CHAPTER 32

Original (Published in "Lun's World"): 2005-08-01

Revised: 2025-10-06

Lun has never liked drinking plain water and has always loved cheese — and in the end, he developed kidney stones.

Life is full of coincidences. That very Sunday, I was meeting with an old friend who had just returned from Hong Kong and a senior member from church. We happened to talk about Lun’s depression three years earlier (in 2002), and the night I had to drive him to the hospital emergency room to help calm him down. Ironically, that very night after our reunion, Lun was again sent to the same emergency ward — but this time, not for depression, but for kidney stones.

Kidney stones at such a young age? Indeed, that was the case.

That weekend, I had already noticed that Lun’s urine sometimes had a reddish tint. Yet he seemed perfectly fine — no fever, no stomachache, and his appetite was normal. I wondered whether he had eaten something with artificial coloring or if it was a urinary infection. When we left our friend’s home that night, I was planning to take him to the doctor the next morning.

To help him urinate smoothly, I made him drink more water that night. If he did have an infection, drinking water would help flush it out. He had always preferred Sprite or 7-Up, and would never drink plain water on his own.

Around midnight, Lun went to the washroom. A short while later, he called out to me. When I went in, he grabbed my hand tightly and pressed it against his lower abdomen. He was clearly in excruciating pain — his face pale, his body bent over, his forehead covered in sweat. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, we immediately called an ambulance. At his own request, and for safety, I gave him some pain relief medication before the paramedics arrived.

At the hospital, the doctor needed a urine sample for testing. We wondered how he could manage that in such pain. We gently told him that once he provided the sample, we could go home. He gritted his teeth, stood up, and went to the washroom. The test result confirmed blood in the urine but no bacterial infection, which suggested the bleeding was caused by kidney stones scraping the urinary tract. The doctor explained that the pain from passing a stone could be worse than childbirth. Looking at Lun, we wondered how he could possibly endure it.

It seemed he understood how serious it was, and that everyone was trying to help him. Apart from occasionally asking to go home, he cooperated well. He received two injections for pain and did not resist. Once the pain subsided, he rested quietly in the emergency room. By dawn, the doctor arranged for an ultrasound in the afternoon, so we brought him home to rest first.

During the ultrasound, Lun was unusually calm. The results showed two stones in his right kidney and one smaller stone on the left, which might pass naturally if he drank enough water. A follow-up with our family doctor confirmed the same. Kidney stones are formed from calcium deposits that fail to pass through the kidneys, while gallstones are mostly fatty substances accumulating in the gallbladder. The doctor prescribed a mild sedative just in case.

That week, we encouraged him to drink plenty of water, hoping he could pass the stones. Yet we also feared the pain returning, so we proceeded cautiously. He experienced three painful episodes, each less severe than the last. After another week without pain, we finally breathed a sigh of relief.

(Postscript: In 2005, Lun was 19 years old. By the end of this year, he’ll be nearly 39 — meaning this kidney stone has been with him for almost twenty years.)