Dylan and his Kidney

Yesterday was Dylan's yearly visit with the nephrologist. It started out well, really well - too well for my liking, actually. So first thing in the morning I get him to pee in a cup. Stick it in the fridge and make mental notes all morning not to forget the pee. Go about my day, getting things ready, since it's a day of one thing after another, after another, after another. So I had to pack for the whole day. Get the kids from school, eat lunch and get everyone in the van. We're early. We leave. We're half way there (30-40 minute drive) and Dylan said something about peeing in the cup. SHIT!! I forgot the pee in the fridge at home!!!!!!!!!!! So I get off the highway and turn around. I tried calling the nephrologist's office to let them know I'd be late, if they wanted me to reschedule, etc. No answer. I keep calling the entire way back home. Nothing. So I get the pee and turn around and go back. I HATE being late. HATE IT!! So now I'm stressing.

We finally get to the hospital and there are 2 parking decks. I have a 50/50 chance of parking on the right side, since I can't remember where the office is. Another reason for the repeated calling. So we park on Locust side, no luck. We high-tail it to the complete other side of the hospital, to the Considine building. Again, no luck. I catch an employee and she helps me. She calls. She finds it on the 7th floor! So we have to high-tail it back to the complete other side of the hospital to catch the orange elevators up to 7. All the while I have three 4 year olds hooked together in a chain of hands run/walking, trying to look at all the fun stuff on the walls, trying to see all the fun toys/books set up for sale on a table, trying to get me to stop to check out the atrium ball thingy...I thank the lady for escorting us to where we need to be. We get on the elevator and away we go. Only to see a sign in the elevator that they are now on the 8th floor. Umm, do you think that if you have moved your location, that you might send a friendly note to your patients to let them know or when you call to remind them of their appointment, say by the way - we moved...So I'm late AND lost. Fabulous. Oh and I still have pee in a cup in my purse...

We finally arrive. The secretary was less than receptive. Greet your new patient and say I'll be right with you. Don't leave them standing here forever. A nurse is sitting there doing nothing. So I start talking to her. She goes to check to see if they'll still see us, since we're over a half hour late. Kids have to pee. Kids have lost their listening ears by this point. We corral in to the bathroom and I am just a sweaty mess. The kids are sweaty. I'm beat. We head back out, no one is acknowledging me again. Finally another nurse comes out and gets us. Says he has a 2:30, but agreed to see us. It's 2:20. So we go back and get all the stuff done that's needed.

Blood pressure is good. Which is a great thing for my little man to have. If it's higher than normal, that's not good. The doctor comes in, while the kids are just every direction, crawling around, touching and chatting up a storm! If you know my kids, especially the boys, then you know that if you talk to them - they will talk your ear off about everything on their mind!!! lol So he's tickled by them, luckily, he's not annoyed. He asks me if they're all close in age - I said - yep they're almost 4 1/2. Takes him a second. Then he laughs. He was proud of himself for being right about them close in age! lol Whatever. lol Then he asks the usual if I watch "Jake and Kate" I said no. lol He did a great job of talking over the kids and them crawling under his legs and desk...sigh...kids...

Anyways, back to the appointment. Everything on the outside is looking good. BP, feeling his tummy, checking out his goods, etc. He asks his questions. He wants to see Dylan in a year and then he'll have another renal ultrasound, blood work and VCUG scan. This should be interesting. The last time we did this, Dylan was a couple months old, he laid still and drank his bottle. I'm not sure how a 5 year old will do with this. So hopefully he'll do just fine and won't have to be sedated or anything - if they even do that. The doctor said if all 3 of those things come back clear and his kidney reflux is gone and the other side is not seen - then Dylan will be set free from them. YAH! We still have to watch for unexplained fevers, UTI's and bladder infections. Which so far he has never had! He is discouraged from playing rugby, dirt-biking and that fancy bike stuff where they jump, etc. and sledding. He said football should be okay, but not one of his favorite sports...lol I said of all the kids for this to be a restriction, Dylan is my most likely to be involved with extreme sports! But they make guards for sports and the kidney area, so I'll be sure he has one, if he does get involved with one of those no-no sports....

I also discussed with him Dylan's urine stream direction. It's still to the right and straight out - which is oh so fun for clean up every single time he goes to the bathroom...sigh...So he wants him to see the urologist. That will probably have to be fixed. I've been putting it off. I know it needs done. Luckily the pediatric urologist is taking our insurance again, so there won't be any hoops to jump through to get him covered! A small blessing...So today I have to call them to get him seen there.

And my beef with this secretary - Good God - I think they need to have medical experience of some type to do the job of medical secretary. I give her the papers and sit down, since I was told to make the appointments for the scans, etc in a year. She hands me the papers and says goodbye. I said, I have to make appointments for these scans. She just looks at me like I'm speaking Greek. She sits down, ignoring the next patient waiting to check in. Multi-tasker - she is not...Anyways, she calls, but she doesn't even know why she's reading. So I have to tell her what my son's issue is called. I should've just called myself and set the appointment. She didn't even ask me what day of the week would work. She just ASSumed that since it was a year away, that any old day would work for me. Nice. I'll be rescheduling. But at least I'm in the books for now. She was slower than molasses and just, yah...

So that's what's new with Dylan and his kidney. Oh and he now knows he only has one. He was fascinated by this. The other 2 were also. There was a photo of the kidneys and the organs that go with it and so they got a kick out of me holding it up to where it would be on their body...lol I swear I'm going to have doctors that love numbers! lol

**ETA** Also, here's a link to the National Kidney Walk. We're going to do it next year, but our friends - the Frenznick 5 are doing it in honor of their daughter - please consider supporting them!
http://nkf.convio.net/site/TR/Walk/MichiganInc?px=1272902&pg=personal&fr_id=1790