Rocks And Rings

First and most importantly, Lucie was in the hospital for kidney stone surgery this morning (planned).  She had yet another whopper of a stone causing problems so the doctor came up with a new approach (versus the sonic blaster and pulling it out) - lasering.  He went in with a scope and a laser and like Captain Kirk in the Enterprise, he blasted it to smithereens.  He put a temporary stent in so the tube wouldn't swell shut and the meteorites will wash on out.  Took about 3 hours including prep time and recovery.  She was in good spirits afterwards.  A bit uncomfortable but not necessarily in pain from the procedure.  She goes back next week for them to pull out the stent.  (BTW - I asked the doc why they don't just leave it in and let future stones just pass on through.  Turns out the urine is full of calcium and it would clog up the stent.  I think I just found a new invention - the anti-clogging urethra stent.  Any volunteer test subjects?)

Meanwhile, Elliott is out in Anaheim, CA sightseeing and having a blast - and doing a little DECA competing as well.  He is representing Delaware in the national competition.  He ran into some future Boston College attendees out there and he is having fun.  Ashleigh is doing well on her finals and will be home in a week or two.

Now about the rings...  The top left image is what is left of my original wedding ring from 26 years ago.  It was pretty thin metal and broke so we had it cut and mounted on another band about 25 years ago.  The other day I pulled the sliding glass door shut a bit too hard and it mashed the ring, and the finger in it, pretty good.  The ring took the biggest hit and it squashed into an oblong shape.  I had to get pliers to just get it off but I couldn't get it back into shape.  So I did some digging and found that tungsten is about the strongest metal you can get and it is quite inexpensive.  So I went to a few jewelry stores but wound up finding that one in the lower right at Kohl's.  After using a 30% savings coupon, gift card, and other markdowns, I got it for 74% off!  It is thick and heavy which are terms I can identify with...