Dr. Christopher Aaron Winter, MD

i went to see him a few days back with a 12mm kidney stone. i had see the PA 5 days earlier. i have a long and gruelling history with kidney stone, i've had so many i've lost count and it never goes well but i've stuck with the same guy for over 30 years but he retired so i was assigned to dr winter. the pa gave me 20, 50mg tramadol. one every 6hrs so i could try and pass what we thought was a small one. we got the ct scan result the following monday, and found out it was 12mm nd sitting over area above the uretuer opening so there's no passing it. whenn i finally see dr winter a couple days later i explained what the pa tried because i pass one once in awhile. i told him i was waking up 3 or 4 times a night when i would be on my back because my left kidney area would be hurting so bad. i would roll over on my right and it would ease off after abit but since i sleep on my back it was just over and over. i been feeling sick to my stomach, passing blood, had a infection in my… kidney and over all just sick of hurting and thats what drove me into seeing him. he said we would bust it and maybe have to retrieve some parts via a basket. since i have had so mant i know what happens, at 263lbs the stone buster doesn't crush mine, they just bust into parts with little sediment left to pass. after that there's a good 75% chance that he is not done. things get really invasive because they are gonna go up and pull them out with a basket. then we get into the double j stint which i can't tolerate, it feels like it rubs me raw on the inside. i don't think i had one for over a week and they have to pull them out. after i thought i explained everything i ask for some pain meds to get me through until he could bust it. i told him my previous dr always gave me 5/325 oxycodone. i don't tolerate hydrocodone well, after about 2 days they make me so misserable and irratible that none one will come near me and i can't sleep on hydrocodone staying up for 26hr or more until i'm so tired i'm even feeling worse. so finally here's the rub. when i asked him for the pain meds he said and i quote=i don't give pain meds unless i do surgery. now if you are a old timer sufferer of stone you know how bad the pain can get and there's not much out there to stop it, and this man looked me right in the eye and told me to take tylenol or ibuprofen for the pain. if you are new to the stone game your pain meds are the difference in a tolerable experience and a nightmare. what happens when you start hurting because you can't pass the pieces and you end up in the emergency room with them going up your junk with a basket and you hope that you don't get scratched up or get a infection or another stone drops. so think about what you want in terms of quality care and a semi pain free experience. there's no excuse for a dr to let you hurt anymore than is necessary. for you to sit home even one day is bad enough but to wait for a appt on a stone buster which is anybodies guess is just not ethically right. As far as what kind of dr he is, you check out his where he went to school and the history of the med school he went to and decide for selves. i have no opinion of what he's like as a hands on doctor but i will say this again, your pain meds are your best friend and if you got a dr that won't give you pain meds before a surgery when you need them what makes you think he going to treat you right after because sometimes it takes more than 30 days to get right considering you are opening a can of worms when you let them bust them, you just never know when things are gonna go south and if you can't trust him to do whats right then i would concider other options