Sepsis -- your grandparents called it blood poisoning, and it's a nasty and often fatal condition. Treatment is arduous and often fails.
UNLESS you are treated with high-dose intravenous vitamin C (20,000 mg - 100,000 mg daily) or, many reports suggest, with 6 or so grams of lipospheric or liposomal vitamin C per day, orally.
ThIs link covers a bit of history on the use of vitamin C to cure scurvy and viruses, and contains two YouTube videos -- only one of which (the second one) is still available. The vid is well worth watching; it's about a family that saved their husband / father's life by fighting to get a hospital to give high-dose intravenous C to the patient, which was finally begun at the point where the hospital was planning to turn off his life support because he was at death's door and couldn't POSSIBLY get well. (The man had swine flu and leukemia, not sepsis).
Direct YouTube link for the embedded video: Vitamin C: the miracle Swine Flu cure
I was told that it was "probably" a result of rose hips being used as the source of C in the supplements. But this article (or was it another?) says there's no difference in the molecule between sources. So I don't know...
I manage the kidney stone problem with a daily 8-ounce glass of 7-Up, or, if the need is great, Crystal Lite lemonade mix. Both soft drinks have high amounts of potassium citrate, which chemically dissolves the stones. I still get them on occasion, but they are small and crumbly, generally, and easy to pass.
The monster stones are worse than terrible, but I haven't had one (knock on wood) in quite a while.
Glad to hear you've got things that greatly reduce the problem, and some people on this board might find the information helpful too. And, 7-Up and lemonade aren't the worst medicines I can think of . . .
You can see them on the inside of the glass when the liquid evaporates.