Sick Kids are a Bummer!

When I was pregnant with Sam I had Gestational Diabetes. Part of my treatment for this was careful monitoring with a high risk OB and Hi-Def Ultrasounds. At one of these appointments we discovered that there was "something" wrong with Sam's right kidney, but what it was could not be determined until after he was born. We were told, "Not to worry." Yeah, right!

So, anyway, Sam was born, and several tests at the local Children's Hospital (which is fantastic!), we found out he had a Multicystic Dysplastic Kidney. It sounds worse than it is. Basically, his right kidney did not develop properly and was basically a mass of fluid filled sacks or cysts. We had several tests done that showed there was no function in the kidney at all -- which apparently was good news.

Our nephrologist said that over time the dysplastic kidney would be reabsorbed into the body and the normal kidney would grow to compensate -- the body is a wonderful thing! She said the absorption into the body would take several years but it should be completely gone or undetectable by the time he's seven. She ordered yearly ultrasounds to track his progress.

As an aside, this year we found out things were moving quicker than we thought, his "bad" kidney is basically gone!

But I digress.... The nephrologist told us that basically he can lead a normal life. She did say some sports were out of the question, like wrestling, football, hockey, rugby and boxing, but hey, I'm not too sure I want my boys playing those sports anyway -- they are so rough! And we need to watch what medicine we give him as some can be hard on the kidney.

One such medicine is Motrin. A mother's helper when kids get sick. And we can't use it unless it's an emergency!

Sam has a knack for not doing things half measure. When he gets a temperature, he GETS a Temperature! Yesterday and today he was running a temp between 103-104.5. In the past he got up to 105.2, and I did break out the Motrin then because Tylenol wasn't cutting it!

The poor kid. And because he only has one kidney, we're overly sensitive to his fluid intake because we don't want him to get dehydrated and damage his only remaining, perfectly functioning kidney. So when the temp gets up like this, I freak out, to say the least and bring him to the doctor straight away. Yesterday they ruled out strep and an ear infection which left only a virus. But to bring him back if the temp's not down in 48 hours....

For me, this is the hardest part of being a parent (so far). When our kids are sick and there is nothing we can do to make it better. It's a helpless feeling that I don't like! And everything with Sam has the added worry of his kidney.

Even though I know he's fine and he will be fine and his issue is nothing compared to what some Moms and Dads go through -- like my sister and her husband. They have a medically fragile daughter and what they have to deal with on a daily basis is so much worse than a "back of your mind" worry. Theirs is an everyday, all the time, staring them in the face (and she's got such a beautiful one too!) worry.

And I went to the dentist last week and found out I have a cracked tooth and I'm grinding my teeth so I need a mouth guard AND a crown! How fun is that? And just to make me feel "special" the dentist said he very rarely sees cracked teeth in such a healthy mouth (I only have 2 fillings -- one is for a cavity and the other was for a malformation in my tooth). Lucky me....

But anyway, Sam's been sick and I've been stressing about it!