Art's kidney X-rays

Here are the x-rays of Art's urinary tract trying to pass radioopaque fluid with a kidney stone blocking the left ureter. Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch. They were taken Sunday, Sept. 3, 2000, around 10-11 pm. He'd been having pain since around 6; we went to the hospital at 7, and he got some painkillers an hour or so later.

Art's right ureter, 15 minutes

This shows Art's right ureter 15 minutes after they injected the radioopaque liquid; his right kidney has started filtering it out and draining it to his bladder, exactly as it should -- the thin white line is the ureter, leading down through the belly towards the white ball, which is the bladder full of radioopaque fluid. The stone itself might be one of the little white blurs visible in the dark side of the bladder.

Art's blowout, 30 minutes

This picture is taken from the side. After thirty minutes, his left ureter still hasn't started to pass any of the radioopaque fluid. However, it shows how the pressure has built up to such an extent that there is a rupture where his ureter joins his kidney, and fluid is leaking down along the sides of his (greatly distended) left ureter, making two thin lines of white on either side, as well as the big splash of white up in his kidney area.

Art's left ureter, 1 hour

After an hour, some of the fluid has finally started down his left ureter, so we can see how inflated it is, 4-5 times the normal size. He's peed between the last picture and this, so there's hardly any liquid in the bladder.
The spiritually inclined may note that the Virgin Mary appears on the left, praying over Art's remaining good right kidney. There seems to be some kind of devil dog creature presiding over activities on his left.