The Argyle Sweater by Scott Hilburn for February 22, 2023

Say Doc, just how big is that stone??!!

A friend took a bunch of calcium supplements for years and got a calcium kidney stone.

At first I thought this cartoon was meant to parody one of the miracles that Moses performed:

“And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his rod twice, and water came forth abundantly …”

maybe the stone is precious, precious, precious!

There’s an 80% chance of passing a 4 mm stone, but a 20% chance of passing a 5 mm stone. Either way, they hurt.

I had four 4 mm stones, and Flomax, ibuprofen, and Lasix did the job each time, and diet changes (plus stopping one med that causes stones, drat it!) came thereafter. The 10 mm that was going to need lithotripsy was the one I didn’t get to schedule, as COVID-19 scotched that one. It wasn’t obstructing anything, and oddly enough, it broke up on its own. We found that out with the CT scan done when I was so very ill almost a year ago. Flomax really helps.

This is no way to get stoned.

George Harrison was wrong when said all things must pass!

Kidney stones are very painful!

This is not what he had expected. He had passed a kidney stone before and thought he would hear the words, “This too shall pass.”

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Kidney Stone.

It’s to repair an old injury… from when you were a kid and a stone hit your knee.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate…

I’ve had 3 kidney stones and a few bouts of kidney sand. Absolutely miserable. I drink a lot of water now and have had no more incidents.

I don’t think anyone who has ever had one would say “It’s just a kidney stone.”

He could always have it shattered ……

I’ve had two, both at inopportune times. But they were nothing compared to my ol’ dad. He had his on D-Day of Iwo Jima. He returned to duty on the second day to make landings that delivered Marines to the beachhead.

You CAN get blood from a stone after all.

Sorry, but I cannot let an error this egregious stand uncorrected: “Stormcrow” was a derisive name applied to Mithrander by Grimma Wormtongue; the diploma should read “Gandolf Greyhume”.

Shall I schedule the surgery Mr. Balrog?

To date, I have not encountered kidney stones, and I pray I never will.

Been there, done that. This time last year, almost to the day, I ended up in ER because of excruciating pain.My doc and two docs in urgent care just gave me pain pills. At 1:00 AM, I put on my shoes and jacket (in my jammies) and drove to the hospital. I was in a bed before I could even sit down after checking in. First they gave me some regular pain meds in the IV. Nothing. Then morphine. Nothing. Finally they added laudanum. Relief at last! That’s when they sent me for an MRI and an hour later Dr Surgery came in told me I’d be in the operating room soon.

At 3AM, I got at text from my husband asking where I was. I just texted back HOSPITAL. He aske WHY. I said PAIN.Then he called and said he heard the garage door open but just went back to sleep. The take away from that is if I’m ever kidnapped in the middle of the night, don’t ask him for descriptions of the kidnappers. I can just hear it now. “Well, officer, I heard some scuffling and a noise but went back to sleep.”

He leaves for work at 3:15 AM I thought there was no point in waking him up. I told him to just go to work and when he got home at 12:30 PM, to just ask our cat sitter across the street to take him to the hospital so he could drive me home in my truck. I had three procedures two weeks apart. Good times.

I had the same thing happen 4 yrs ago but had just one procedure.

Gandalf the Gastroenterologist

Let fly, you fool!

Gandalf had to pass the stone of Orthanc.

It must be one of those Balrog stones.

Just have an MRI … the banging will pulverize it and you can watch it go on the DVD.

whoa. kidney stones spell khazad-dûm…

I passed one back in 1967. I had no idea what was happening, just that it had never happened before. Fortunately I was at the doctor’s office, producing a urine sample. I came out of the rest room and told the doctor that there was something extra in the sample. Uncomfortable? Yes. Painful, no. It was just the introduction to the wonders of my system.

It ought to be The Staff of Aesculapius!

Used to have a problem with kidney stones. I haven’t had them since I started either eating a clementine (or similar size, easy peel) orange or drinking orange juice each morning.