CHAPTER 47

Original: 2006-11-27

Rewritten: 2026-01-26

When Lun’s kidney stone pain flared up, we rushed him to the hospital emergency room. When he feels anxious, he sings to release his emotions. This time, he sang Su Rui’s famous song “Any Bottle for Sale?”.

When the phone rings in the middle of the night, one instinctively fears that something has happened to a loved one. The call came from staff at Lun’s group home, saying that he had stomach pain. Any trace of sleepiness vanished instantly.

He had taken a painkiller half an hour earlier, but had just vomited it out. Following the group home’s emergency procedures, the staff immediately paged the on-call overnight manager (the company operates five group homes, each with a manager; managers take turns being on overnight duty for a week at a time) and also notified the parents.

The staff continued: the manager was rushing over, but because she lived far away, even at that hour it would take more than half an hour to drive there. The manager instructed them to send LLun to the nearest hospital emergency room as soon as possible. Since there was only one staff member on duty during the night shift, and he could not be in two places at once, he asked for my help. If I was unable to come, they would have to call an ambulance.

I replied that I would come immediately. My wife stayed home to look after our younger son. At three in the morning, the roads were clear and quiet. My heart was racing. Fifteen minutes later, I arrived at the group home.

The staff said Lun was clutching his hand and pressing hard on his own abdomen. I was 99% certain it was another kidney stone attack.

When the group home first received Lun, they had thoroughly assessed his health condition and medical history and prepared a detailed file. They paid particular attention to his kidney stone issue, recorded his water intake, and, according to the doctor’s instructions, kept pain medication ready for emergencies.

Although Lun was in pain, when I told him we were going to the hospital, he got up at once, obediently put on his shoes and jacket. He shouted and complained, but cooperated fully throughout. Once in the car, he curled his body up. I brought a large towel with me in case he vomited. Sure enough, as soon as we reached the hospital, he did.

I drove Lun to the emergency department, bringing along his medical file, including the report from his most recent CT scan.

This time we were fortunate—the emergency room was quiet, and Lun could be treated immediately. By coincidence, we were assigned the same room as last time. Familiar territory helped calm him down. The nurse caring for him was a male nurse who spoke Cantonese and needed to start an IV drip.

When Lun is nervous, he sings. This time it was again Su Rui’s “Any Bottle for Sale?” The nurse found it curious—why would someone so young sing such old songs? In my view, it was simply because Lun has good taste: whether old or new, a good song is worth singing.

During the IV insertion and blood draw, I had to hold Lun down, but he had indeed grown more sensible and eventually cooperated. The doctor diagnosed a recurrence of kidney stones and prescribed morphine for pain relief.

Once the medication took effect, the pain subsided. The male nurse repeatedly asked Lun whether he was still in pain: “Pain or not? Does it hurt?”—switching between English and Cantonese. Perhaps finding it too nagging, Lun replied with a single sentence: “I’m fine now!”

This was the first time in my life that I heard him respond so clearly and coherently. I was utterly astonished and delighted. It turned out that in his mind, he had stored up some words, ready for use in emergencies.

When the manager arrived and saw that Lun was safe, he was relieved as well. The hospital arranged another CT scan for the following day. We later learned that there were still stones in his kidney, but they were smaller than before. The group home’s efforts to train Lun to drink more water had proven effective, giving hope that the stones would eventually pass—and at the same time lifting a heavy weight from the hearts of us two old parents.

(Afterword: For nineteen years, Lun has been unable to consciously drink more water, and kidney stones have been his constant companions. All of the urgent calls for him were related to pain. Yet they have also trained him to become a very cooperative and gentle patient.)