Caden's Christmas Photos in a Video

Just wanted to post a quick link to Caden's Christmas Video in case I haven't sent it to you already.

http://caden.vermule.com/caden/Videos/X-Mas_2005.wmv

Doctor Day Cont'd

When we went back to the doctor's office, he was going to see two different doctors. One doctor is a kidney specialist, the other is the doctor that did his surgery to remove the valves that he had when he was born.

They got his weight, height, and blood pressure. His blood pressure was unusually high. It was something like 129/92. Not only did it surprise us, but it surprised the nurse. Holly was getting kind of worried about it, especially since I have high blood pressure. The nurse said that he may have moved a little to much or something, and that we could try again a little later.

Then it was the kidney specialist's turn to look him over. Her name is Dr. Lavelle. She also gave us the results of his ultrasound and blood tests. She said that the left kidney hasn't grown. She said that it still looks to be the same as it was previously. She then told us that his right kidney had grown. And that so far it looked like it didn't have any damage from the reflux, but we'll have to keep bringing him in to monitor it.

She then proceeded to tell us that if his kidney's don't do their job, that in about 18-20 years, Caden could be on dialysis or have a transplant. She did also say that if the right kidney grows enough to make up for both kidneys, that he may not even have that. She said that there are a lot of people living normal lives with one kidney; many don't even know it.

Normal kidney processing is between 80 and 100 mL per minute. (I think that's what the doctor said.) Caden is currently at 80 mL per minute. So, if it stays in the normal range, he'll be just fine. She also commented on his blood pressure. She said that children with kidney problems tend to have higher blood pressure. She wanted to try his blood pressure again, because if it is high, he'd have to be put on medication for it.

Once she left, we thought it would be a good time to try his blood pressure again. Was this ever a mistake. We tried about 8 or 9 times, and Caden just screamed and kicked. (He is so strong now.) We just thought we'd give up for now.

Dr. Donovan came in and looked Caden over, but he still couldn't feel his testis. He decided that we should try to give Caden some hormone shots to see if his testosterone levels spike. If they do, he has testis and he will schedule surgery to have them pulled down. If they do not, then he doesn't have them and we'll know for sure that he won't be able to have children.

Of course the news of Caden possibly needing two surgeries upset us, but we know it would be in his best interests. Neither surgery is for sure. The kidney surgery won't be for almost 20 years. And that's even if he needs that. The surgery for his testis, we'll find out in about a week and a half. He starts the shots on Monday, January 23rd, 2006. He'll have them Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. He'll have blood drawn Monday morning before the first shot, and then Saturday, a day after the last shot.

So, please cross your fingers. This is the surgery that we actually do want him to have.



Until Next time, I continue to ask for and thank you for your prayers.

Doctor Day

Yesterday was a day full of tests and doctor visits.

We started the morning with Caden getting a bag taped to him so that the nurses could get a urine sample. Holly thought that they were going to put a catheter in to get the urine sample. She said that is what they did last time.

We then went to Radiology so that they could do an ultrasound of Caden's kidneys. (If you don't remember, when Caden was readmitted to the hospital, it was because he had a Urinary Tract Infection. He had some extra valves that weren't allowing him to urinate properly, so he had backflow into his left kidney. He is on amoxicillin so that it does not damage his kidneys.)

Caden was such a trooper. When the technician was doing the ultrasound on his right kidney, he didn't fuss at all. When she was doing the ultrasound on his left kidney, he didn't fuss until she was almost done. Then we had to put him on his tummy so that she could see them from the back. He did great at first, then he started to get a little fussy. He did a great job. The technician left the room to let the radiologist look at the ultrasound pictures and numbers. When she came back, she said that it looked the right kidney had grown, but the left kidney was unchanged.

The next trip was to get the bag removed. But, this was only if he had went potty since it was put on. It looked to be as though he had when we were in radiology. When the nurse took the bag off, he had went. But either most of it had leaked out, or as I have just thought, it may have been pushed out when we were moving him around during the ultrasound. The nurse decided to ask to see if the little amount that was in the bag would be enough. We were in luck, it was.

We now had to go to the lab so that they could draw some blood. Obviously we weren't looking forward to this, but we knew that Caden had done this before and that it shouldn't be to bad. When we got in there, they said the blood needed to come from his arm. Now we were worried at how he would handle this. As soon as the nurse held his arm down he started to cry. He knew they were going to do something that he wasn't going to like. He is so smart.

After this, we had a break before his clinical visit. So, we decided to visit daddy's work and grandma Debbie's work. And as usual, everybody loved him. When we stepped into daddy's department, we got about two feet in before we had a mob of people around. Everybody said that he is getting so big and that he is so cute.




To be continued...

A Couple Developments

Holly called me around a quarter to noon today, "Caden rolled over!!"

She said that he just went for it, and he made it over. When he tries normally, he doesn't quite get his arm out of the way. But, today he did. I'm so proud of my strong little boy.

The next thing we need to work on is getting his arm strength up.

Speaking of arm strength; I need to get to the other development. Caden will hold his bottle on his own. Sometime last weekend, I think Saturday he did it for the first time.

When we feed him, we hold the bottle to him so that he'll get the recognition of, "Oh, a bottle. I must be getting fed." He has got that concept down to a 'T.' He has followed the bottle for a while now, but he has been reaching for his bottle for around a month.

I decided to let him take the bottle. He took it right away, and put it in his mouth. He ended up taking 4 ounces from a 6 ounce bottle. I was so proud. Then on his next bottle, he finished it.

He holds his bottle for most of his feedings now. At 5AM, he is not really even awake, so he doesn't hold it then. And sometimes on his bottle before bed he doesn't, but otherwise, we let him do it. He goes until he finishes, gets tired of holding the bottle, or just plays so much that he is making a mess or will take a really long time.



Until Next time, I continue to ask for and thank you for your prayers.