On the Web Since 1997 An Educational Resource for Sufferers with Kidney Stones by Roger Baxter Seen by Over 3 Million Visitors
	A History of The Kidney Stone Web Site On a hot summer day in 1997 Janice,my wife, and I were working on our driveway constructing a "twig" arbor to frame the sidewalk to our front door from branches that I had trimmed off the oak trees in our yard. Late that afternoon we were near completing the project when I developed a pain in my lower back. At first I thought I had stained my back while stooping, reaching, pulling, tugging and wiring all those branches into place. The pain kept increasing. Finally it got to the point that I could not continue and I went inside to clean up and lie down to ease my back. But the pain would not go away and I became nauseous. I alternated between sweats and chills. It became so severe that I, someone who makes a point of not relying on doctors much, decided that whatever that pain was ... it was life threatening. By then it was just minutes before the local "doc in a box" closed at 9 PM. I felt too bad to drive, so Janice drove me there. They said they were closing and that we should go to the hospital emergency room. At the North Carolina Baptist Hospital emergency room I waited for well over two hours in agonizing pain thinking that I was about to die. And even after being taken into an exam area (a thin curtain away on one side from a gun shot victum being guarded by two policemen to prevent his escape and another thin curtain away from a psychiatric case on the other side) I was still given no pain reliever before getting a CAT scan ... after another wait of an hour or more. Then once the doctor was satisfied by the xrays that it was, indeed, a kidney stone ... just like they had suspected from the time I first explained my symptoms to the triage nurse, they ordered a pain killer shot. Since they knew that I wasn't really about to die (although it felt like it to me), they had placed my case further down their list of priorities than I would have. Of course, one shot was not enough to kill the pain, and the doctors waited between each additional shot to see if that would be enough to put me at ease. Finally, a little after midnight, I got some relief. The doctor gave me a prescription for powerful pain reliever tablets and sent me home with an appointment to come back in a few days to see one of their urologists. And they told me to drink lots of water and screen my urine to try to catch the stone when it did complete its passage. Over the next few days as I drank glass after glass of water and took my pain pills every few hours I turned to my laptop computer and searched the Internet for information about kidney stones. What I found was either too difficult to understand or filled with less than reliable information. So I gathered all the good information I could find and built my own web page with information about kidney stones. The first day it was online 17 people showed up to view the very first version of The Kidney Stone Web Site. I was amazed at its popularity. As I added infromation and features to the site, the visitors kept increasing. In the first 80 days online there were over 10,000 visitors! At times there have been over 3000 visitors in a single day. And at the time of this writing, about 5 years after it first appeared online, there have been over 2,000,000 visitors come to these pages for information about kidney stones. Even though I am not a medical professional, I have tried to supply good reliable information to help other kidney stone sufferers like myself understand their condition and learn how to work to prevent future kidney stone attacks. I get a constant stream of emails from visitors. Unfortunately I am unable to answer most of the messages on a timely basis, but I do appreciate all the "thank you" messages. And I try to answer other questions whenever I can to the best of my limited ability. Visitors should take the information they learn from this web site and seek professional medical attention if there is a question about their own or a loved one's personal health being at risk. Thank you for visiting The Kidney Stone Web Site! Roger Baxter
SITE CONTENTS • Why Be Concerned • Definition • Location • Causes • Symptoms • Eliminating the Stone • Lithotripsy • Surgery • Alternatives • Recurrance • Chemical Compostion • Prevention • Links to Related Sites • Visitor's Comments • Add Your Comments • Kidney Stone Books • History of 'The Kidney Stone Web Site" • About Roger Baxter • Other Web Sites by RB • Contact Roger Baxter • Suggest a Link • Privacy Policy Copyright 2002 Roger Baxter		Recommend this site to a friend. Just use this quick form: Your message: To help us prevent auto-bot spammers, please enter the answer to our Security Question: 1 + 4 = ? Security Answer: We value your privacy and will not use this information for any other purpose. See our Privacy Policy
		Disclaimer Data at this web site should be used for informational purposes only. It is not intended for treatment or diagnostic purposes. Individuals with specific questions should seek the advice of a physician.
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Links to Other Sections of The Kidney Stone Web Site • Why Be Concerned • Definition • Location • Causes • Symptoms • Eliminating the Stone • Lithotripsy • Surgery • Alternative Treatments • Recurrance • Chemical Compostion • Prevention • Links to Related Sites • Suggest a Link • Visitor's Comments • Add Your Comments • History of 'The Kidney Stone Web Site" • About Roger Baxter • Other Web Sites by RB • Email Roger Baxter • Privacy Policy • Kidney Stone Books Latest update August 2, 2002