This kidney stone isn’t going anywhere on its own, so I have an appointment to have it removed. They’ll use a holmium laser to explode it (see excerpt and link below). If that fails, they will have the sonic lithotripter on hand to pulverize it with sound, and if that doesn’t get it, they have something else in mind, but I don’t know what it is.
Laser Physics & SafetyIn the case of urinary lithotripsy, the laser heats up and vaporizes water on the surface and within the calculus, the water expands and the expansion causes the calculus to disintegrate.
All in all, a fun day in store: I’ll of course spend most of it in an anesthesia-induced coma, but I’m sure there will be some enjoyable after affects.