C-flat...did Julie keep her stones? Ultrasound showed I've quite a few myself and I heard somewhere that depending on the composition they can be quite pretty. Yeah, right. Still, I have a friend who is very interested in all things medical and has made me promise to save one for her.

Nancy, it would seem that the practice of offering the offending kidney stones as a memento has been dropped, at least in our neck of the woods.
The surgeon at Woodlands hospital in Darlington showed them to her but said she wasn't allowed to take them.

Maybe he's keeping them all for himself and decorating lamps with them in his spare time!?!

Incidentally, after waiting for 9 months for her operation (the waiting time is officially 6-9 months in our area) the NHS paid for Julie (and others) to go to a private hospital in order to meet their waiting-list-targets.
We had already priced the private option at £3000, a non-starter for us, but apparently the NHS are better off paying for a block of patients to be dealt with by the private sector than face whatever penalties they may incur for not reaching their targets!
Wouldn't it be cheaper to invest in more staff and facilities?

Once again, good luck with yours, and a speedy recovery!

C-flat.