I just had my left kidney removed in Dec. after spending all of 2005 in & out
of the hospital with a nephrostomy tube, I was in a totla of 17 times between
Feb. & November.  The Dr. is right a nephrostomy is not ment for long term
uses is is ment for temporary use only and it is a LARGE sorce of infection.
The nephrostomy tube I has was replaced 5 times due to infection, once the
bacteria enters the kidney the nephrostomy tube & catheter and bag must be
exchanged. The other problem with the numerous infections, is it can travel
into the other kidney and it will decrease the total kidney function due to
the stress of the bad kidney. By the time I had my kidney removed my total
function had decreased to 38%, once removed the function of the 1 kidney went
up to 65%. She will have to ckeep a check on the 1 kidney that is left to
make sure the kidney function does not decrease, my kidney function did
decrease some due to the stress the kidney was under in 2005 and now, but I
do nto require dialysis, maby somttime in the future I might, but I am
already 54 so if this kidney works for another 20 years I will be happy.
Please feel free to email me at anytime if you would like to discuss this
further.  

I have to wonder if there is a way to reconstruct a ureter so the kidney can
be saved?

While you should probably take your doctor's advice, because typically that
is your best source of advice, you might also  want to search around to
determine if there are better options.  There  may be biomechanical
materials that could be used construct an artificial ureter leading to the
bladder.

A trip to a major teaching hospitals nephrology department might be
worthwhile.

OTOH, the malignancy in the ureter might be affecting that kidney making its
removal a non-negotiable necessity.  Or, the malignancy might in the
bladder, again making the above suggestion valueless.

You need to speak with your doctors candidly about the totality of the
situation and ALL options you may reasonably have, if any.   Some things
just can't be fixed, and the choices are all unhappy ones.

Ther are other options if the kindey function is not to low, 1 would be to
retransplant the kidney into the abdomen, this should be done by a kidney
transplan team that specializes in kideny transplants. Another method is to
reconstruct a new ureter from the colon, I know this sounds really grose, but
they are able to clean the part of the colon to be used as a ureter. These
were the options that were presented to me by one of the top Ureologist,
however because the kidney function was below 25% and because I had muti
abdomen surgeries, scar tissue and adheasions prevented them from preforming
these other surgeries. Because the kidney function was so low and the other
complictions we opted to remove the kidney, as it turned the kidney by the
time they removed it was very small which means is was not working and was
shrinking (atrophy).  These are sugestions that should be discused with the
suregon and posibiliy get a 2nd opinion, search for the best as the best is
what is needed to assist with the decision.