Twice in three days I have experienced excruciating pain in my lower back that lasted about an hour. The first time I experienced it, I went to my family doctor who basically said that the pain was non-specific, that it described several scenarios, and since that I'm young the best approach would be the "wait and see" approach.
Well this morning after my second experience with the back pain, I called my doctor's office who said there was nothing they could do on a weekend and if I wanted to I could go to the ER. My wife drove me to the ER where they ran a urine test and a CT scan.
The urine test detected a trace amount of blood, but the CT scan came up negative for kidney stones. The doctor gave me a referral to a urologist for further testing. The ER doctor suspects that I may have already passed the stone, or that I'm in the 10% of which the CT scan doesn't detect the stone.
I did a search on APC for kidney stones and read some testimonials, and I've got to be honest I'm pretty darn scared right now. Not so much about the pain that I'll have to endure if I do in fact have a stone (not that I'm looking forward to it), but about the hoops I'll have to go through to get a medical certificate when I'm due up for it again.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but according to what I've read on AOPA, once the stone is passed I can return to work (CFI) without having to immediately notify the FAA or my AME. I'll have to report it on my next medical though and provide a status report administered by my urologist that was done in the last 90 days.
For you guys that have gone through this before or are familiar with the matter, what is the first step as far as the FAA and medical is concerned. If this turns up positive for kidney stones or something worse (God I hope not) what is the first step I need to take before jumping into the cockpit again?
I'm praying rather heavily that there's not a stone, but all signs are pointing that way. The earliest I could get in to see the urologist would be Tuesday since it's Memorial day weekend.
I'm already discouraged enough since I keep getting hired by airlines only to have classes canceled. This is the last thing I want to go through right now.
For the record, I don't plan on flying until after I see the urologist.