4/19-4/20 Status Report, and the Kidney Status

Today was a rest day. He spent most of the day in a chair that looks like a dentist's chair, which allowed him to sit up all day and, among other things, watch Momma play Pokemon Snap. He's still tired from recent days and from the morphine.

We are going to try to set up a more traditional schedule with clear divisions between day time and night time. We're shooting for a 7:30 a.m. wake time and an 8:00 p.m. bed time. Govern yourselves accordingly. I'm guessing that the bed times will be a little later due to the logistics of the evening respiratory therapy, but it's a target.

Perspective is an amazing thing. When we came in, we were nervous because they told us that the worst case scenario of the renal failure was a kidney transplant. That freaked us out. Once we went through the brain scares, the stakes and fears changed substantially.

That said, the initial kidney biopsy is not very favorable. They say that his kidney tissues were very damaged by the ordeal. The "official" report won't be done for 2 weeks. The tissue biopsy was on only one of the two kidneys, so its possible that the other one is better. That's uncommon, but not unheard of.

The pediatric nephrologist has said that he's seen kids with very high levels of kidney damage regain some kidney function (although support levels of dialysis were necessary). We are optimistic and thinking positive. If they don't come back (and they will, darn it) , he'll need a kidney transplant. In the words of the nephrologist, the kidney is really the only major organ that has functions which are fully replaceable (i.e., by dialysis or transplant).

The nephrologist thinks yesterday's bladder discharge was all blood and no urine. Nobody insults my son's urine and gets away with it. I'm sure Jake will take his urinary revenge when the doc least expects it. The Silvermans are well known for their vengeful bladders. In any even, the next time that I criticize something as "all blood and no urine", that should be good for a few questioning glances.

Special thanks today to Rabbi and Mrs. Rosenberg, and all the kids at the Sky Lake Chabad Sunday School, for their thoughts and gifts. Our Sky Lake "family" has been incredible, including bringing us a 7 course passover dinner. I would have mentioned that meal on the blog, but the blog didn't come into existence until a week later.