This morning Carol and I took Rita for her scheduled checkup. We met with the specialists on her case and reviewed the results of her latest lab work. While we're keeping our fingers crossed, all current indications are that Rita's kidney failure is likely the result of some type of acute injury or trauma rather than a chronic problem. Each of the various parameters being monitored—hemoglobin, createnin, phosphorous, protein levels, and so on—are showing marked improvement. This is particularly good news because it indicates that her kidney function is improving as she grows, which strongly suggests that the root cause is not chronic. To help confirm this thinking, the specialists at U of M Hospital sent lab results to kidney specialists at Baylor University. Baylor's interpretation of the results are that Rita is "a normal baby." So, what is/was her problem? Why did she have ascites? Still, nobody knows and perhaps nobody will ever know. One hypothesis is that the ascites was caused by something—perhaps an infection—and the ascites, in turn, impaired blood flow to the kidneys which impaired thier normal development. With the ascites resolved, as Rita grows, she is now growing normal, healthy kidney cells and will eventually outgrow her difficulties. But this is just a hypothesis. In any case, Rita is doing better; and we're pretty happy about that. She weighed in at 10 lbs. 2 oz. today which translates to a weight gain of about 1.5 oz per day, which is the best thing she can be doing right now. And, by the way, Rose is doing great, too. She's about a pound behind Rita. |
