On Jan. 19th I went to the ER with severe pain in my lower left abdomen and after CAT scans was diagnosed with an 8mm stone in my urethra. The pain was unbearable after they put me on IV fluids bc the stone was blocking the passage of urine to my bladder. They gave me morphine, delauded, and some other narcotic cocktail and NOTHING helped. My urologist decided to put in a stent in order to relieve the pressure and hopefully allow me to pass the stone. Well I went for my follow-up today and he said the x-rays did not show a stone anywhere which means that either the stent broke up the stone or their is a 10% chance its made up of a material the x-ray doesn't pick up. He did say though that based on the pH level of my urine that the latter was a very slim chance. I will go back Thursday to have the stent removed and I will be very glad of it bc it makes me have frequent urges to void without a full bladder. Very annoying. That is just one way urologists handle kidney stones if they are to large to pass (up to 4mm is the largest). Good luck with yours. :) Oh and yes I had lots of infection behind the stone so I was put on antibiotics also.