Week Eight - The ER.....

One Saturday my daughter came to me complaining of back pain.  It was, actually, what doctors refer to as "flank pain", in the area of the lower ribs over the kidney, on one side. She's not allowed to have ibuprofen or aleve, so I gave her acetaminophen and the pain was gone within half an hour.

The next day was church picnic day, with a lovely chicken barbecue, outdoor service, and lovely weather.  There was a playground just across from our pavilion and the kids were, as usual, running around like lunatics until lunch was ready to be served.  BabyGirl was sweating, like the other kids, and I saw her drink a glass of lemonade.  One glass.

We got home about an hour later, and she began crying because the flank pain was back, same side, and REALLY painful.  She had no other symptoms - no blood in her urine, no frequency, no fever, no pain with urination.  But, DANG..... She's not a normal kid anymore.  I have to face this, REALLY face this.  I can't wait it out, hike her to the Walk-in, or call the on-call doc.  They would tell me what I already know.  She's NOT healthy, despite all appearances to the contrary.  She must, must, must go to the ER. But.....I am experienced enough with how ER's work to know that giving her some acetaminphen before we go would be the most merciful approach.  After all, we might have wait HOURS before they even get to her.

We arrived.  I told our story, and we got hustled in ahead of all the other folks in the waiting room (gulp).  Blood work, urine specimen.  The doctor came in, heard the story, looked her over, and ordered an ultrasound.  Calls to the specialists.  More blood work.  An IV.

The final conclusion?  Dehydration.  And a substantial worsening of her kidney function, even compared to the numbers that sent them scrambling to get us in with the transplant team 3 months ahead of schedule. We have hit the point where she's feeling the disease, and we're only 2 months into this.

A call to the specialist for followup advice?  Make her drink. More.  A LOT more.  She has what is refered to as "high output" renal failure,  meaning her kidneys can no longer decrease her her fluid output to make up for insensible losses such as sweating.  It's better than NOT producing urine, which leads to an appalling amount of fluid retention and needs severe fluid restriction to manage. 

Well, okay.  We can handle more water.  So far it's the easiest piece of advice we've gotten.  And maybe, just maybe, it will make her kidneys work a little better.

DeeDee