my deepest commiserations. i've had half a dozen over the last seventeen years. it's unquestionably the most painful thing i've ever experienced. the first one had me in the hospital for a long opiated weekend. (my nurse described it as "sort of like giving birth to a bowling ball. . . with a railroad spike in it.") at the end of which they had to go in after it. like with yours, my doctors didn't have to cut any new holes in my body to get it out. all the others passed, all were excrucicating, all but the last -- about four years ago -- required a trip to the emergency room for pain meds. the last one passed with the assistance of a handful of percodan and six liters of water which flushed the thing out overnight. damn! makes me shiver just thinking about it.

there are a bunch of difference causes and different chemistries to stones. mine were caused by a weird spongiform architecture in the plumbing of my kidneys; their composition was calcium oxalate. as far as prevention goes: i've tried lemon juice, lime juice, vinegar, garlic, avoiding dairy products (calcium), avoiding foods high in oxalates -- none of which seemed to make much difference for my particular stones. since the last one, i've been drinking large quantities of water and eating pretty much what i like and haven't had a recurrence. don't know why, but so far. . . so far. while i don't dismiss lemon juice or garlic or anything else that anyone has found helpful, i also recommend a substantial increase in consumption of plain old water.

take care.

michael