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I feel like a Kafka character: "I am sorry, sir, but it appears that a kidney stone had ruptured your ureter. Please go home and act as usual, but schedule an appointment to see a urologist"... And so, one week ago, I went home, wondering what to do now. Do I need surgery? Is my kidney damaged?
Also, there was a lot of pain. They say passing a kidney stone is the most painful thing you can survive, and having it rupture your ureter is even worse. TLDR: Go a drink some water, and keep drinking water to dilute the stones your kidneys are making.
Last Friday, I was just settling down to relax at around 6:30PM - I ran a few miles, ate dinner and had nothing pressing to deal with. I made myself a cup of hot tea and sat down when out of nowhere a horrible pain cut through my gut. I found myself folded in half on the floor, sweat pouring over my eyes, crawling out of my clothes.
Appendicitis? Food poisoning? I made it up the stairs to the bedroom and threw myself on the bed, trying to catch my breath. The pain was truly intense and felt like a spasm; I thought I could control it by breathing and relaxing. It seemed to go down, and after 15 minutes it felt like the agony was subsiding. I texted my wife, "I don't know what happened, but it felt like Satan had reached into my gut and squeezed for the last 15 minutes".
I won't bore you with details: the pain returned; I wound up at the emergency room passing out several times; a CT scan showed that a kidney stone was stuck at the end of the right ureter, causing a rupture and a release of fluid near the kidney. The stone was 2 centimeters. What? That is enormous! (It turned out to be 2.8mm - the care provider was apparently challenged by the Metric system). Then I was on an IV painkillers, and soon, I came to with no pain whatsoever. I was sent home.
For a week I was walking on eggshells, PTSD'ed from my experience. I feel completely fine, like nothing happened -- except every time I feel anything - a tiniest gas bubble or a muscle twitch, and I jump, expecting the worst. But no, it's a fart.
Doctors were not that helpful -- the stone may or may not still be stuck there; I may have passed it or it is likely to be gone within 4 weeks; it may be bouncing around my bladder. I may or may not have other stones - looks like at least one. It's too soon to do another CT scan, and ultrasound is useless due to fluids around the kidney. Go home and live your life - the rupture is likely to self-repair.
I am pretty sure I did it to myself. Genetics probably count, but lately I've felt dehydrated a lot. Over the last couple of years most of my liquid intake was tea (high in oxalates), and kombucha (made from tea). My favorite foods were beets, potatos and spinach -- three highest sources of oxalic acid. Also I've been hitting fish lately as a protein source, as I've been running a lot.
Another unlikely problem was a recent colonoscopy. They don't tell you that, but all that polyetheline glycol they have you drink apparently is terrible for your kidneys, and 3% of routine colonoscopies wind up causing kidney damage (recent NIH study of 1100+ people). Maybe it was a contributing factor.
But I am sure it was dehydration combined with a massive intake of oxalates.
So, I guess there is nothing to do but hope for the best. The best scenario is that I already passed the damned stone and my ureter will repair itself and I suppose I have to deal with the other stone that is sitting there like a 5mm timebomb.