A few weeks ago my husband and I were on a cruise in the Baltic Sea. Three days into the cruise I found myself in excruciating right-sided abdominal pain. I assumed that I had acute appendicitis. A quick thinking doctor aboard the ship ran some preliminary tests and concluded that I probably had a kidney stone; however, the doctor said I would need an ultra sound at the next port to confirm her guess. The next port was St. Petersburg, Russia. Once at the American Medical Clinic on shore, I was given an ultra sound and CT-scan and the results indicated that I had an 8mm kidney stone. (I later found out that a stone larger than 7mm was considered to be a large stone and would most likely not pass on its own.). The Russian physician indicated that treatment would require a surgical stent implant in order to provide comfort while the stone traveled from the kidney, into the ureter, then bladder, and ultimately out of the body.
Much to my amazement, I felt much better after the stent implant. My husband and I were even able to continue our vacation back on the cruise ship. Once I got back to the USA, my HMO physician did not recognize the urgency of the situation and the Russian protocol was not followed. A week later I found myself in another extreme situation with urinary frequency (sometimes every 5 minutes) and abdominal and back pain. Another CT scan confirmed that I still had the kidney stone (and possibly more — there were conflicting stories). Surgery for a stent replacement had been set, but was still 12 days away and I wasn’t feeling well. I contacted Dr. Hoang about all this. He recommended that I take some supplements that target kidney stones in hopes of having them either dissolve or pass. After the surgery for stent replacement, the treating urologist surprised me with 2 pieces of good news: 1) the stent did not need to be replaced after all, and 2) I had no kidney stones in my body as they had all dissolved or passed on their own. Although I still had to go through the surgery to have the Russian stent removed, I am convinced that it was Dr. Hoang’s protocol that enabled my body to rid itself of the kidney stone(s). It’s also possible that because I followed Dr. Hoang’s instructions that I didn’t need to have a replacement stent inserted (and ultimately removed, too). Now that all this is behind me, I feel terrific!
Thanks, Dr. Hoang. You’re the best!
Martina Randall
Rosamond, CA
