Hi, Daryl!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

AH>  We owe a lot to advances in modern medicine. I reckon
AH>  there is more to the story than that, however.

DS>  They've made a lot of advances in medical fields...
DS>  to where surgery isn't as invasive.


          Yes.  It's also more practical to consider surgery as a last
resort because we're living in the "Information Age".

 1)  Countless books about health & medicine are available in paperback.

 2)  For $25 a year I can get a card which allows me to use all the libraries
     on a local university campus, including the medical library.

 3)  With a card from the public library & an internet connection I can refer
     to a catalogue which has listings for every branch in the system.  I can
     order something from the main branch downtown & pick it up within a week
     at whichever of the other branches I specify.

 4)  With just an internet connection I can find out what the key ingredients
     are in the vast majority of kidney stones & which foods contain them.  I
     already knew the first part.  The second took Dallas less than a minute.


          I'm not suggesting you replace your doctor(s).  What I'm suggesting
is that the more we know, the more effectively we can work with doctors.  :-)



AH>  Sounds to me as if you've been having such attacks for
AH>  awhile. Can you get your kidney stones analyzed?

                            [...]

DS>  It ended up being 4 trips to the Emergency Room within
DS>  a week...3 before kidney stone surgery, and 1 a day
DS>  after I was released, because I had developed a fever.
DS>  I'm back home, and am free of the stint and catheter,
DS>  which made things very uncomfortable, to say the least.


          Glad to hear you're feeling better now!  You've had a rough
time... and I imagine you'd prefer *not* to go through the same again if
there is any reasonable way to avoid it or at least postpone it
indefinitely.  Maybe there is.  I'm watching for indications, however, that
you're ready to learn more & from that standpoint I'm wondering why you
didn't answer my question....  ;-)



DS>  I was told to drink plain water, but that doesn't set
DS>  well with me. However, I do enjoy the "Crystal Clear"
DS>  flavored water...and have drank 2 quarts of that today.


          Sounds like a reasonable compromise... but I'm unfamiliar with
this brand & I don't know what's used to flavour it.  AFAIC the basic
principle is that, when the kidneys need plenty of fluid, anything which
contains sugar or caffeine or alcohol usually doesn't count because it
might add to the load on them.  If I were you I'd read the list of
ingredients very carefully....  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+