My deepest condolences, BOTR. I know there is nothing that can truly alleviate your pain, but I will leave you with the positive attitude of Epicurus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicurus
He suffered from kidney stones, [2] to which he finally succumbed in 270 BCE [3] at the age of 72, and despite the prolonged pain involved, he wrote to Idomeneus:
I have written this letter to you on a happy day to me, which is also the last day of my life. For I have been attacked by a painful inability to urinate, and also dysentery, so violent that nothing can be added to the violence of my sufferings. But the cheerfulness of my mind, which comes from the recollection of all my philosophical contemplation, counterbalances all these afflictions. And I beg you to take care of the children of Metrodorus, in a manner worthy of the devotion shown by the young man to me, and to philosophy. [4]