r/talesfromtechsupport • u/Mad_Aeric • Sep 06 '26
Short Post-Operative Tech Support
This happened to me last week. The tech support itself is a bit of a nothingburger, but the circumstance around it are kinda wild.
I have unfortunately been afflicted with kidney stones. I don't recommend it, go drink some water. I've had a couple surgeries for them, most recently a week ago.
I was just barely coming out of anesthesia in the recovery room, the world hadn't even turned the lights on for a whole two minutes when I see two nurses huddled over the computer in the room, eyes practically touching the screen. And then I hear one say something about how even that close, the text is too small to make out.
I immediately slur out, while drooling on myself, "With most applications, ctrl plus, and ctrl minus, will change the font size. Ctrl zero usually sets it to default.
I don't know why they listened to me in that state, I wouldn't have listened to me, I was out of it. But they did, and the problem was resolved.
I then proceeded to pee myself in front of them.
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u/Arokthis Sep 06 '26
Greetings, fellow pebble pisser. May your recovery be swift, your path be clear, and your opioid constipation be brief.
They probably listened because the drugs canceled your mental filters. A lot of people get a surprising level of clarity in their thinking when they are otherwise befuddled by chemistry. In vino veritas. and all.
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u/unus-suprus-septum Sep 06 '26
Urologist told a friend with kidney stones, if people drank more water I'd be out of a job
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u/Stryker_One The poison for Kuzco Sep 08 '26
I drink a shit ton of water, still got a kidney stone. Worst pain of my life. On the other hand, Toradol is AWESOME.
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u/IntelligentLake Sep 06 '26
I believe this is called 'dinner and a show' in a way, and 'tit for tat', since everyone got to do something related to their job.
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u/Agret Sep 06 '26
The other shortcut that could work is shift + mouse wheel or Ctrl+shift+mouse wheel depending on the app
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u/Mad_Aeric Sep 06 '26
That's probably how they got into that situation in the first place. It's a lot easier to do that by accident than hitting ctrl- a bunch of times.
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u/GloriouslyGrimGoblin Sep 06 '26
Or having a heavy binder lying right next to the keyboard, slightly overlapping it and continuosly pressing down the ctrl key.
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u/Minflick Sep 08 '26
I've done that more than once. But that also made the screen 'stutter' visually, so I KNEW something was wrong, even if I didn't know what yet!
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u/honeyfixit It is only logical Sep 06 '26
I had three in a row over three months and then had the stent taken out in the office. That was the worst part
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u/Mad_Aeric Sep 06 '26
They had me remove my own stents. Uncomfortable, but not too bad once I knew what to expect after the first one.
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u/Harry_Smutter Sep 06 '26
Um, what!? O_o My wife and her parents get them (parents more so). I can't imagine one of them taking out their own stent. That sounds horrifying.
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u/Mad_Aeric Sep 06 '26
It's not really an option for women. I think it's because of the short urethra. For men, they can leave a string hanging out of you, and when you're done with the stent, a long steady pull will get it out. It's uncomfortable, like pulling out a big splinter, but it beats taking a trip to the hospital to have it done.
The first time, it was pretty intimidating, because the string was cutting into me a bit, and I was afraid of how much it would hurt if I kept pulling. But the thing starts sliding before it gets worse than a bad pinch.
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u/Harry_Smutter Sep 06 '26
That's wild. Thanks for the info!! I hope your stone situation gets better.
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u/WhenSummerIsGone Sep 06 '26
let me tell you about the practice called "sounding"...
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u/Harry_Smutter Sep 06 '26
The...what??
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u/Mad_Aeric Sep 06 '26
People sticking stuff up their urethra for sexual pleasure. I accept that it exists, but want nothing to do with it.
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u/Harry_Smutter Sep 06 '26
Ohhh, that. Didn't know what it was called, haha. I'm in the same boat as you with that. That's an exit only unless medically necessary 😂
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u/Mad_Aeric Sep 06 '26
People treat it like it's some horrifying thing that they can shock people with. I don't quite get that, I'm more of a "no thanks, have fun, play safe" attitude.
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u/General_Report Sep 06 '26
I'm a woman and have chronic kidney stones. I also have very narrow ureters (as well as an anaphylactic allergy to flomax). I have had stents placed after each of my multiple surgeries, sometimes even bilaterally. I have ALWAYS had to remove them myself at home, by the same external strings you're referencing. I feel you, the pain is brutal
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u/Mad_Aeric Sep 06 '26
Huh. I was just informed the other day that they don't do that for women (my mother is now in the hospital for stones). Maybe it depends on the hospital.
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u/General_Report Sep 06 '26
Not sure, maybe depends on the country? I'm in the US and have been treated by different hospitals/urologists and they all placed stents.
This is also personal anecdotal experience and I just assumed it was standard ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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u/Golden_Apple_23 22d ago
hilariously when they pulled mine out it was like pulling the rip cord on a stunt bike!
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u/ProfessionalBear4509 Sep 06 '26
Kidney stones are the WORST! Sending you positive healing energy. (Drinking water as I type.)
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u/Mad_Aeric Sep 06 '26
I'm fully recovered now, but now my mother is in the hospital with stones. And my uncle was in for that earlier this week. We've all had stones before, but it's weird that it all piled up at once.
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u/KelemvorSparkyfox Bring back Lotus Notes Sep 06 '26
"Piled up" is an unfortunate phrase to use in this context.
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u/ALazy_Cat Oh God How Did This Get Here? Sep 07 '26
I can't recommend broken collarbone combined with crushed ligament
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u/Blizerwin Sep 06 '26
Lol. Had a similar situation. Was in the wake up room. Some stupid sounding stuff with the keyboard .. don't remember more, But ye .. kept my mouth shut. Although I knew some one who worked in the it in that hospital. I think my mind went from, plug the keyboard in and out to, call the tech guys then
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u/DeciduousEmu Sep 06 '26
Thanks so much for. I literally laughed out loud and then read the story to my wife. She also laughed out loud.
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u/Expensive-Wedding-14 Sep 06 '26
I am a coffee drinker (doppio breve cortado) and, as for many of us, probably don't drink enough water. I had kidney stones twice, went to emergency for pain, but passed them okay. That was 25 years ago.
Then, just recently, I thought I was having intense interstitial cystitis. Emergency did imaging and revealed a golf ball bladder stone, banging around. They used an outpatient laser lithotripsy to chip it away and flush it, using a catheter procedure.
Darned urologist from 15 years ago took the earlier pain as indication to "prove" that I had cancer and he wanted to get right in there to cut on me. Because of his outstanding boat payment, he didn't do proper diagnosis or any imaging, so I tried to treat this wholisticly for 15 years. Idiot!
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u/Ha-Funny-Boy Sep 07 '26
Once after surgery I was in recovery and asked the nurse if she had any grape juice. She asked me why I wanted it.
I said "I am nauseated and am going to throw up. The grape juice won't stop me from throwing up, but it will make it taste better."
She laughed and said if I was able to make jokes, I was good enough to go back to my room.
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u/Minflick Sep 08 '26
I had a surgery at age 55 that left me green with nausea during recovery. Apparently laughably so. It took hours longer than expected for the nausea to go away. So, NOW? I tell all and sundry that general anesthesia makes me really nauseated, so please allow for that. Since 55, I've had knee replacement surgery, broken ankle surgery, carpal tunnel release, and a pacemaker installed. I was VERY vocal about the nausea every single time, and what DO you know... No nausea. I've thanked the team over and over again for not subjecting me to that. It's not hard to do as long as you tell them!
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u/Filosifee Sep 06 '26
That final line sent me. This is golden