CHAPTER 55

2025-06-09

Lun had to be hospitalized for many days because of kidney inflammation. This time, I spent the longest time with him and got to know him better.

Lun has been eating cheese since he was a child and drinking water casually. My wife and I have never thought that insufficient water intake would lead to kidney stones. As a result, after he moved into a group home for people with special needs at the age of 19, calcium accumulated in his kidneys for many years finally turned into stones, which has been bothering him.

When the stones in the kidneys are discharged from the body through the urethra, the sharp stone crystals can cause level 10 pain when they wear the tube wall, which is one level higher than that of a pregnant woman giving birth. In order to eliminate the intermittent kidney stone pain, a urologist used a laser to break up the kidney stones a few months ago, but the effect was not satisfactory. So he did it again in late May and placed a catheter in the body to facilitate the discharge of stones.

Unexpectedly, it caused an infection in the body. Last Wednesday morning, he started to feel pain in his lower left abdomen, which lasted until about 4:30 in the morning. He had to be sent to the emergency room of the district hospital according to the protocol of the group home. After the group home changed hands, the new management received less funding and had limited staff, so they could not send someone to accompany him. After I was notified, I immediately went to the hospital for follow-up.

So far, Lun has been hospitalized for five days. Except for the few days when he was born in Hong Kong, this is the longest time he has been hospitalized. The doctor said that if Lun’s eating condition went well, he could be discharged from the hospital in one to two days. When I visited him yesterday Sunday morning, his whole appearance and spirit were much better than the previous night.

Since he was admitted to the hospital, he basically refused to eat the healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner provided by the hospital, including main dishes, soup, milk products, coffee and juice.

He only eats some biscuits and peanut butter. If this continues, the starvation will lead to another disease.

I didn't care about the difference between nutritious meals and snacks, and went to the supermarket to buy his favorite canned soda and miscellaneous food, including original potato chips with original taste, cheese sticks, corn chips, local made cookies (Lunlun doesn't eat Hong Kong products because there is too little butter ingredient), Garden wafers, Mama instant noodles, and a plate of Yangzhou fried rice taken from the restaurant.

Once he saw the soda and snacks, he drank three cups of drinks with ice water and three bags of potato chips in one night. Except for a nurse on duty who criticized the food for being unhealthy, everyone in the ward expressed approval after knowing it. After the nurse continued to criticize several times, I responded loudly that if it weren't for the food I brought, Lun would not have survived these days (80 hours before and after). If feeding healthy food is so important, I will leave immediately and let her feed Lun herself. As I said this, I left and walked outside the hospital for a while.

She is stubbornly conservative. I know some knowledge and principles of diet. Lun did not get the label of a severe autistic patient by luck. My wife and I have been dealing with him for 19 years, but we still cannot tie him, so we have to send him to the group home. How can you be a show-off in front of me? My life experience has taught me that we should consider everything according to the actual situation and refuse to be dominated by ideology.

During his hospital stay, Lun was restless. After a long period of observation, I found that he, 1) missed life in the care home very much and was determined to be discharged, insisting on being discharged and constantly complaining. 2) He was very resistant to the operation mode in the hospital, such as confinement and intrusive measures and instruments. He felt uncomfortable no matter what. 3) He was tired of the instruments and tools inserted or tied to his body, and he always asked to remove all the attached equipment. As a result, the needles inserted in his arm were torn off four times in total. The worst was on weekend morning, when he tore off the needles hree times in two hours. In the end, the doctor gave up and stopped inserting the trachea, and arranged a one-on-one person to sit at the door of the room to monitor Lun.

Whenever he had free time, he would protest loudly and demand to leave. He could shout all night. After dinner today, he opened his golden mouth for the first time and asked to "go home." In 38 years, this is the first time I have heard him make such a clear and conscious request. For me, it was worth the effort and I was happy. I immediately stated the reason clearly to him why he could not be discharged from the hospital. He did not protest or shout, but lay down to rest. Soon he was snoring and sleeping soundly.