Subtle Changes.....

I commented yesterday about Babygirl cleaning the kitchen. The amount of work she accomplished in a short time made me think...

Last year at this time she would not have been capable of doing such a task. She was too tired, too sleep-deprived, too anemic, and too immature.  It was easy to see a big energy jump immediately after the transplant - an almost overnight change to a more energetic, happier, rested child. 

But aside from the distinct hyperactivity caused at times by the high dose steroids, she settled over the late spring and summer into a sort of lassitude.  She watched a lot of TV, and avoided strenuous activity.  When I'd go for a walk, she'd stay home, quiet.  While she was certainly dramatically better than she was pre-transplant, she still wasn't quite herself.

There has been a gradual, but radical change over the last few weeks.  Her energy levels have risen, her wit has sharpened, her laughter and sense of purpose have become more intense.  It snuck up on us, this return to the Babygirl we remember from a few years ago.  She wants to walk the dog.  She wants to get out of the house.  She wants to get back on the swim team.

It occurred  to me that perhaps blaming her hyperactivity on the steroids was an error.  If I think back, those periods of energy all correlate with creatinine levels of 0.9 or less.  The fact that she hit those levels because she was on steroids the first couple of times may have been coincidental. 

We are liking Rapamune.  It's been nearly a month of nearly normal renal function, and she is a new kid.  The possibility that the tacrolimus may have been causing some depression has crossed my mind, but logic suggests that the simplest answer is that she simply feels better when the kidney is working at its best.

DeeDee