I just want to take a minute or two and let you all know what I have been dealing with the last week. On Wednesday, August 27, 2008 I recieved a phone call from my 4 year olds school nurse. She informed me that Chris was not feeling well and she needed me to come in to the school to take him home. As most of you know, Chris has been sick for about 2 years now. He has been having episodes of nausea and vomiting and stomach pain since right after his 2nd birthday. So, I wasn't too worried about this new episode but found it more of a good sign. See, the doctors and I have been trying to figure out why he has been getting sick and Chris was set for a CT scan on Friday of that week. I was hoping that the scan could be moved up to that day, and set off for the hospital. Up till this point we thought Chris had intussusception but where unable to diagnose it. The doctors thought that this was in part of not having any tests down during an episode.
12 hours later we found out that Chris was being transfered from St. Mary's Hospital to Loma Linda Acute Peds unit via an ambulance. He was in kidney failure!
Before Chris was born I was told that he had hydronephrosis. After I delivered Chris I seen two separate doctors and both told me that if Chris did have hydronephrosis we would see signs and then they would run the tests needed to diagnose it. But, until those signs were present it wasn't wise to subject Chris to the large amounts of radiation that the scans produced. By the time Chris was two and started having his episodes we had kind of forgotten about the hydronephrosis. Matter of fact, we never told his current doctor about this pre-birth diagnosis. So, during each episode Chris had we all were looking for something different.
Well, it turns out that the kidney failure was caused by the hydronephrosis.
After two days at Loma Linda we got good news. My baby was sick, but the kidney failure was not as serious as first thought. Both kidneys were functioning at a total of 90%. The right kidney is filtering the blood but not draining. It is 13.5 cm in size when it should be 7 cm. The left kidney has multiple cysts (tumors). But, the kidneys are working. The doctors were actually surprised due to the fact that these attacks, or episodes, have been occuring for the last 2 years and usually that length of time means that one of both kidneys can be severely damaged. Plus, Chris has a 2mm kidney stone.
Chris was discharged from Loma Linda on Friday. He has a long road ahead of him. Over the next week we have to see his primary care doctor for a follow up, and he also has to see a specialist in Loma Linda for a pre-surgery consult. The following week, Chris needs to have surgery to place a shunt between the right kidney and the bladder. If this procedure decreases the size of his kidney another surgery will be performed to put the shunt in for good. If the kidney does not decrease in size we will have to figure out what to do next. After the right kidney is decreased we will move on to the cysts in the left kidney.
For all of you who know Chris personally, please know that he is doing well right now. He is almost back to his old self. He does have a lot of pain still and is on medication. He is hoping to go back to school on Tuesday.
I would like to thank all of you for the prayers. I truely believe that God had a hand in Chris's good news this past week.
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