My daughter told me about a colleague of hers who had bladder cancer and was pissing clots of blood. He is now totally cured, apparently, by a remarkable procedure. His bladder was deliberately infected with TB bacteria and when all the cancer cells were infected, then they whacked in the antibiotics and killed the tumour. Assuming she got that right, that's an amazing procedure. For the duration of his bladder having TB, he was instructed to piss into containers that were then sealed and destroyed by the hospital. For him to piss into the lavatory and it then be treated by the sewage works would have been a source of TB infection, it seems.
For my part, I have an appointment with the surgeon on 21st Aug to discuss the procedure. I am drinking lots of water trying to shift this thing naturally. However, I have been told to expect lots of pain, fever, nausea, shaking etc. should it move. The lady I spoke to at the urology clinic today told me of another patient who passed a stone that was 1cm in diameter. Mine is "borderline for its size in terms of whether it will be passed without any medical intervention". I find it quite remarkable that it was formed in my kidney and has moved to where it is, without me having suffered any pain at all - unless it can be confused with sciatica, or whether the fact that I have had sciatica means that I am far less sensitive to pain. I find that unlikely.
Ouch.