Nephrocalcinosis

Thomas does not have kidney stones, rather nephrocalcinosis. If you google nephrocalcinosis you will be alarmed at what it can mean. It is a symptom for several not so nice diseases. However, the urologist said since he does not have an increase in calcium in his urine it will just need to be monitored with yearly renal ultrasounds and monthly urinalysis. If the blood in his urine does not go away when the voiding dysfuction is under control they will do some more testing. So for the time being there is no cause for alarm, rather cautious observation.

Voiding Dysfunction

Thank goodness! Thomas does not have reflux from his bladder to his kidneys, what he does have is Voiding Dysfunction. On Monday Thomas had a V.C.U.G. and kidney and bladder ultrasounds to see if his body was normal. His bladder, right kidney and ureters all look great. However his left kidney appeared to be speckled with something. The Pediatric Urologist up at Primary Children's Hospital said it might possibly be kidney stones or just something residual from the ultra sound machine. They did another test yesterday to see if it was kidney stones. We will find out soon for sure what it was. In the mean time, Thomas also has terrible constipation. Who knew all this works together. She explained how it all works and gave us lots of paper work to help us understand. We learned a ton! For now we are having to basically re-potty train Thomas and give him laxatives to help everything get moving. We are also really increasing the amount of fiber he eats. He was a trooper and at All Bran buds with me this morning. He wants his body to work properly as well. On the V.C.U.G. films you can see that all his bowels were just packed. I wanted to cry. I feel responsible for not feeding him better. I am glad to know and have a better understanding of all this. I am also glad he does not have worse problems. In the paperwork they gave us sometimes voiding dysfuction can cause hydronephrosis, bladder decompensation, and kidney damage. Some kids have even needed to have kidney transplants. I am so okay with re-potty training if if will protect his little body.

Mya turned 1

Mya turned one on September 24. We celebrated with dinner, presents, and fried ice cream at Los Hermanos with Grandma Annie & Aunt Emily. Our server asked if we wanted them to sing to her and bring out fried ice cream. We were like, DUH! I did ask that they keep the volume lower then they might otherwise. The first 5 servers used their indoor voices but the dude in the back didn't get the message and trillled as loud as he could. Mya weathered it well and did not cry, she didn't smile either though. We followed up with cake and more presents and Grandpa Grant at home. For the record Mya has 8 teeth, is 29 inches long, and weighs 24 pounds 10 ounces. I cannot imagine that one year ago she was 3 lbs and fighting for her life. What a trooper! She must have something important to do while she is here!

Thomas's Second First Day of School

We have been working on getting Thomas into a certain school since last year this time. After the first lottery last spring he was not accepted and was #7 on the wait list. As the start of the school year approached I called every couple of weeks seeing if his place on the list had changed. The week before school he was #1 on the list. I went ahead and started him at the local elementary school and he was so excited to go. I called the new school during his first week at the local school and found out he was accepted. YEAH!!! He was even more excited. These are pictures from his second first day of school!