@janemc First, sorry to hear about your husband's brother. Was he asymptomatic, like me?

Well, I did have a small kidney stone that painfully got my attention in 2009. I went to the E.R., not knowing what the source of pain was. I had thought it might be something else. When, after three hours of waiting in agony to see a doctor, he asked me what my symptoms were and I told him. He said, "You've got a kidney stone," gave me a packet of chewable pain reliever and sent me home with a prescription for Metformin. As soon as I got home, I looked up Metformin, read that it is known to cause FATAL lactic acidosis, then crumpled up the prescription and threw it in the trash. I then looked up "natural cures for kidney stones." The first thing I found was baking soda, i.e, sodium bicarbonate. I had been using it as a substitute for mouthwash and toothpaste for a year by then (still do), so I put a spoonful of it in a glass of water and drank it. An hour later, the pain had begun to subside, so I repeated this and went to bed. When I awoke, the pain was entirely gone and never returned. After that experience, I began a once weekly regimen of baking soda and water, just to ensure that no new stones would form. They haven't.