In & Out

Today we took a trip to Birmingham for urology and nephrology. First stop, 11am was a renal ultrasound. Carter flirted with the tech and it was painless. Next stop, checking in at urology 11:30am. Not sure what time we went back finally, but we got a good report from Dr Joseph - kidneys/ureters/bladder unchanged. We also scheduled Carter's surgery to start descending his testicles for November 29th. He normally does a phased approach in 2 to 3 laproscopic surgeries. Typically, they are out-patient, but because Carter has one kidney, and he has to fast for 8 hours before surgery, they will admit us the afternoon before surgery so they can make sure his electrolytes don't fluctuate from fasting. We'll more than likely stay the night after the surgery, also, to make sure he's stable. We had urology cath Carter while we were there so the lab wouldn't have to...

Next stop was the lab to get blood work done. Approximately 1:15pm. Carter was sleepy... it was nap time. And of course, as soon as he fell asleep they called us back to get stuck. The first girl made one stick.. no good. Next lady got it, but he was mad about her holding him down, and they had to draw four tubes... so there were alot of tears. He fell asleep after that and we headed to our nephrology appointment at 1:45ish. Didn't take long to get back, and Mrs Mary Jane saw us quickly. Potassium was a little low... so we're cutting our kayexalate in half. Iron a little low, so we're adding back an iron supplement - yuck! Carter was ill about being tired, hungry, and them not being able to get a blood pressure, but finally fell asleep again. She said everything looked well - he's growing great... he's in the 80th percentile for weight. And his kidney function is really good. After she checked the UA, she scared us by saying she needed to talk to the nephrologist (new guy, Dr. Feig) since it looked dirty. Since he wasn't running fever and his white cells weren't elevated, they decided to let us go home while the culture grows. They're going to test for yeast growth, which takes longer than most cultures (5 days). She said if it grows yeast that it may explain some of his past infections. Depending on the strain, we may still get to stay home and just do oral meds. Hopefully we're clear though!

We didn't make it to PT, but overall it was a good in & out visit! Once we got home, Carter got to play in the bath.... he loves it! :) Pictures to follow - stay tuned!!

Update - Mary Jane just called and let me know that Carter's definitely got a UTI brewing and yeast is already growing. They're going to let us hang out at home, though, until cultures come back as long as he's not running fever and he's eating well.

Here are some pictures of the happy boy in his bath last night :)

And from a nap Saturday :)