? Maybe the gen manager

[u/DirectorOfBaztivity → u/Aggressive-Sort-115]

This sentence is unbelievably out of touch and if you aren’t being disingenuous I think you really need some introspection about how naive you are.

[u/FineAd2230 → u/DirectorOfBaztivity]

i mean honestly if they're living off savings its not a terrible plan it would be less money then i would earn on unemployment but for a lack of kidney stones i might tighten the belt so to speak

[u/AgentCirceLuna → u/DirectorOfBaztivity]

Redditors trying not to make everything miserable.

Dude it’s a good idea. If they can’t, they can’t. They didn’t make a moralextraction from that like saying ‘it’s your fault’ or thing

[u/DirectorOfBaztivity → u/AgentCirceLuna]

Hilarious fucking brain worm moment that makes people judge things based on positivity and no other metrics

[u/AgentCirceLuna → u/DirectorOfBaztivity]

no cuz gna b rl gng chat gm fn fryd bt 2 crp mislf wt t whl crw lafn no cap man gt crng ahh fn bg fal off nds 2 b fkn stdid 🥀 💀bruh

[u/DirectorOfBaztivity → u/AgentCirceLuna]

Explain how you think working 20 hours a week at Starbucks and paying for medical care and rent works out

Oh wait you can’t but you want to criticize me for “being miserable” by pointing out the naivety of hand waving the economic reality of having a medical issue in America

Don’t worry about actually explaining, you have your high horse

[u/AgentCirceLuna → u/DirectorOfBaztivity]

I’m not saying it isn’t a problem. I’m saying it’s one solution for someone to work there if they’re already struggling to pay for insurance, which would possibly indicate they’re not making much more than a barista anyway, so it could be helpful advice. You’re using me as a strawman of what you assume your enemies think or something idk.

The fact is that most people won’t ever admit a person isn’t responsible for all the shitty things capitalism causes -they’ll say ‘you’re just making excuses’ and call the person a loser. That’s unfortunate but it’s the world we live in because people are stupid.

[u/DirectorOfBaztivity → u/AgentCirceLuna]

What the fuck do you think “paying for insurance” means? It’s usually through employer and the hard part is still MAKING COPAYS

Which is going to be next to impossible on a part time job.

You seem naive and childish when you pretend the “solutions” like these hold any water whatsoever.

[u/AgentCirceLuna → u/DirectorOfBaztivity]

I wish your insurance covered the anger management course you clearly need.

[u/validparking → u/Aggressive-Sort-115]

and they do still charge $500/mo for the plan

[u/Fantastic_Teach_3666 → u/Aggressive-Sort-115]

Thats why they only give most employees 19 hours a week lol

[u/texture__pack → u/Aggressive-Sort-115]

If I put you down as a reference does that mean they’ll give me the job because you make it sound so simple

[u/gr8whitehype → u/Aggressive-Sort-115]

And you’re still stuck with a 1k hospital bill after you have a surgeon laser them out. How many 20 hour weeks do you need to work at Starbucks in order to pay that?

[u/90sKid1988 → u/Aggressive-Sort-115]

So you make $12/hour and get $100 deducted per paycheck for insurance? Lol great

[u/exhentai_user → u/90sKid1988]

Only $100? Lol I have medium okay health insurance and my company pays over half of it, and it's still more than $100 a month for just me.

[u/mommymary → u/exhentai_user]

Tbf paychecks are weekly at Starbucks so it very well could be $100 per paycheck lol

[u/MrDryGuy_ → u/humsterdaddy]

'murica, hell yeah

[u/guywithoutanaccount → u/humsterdaddy]

Im so sorry that sucks

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[u/AgentCirceLuna → u/humsterdaddy]

Yman I’d be trying my own freaking experimental treatments like blasting ultrasound into my abdomen or drinking diluted magnetic fluid then rubbing a neodymium magnet all over myself so it crushes the stone inside me

[u/NeedleworkerLow1100 → u/humsterdaddy]

You have MSK? I've never "met" another person with it. And yes the US system SUCKS. People/Patients are commodities to be used to make money.

[u/humsterdaddy → u/NeedleworkerLow1100]

Yeah! I didn't even know I had it until I was maybe 35. I had been passing kidney stones my whole life. I didn't realize that's what it was until I ended up in the ER with one stuck in my ureter and they did a CT scan. It's funny because I had gone to a urologist a few times prior for issues with passing tiny stones that they assumed were just bladder stones and they never once thought to take a look at my actual insides. I've never "met" anyone else with it either! High five!

[u/Ok_Cryptographer3979 → u/humsterdaddy]

Add fresh lemon to your water. The citrate chelates the calcium. Thank me later. Source: EM doc 

[u/Snoo_75138 → u/humsterdaddy]

Relax man, I heard Trump is gonna make y'all "Great Again"

[u/PerscriptionGrudge → u/humsterdaddy]

USPS is always hiring

[u/Puzzled-Cranberry-12 → u/humsterdaddy]

I’m curious how you got that diagnosis? Ultrasound? I’ve formed and passed a handful of stones over the past few years☹️