I was diagnosed with a kidney stone after sudden and incapacitating pain in my lower back forced me to halt the workday on Tuesday afternoon. After quick thinking and solid health judgment, an ambulance was called to the scene and I eventually spent that night and the last two days in St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital, the local hospital here in the city. The stone, more like a rounded grape seed, with a few jagged edges, was removed from my urinary tract by natural means early this afternoon. For a few moments there I was mentally preparing to remain in the hospital for as long as necessary, and / or have the pesky foreign object removed by a urologist. Thanks to all the wonderful hospital staff – everyone from the ambulance personnel and first responders on the scene in a retail parking lot who transported me, to the housekeeping workers, medical interns, nursing staff on the ward, the on-call doctors in the ER, and of course the very patient urologist who assured me that this was a common occurrence and very treatable. Let’s just say it’s been a tedious and “tender” time around the ranch here the last 72 hours or so… ~cg.
Holding the 4mm kidney stone in a specimen cup after it was removed by natural methods from my urinary tract at St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital in Newburgh, NY on Thursday, April 14, 2011.
Chet Gordon resides in the lower Hudson Valley region of New York. A photojournalist for more than 25 years, he recently worked as Westchester Magazine's first photo editor, and previously was a staff photographer at four NYC metro area newspapers. He was also a photo editor at the NY Daily News for 5 years. His work has appeared in The New York Times, International Herald-Tribune, USA Today, MailOnline (UK), Army Times, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Popular Photography magazines, among others. He is a career member of the National Press Photographer’s Association (NPPA), and a former board member of the NY Press Photographer’s Association (NYPPA). He served honorably as a U.S. Marine in the mid-1980's, including 2+ years stationed on Okinawa, Japan, and throughout Southeast Asia. A longtime volunteer and travel enthusiast, he accompanies several humanitarian aid clients on their international disaster relief and medical missions. Since 1997, he's worked in several African countries, the Middle East, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, as well as Afghanistan, Haiti, the Russian Federation, and Thailand. He routinely mentors young photographers looking to break into the industry and vacations in Bermuda and Kenya.
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