A few weeks ago, I woke up on a Saturday morning and almost immediately felt a sharp pain in my abdomen. Surely, everyone can imagine a dull stomach ache or a cutting pain, recalling the discomfort that arises with colic or bloating after a heavy meal. Can you picture that? Now combine all those types of pain and multiply by 2 or 3. That’s the kind of pain I was experiencing. On top of that, I felt nauseous. I didn’t know what was happening to me. One of the first thoughts that came to mind was food poisoning, especially since I had eaten mussels on Friday night. The pain radiated to my right side, and since it was a pain I was unfamiliar with, I suspected it could be appendicitis. After struggling through the morning, the pain completely subsided by the afternoon, and I felt fine again.
Sunday morning, the situation repeated itself. The scenario was almost exactly the same, except that I didn’t even have time to drink my morning tea. After enduring the pain until noon, my wife and I went for an abdominal ultrasound. We also checked my kidneys and several other organs. Surprisingly, the ultrasound took only a couple of minutes, and all the organs appeared perfectly healthy. I spent Sunday evening feeling well, with nothing bothering me, but for the second day, I had a serious issue that I had never noticed before. I started having problems with urination. I felt the need to go very little but frequently.
Monday morning began as nightmarishly as the previous ones. I had to call an ambulance. However, by the time the ambulance arrived, I was already feeling better, and the pain had eased. The paramedics also couldn’t determine what was wrong with me. They did an ECG. They didn’t even suggest hospitalization, as they didn’t know which department to send me to.
On Tuesday morning, I went to get blood and urine tests. Surprisingly, after the tests that day, I didn’t experience severe pain, and the day went fairly well. Additionally, after lunch, I managed to have an ultrasound of my bladder. To my surprise, my test results were nearly perfect (out of 52 indicators, only 2 were slightly above normal). The bladder was also in good condition.
Wednesday morning started again with intense pain. I couldn’t even have breakfast. My wife stayed home. I had to call the ambulance for the second time in a few days. The paramedics performed an ECG and gave me a pain relief injection, advising me to see a urologist. They still didn’t suggest hospitalization, citing the same reason as the first time. The pain relief injection hardly helped, and I continued to suffer. After lunch, I was urgently scheduled to see an available urologist. Unfortunately, I still didn’t feel any better and had to endure the pain while taking a taxi. At any moment during the ride, I could have thrown up, so I always kept some emergency bags in my pocket just in case. Every bump and jolt on the road felt like a strong physical blow to my body. After spending about three hours in a private clinic and visiting 3-4 different rooms, one of the ultrasounds managed to detect a small stone in my ureter (the tubular organ connecting the kidney to the bladder). The length of the ureter is approximately 30-40 centimeters. It runs roughly parallel to the gastrointestinal tract, either beneath or above it (I didn’t look up exactly where). However, the pain radiating to the stomach area comes from this stone passing through the ureter, making it seem like there are problems with digestion or appendicitis. By the time it was discovered, my stone had already passed about three-quarters of the way through the ureter. I was prescribed about five different medications, some of which I had to take several at a time and multiple times a day.
Thursday and Friday went more or less calmly. I could hardly work, but I managed to control the pain to some extent.
Saturday was extremely difficult for me. In addition to the previously mentioned problems—pain in my right side and issues with urination—I developed pain in my right kidney. To take my medication, at least the pain relievers, I needed to eat something. However, I couldn’t eat due to the pain, and any pills taken on an empty stomach would come back up immediately. This time, we decisively called an ambulance, gathering all the necessary items that I might need in the hospital. The paramedics performed an ECG and refused to admit me to the hospital, citing the lack of available beds and stating that they mainly admit patients with more serious issues requiring surgical intervention. Additionally, they administered pain relief medication intravenously, but about 15 minutes later, I vomited, this time just water, as there was nothing in my stomach. Nevertheless, their medications provided some relief, and the pain temporarily subsided. Since I wasn’t admitted to the hospital, we scheduled the earliest available appointment at a private clinic to see a doctor. The soonest appointment was during Sunday lunch. I had to endure until then, as the pain worsened again by the evening. The kidney hurt the most. I could no longer take any pills, so I came up with a decent hack that helped me that evening and on some other evenings—I heated my kidney and right side with a bottle of warm water. This almost completely alleviated the pain. I managed to fall asleep and wait for Sunday.
On Sunday, the overall situation was better; the right side of my abdomen no longer hurt, but my kidney continued to ache. Gathering my strength, we took a taxi to the clinic. I had an ultrasound of my bladder (since the stone was already quite close to the bladder, the bladder ultrasound could precisely determine its location). The stone was just 11 millimeters away from the bladder opening. It was just over one centimeter away from entering the bladder. Another issue was discovered during the ultrasound, which explained the pain in my kidney: the outflow of urine from the kidney was not restoring, meaning my kidney was slowly starting to fail. The good news that comforted me at that moment was that a stone of that size should pass within a maximum of 1-2 weeks, and even if the kidney completely stopped functioning for a few weeks, it wouldn’t be too concerning, as it could fully recover. My treatment was adjusted, with almost all medications removed, leaving just one and adding a pain reliever.
About the following week, each day went by similarly. Only on Tuesday did I feel particularly unwell again, but I managed to endure the pain by warming my kidney and taking pain relievers. On the other days, the pain was mostly in the morning. After a new sleep, I would get up and walk around the apartment for about 30-40 minutes. I needed to move around to ease the pain. Sometimes I would hold a bottle of warm water while walking to heat my kidney. By the way, the pain in my right side had subsided, and I was only concerned about urination. While walking around the apartment due to the pain in my kidney, I realized that I needed to eat something to take my medications. During that time, I had almost been unable to have a proper breakfast for nearly a week, so I switched to baby food. Fruit puree was one of the few things I could force myself to eat. After that, I would usually check my work chats and try to work for a few hours. Then I would get dressed and go outside. I needed to walk a lot to help the stone pass. On those days, I walked 6-7 kilometers each day, just aimlessly wandering around the streets. Most of the time, these so-called walks were accompanied by pain. In the first week, it was pain in my side, but in the second week, it was pain in the kidney area.
In such moments, you observe the happenings on the street differently. Your vision sharpens, and you can recognize both happy people and those who are not. You see a pigeon with one leg missing, you notice an elderly woman going for a walk, taking very slow steps and holding onto a drainpipe, while children swing on the swings opposite her. No one cares about this grandmother; everyone is living their own lives.
Nevertheless, by the second week, I was feeling a bit better, whether due to the pain medication I was taking or because the stone had passed the most painful part. If during the first week of illness I half-jokingly thought about googling whether euthanasia is allowed in Belarus, by the second week I was only concerned about my kidney; I wanted to help it in any way I could and hoped it would start functioning properly again soon.
On Wednesday afternoon, I went for another ultrasound. I wanted to find out where the stone was now and what was happening with my kidney. The most common phrase I had heard over the past two weeks was "Fill your bladder." This was already about the fourth ultrasound of the bladder and the eighth or ninth ultrasound in total during this short period. My stone had not yet passed, but it was at the bladder opening. In other words, it had traveled those 11 millimeters in just a few days and was about to enter the bladder. Once it entered the bladder, all the doctors promised a quick and painless exit.
I must admit, they were not lying about that. By Friday morning, I managed to "catch" the stone. All this time, I had been using a jar to urinate, which was necessary to later analyze the stone, understand its composition, and exclude or minimize the intake of foods high in that element in the future. It was an incredible relief, primarily moral. After that, on Sunday, I visited the doctor again, and I will likely have to go at least a couple more times until my body fully recovers. At the moment, I am not experiencing any pain; the discomfort in my right side no longer bothers me. The kidney also stopped hurting, although it ached for a couple of days after the stone passed. My urination has also returned to normal. The doctor allowed me to resume jogging; however, instead of my usual 12 kilometers, I am currently content with 6-7. I’ve already managed to go for three runs. They felt quite easy for me, perhaps because I had been walking a lot during my illness, and despite the pain, my body remained in shape. A special thanks in this whole story goes to my wife, who was always by my side and supported me. I was also glad that, despite the disruption in my body and kidney function, my trained athletic heart did not give me any reason to doubt that my five years of running were not in vain. It didn’t hurt at all during this period, and the paramedics performed three ECGs on me, all of which were good :)
