For the past month or so I’ve been battling a kidney stone.  On January 11, 2011 I had a CT scan done and this is what it showed (note:  the arrows are my own but based on the report the Urologist received):

The black arrow is pointing to the stone (3.5mm in size according to the report) itself in the distal right ureter and the blue arrow and circle are pointing to a slight edema which is preventing the stone from moving forward.

Fast-forward one month:  I think I passed the stone as I saw it leave my body.  I pulled it out of the strainer and dutifully placed it in a Ziploc for the Urologist at my next appointment.  For the next 24 hours, however, I’m finding it very uncomfortable to urinate and I have a weak stream.  As I looked, there was a larger piece of stone right at the external opening of my urethra.  After some trouble, it finally passed through.  Here’s the result:

Click Image to Enlarge

The larger stone is clearly bigger than 3.5mm and could cover Lincoln’s face on that penny.  I feel soooooo much better now, especially since I was looking at surgery to laser the stone.  It was explained that they could only use the shockwave treatment if the stone was visible on normal X-Ray, which mine was not (I’m wondering why, given the size of that thing).  Hopefully this is the end of the kidney stone saga.  Now I can get back to artwork and photography and not have to worry about how I was going to meet my deductible and still keep food in my belly.

Comments are welcome and encouraged.