Close Call

Thursday, the 8th, was a big day for Judah and me, nearly ending in Judah's first hospitalization since the NICU. What started out as just a routine 4 mo. wellness check that morning, ended up as two 3 hour "stints" at the Children's lab and ER. It all kinda started on Monday when Judah had his follow-up with the kidney specialist. The culture from his urine sample (a Bag UA, they call it, because they got it by sticking a little urine bag to him...pleasant image, isn't it) came back "suspicious". Anyway, by the time Thurs. rolled around, I needed to talk to the pediatrician about his elevated glucose (from Mon.) and his culture. The dr. didn't know any specifics about the culture, but because his glucose was high we had to postpone vaccinations (again) and go to the lab to get more blood work. Then I had to wait at the lab with my 3 youngest children for the results from the blood work, because if his glucose was still too high we'd have to go upstairs to see his Endocrinologist to have him look at Judah and change his Hydro cortisone dosage. Sheesh. Finally the results came back: Normal! Time to go home:) My whole morning was blown; but the kids were great, and McDonald's was right on the way home! That evening, right in the middle of fixing dinner, I got another call from the ped. Apparently, that morning Judah's potassium had come back high - too high. (I didn't realize that any time any of Judah's blood work comes back abnormal, especially with his electrolytes, they have to re-check and re-check until it's normal.) So, I needed to get him to Childrens right away for another round of blood work to make sure it hadn't gotten any higher. It was a 6.5, and 7+ means he needs to be admitted so they can monitor his levels and his heart. (Didn't know that too much potassium can adversely affect your heart.) They also wanted a cath. UA on him to double check his urine for a lower UTI. So, back to Childrens I went with him. I had to take him to the ER for the catheter because the nurses upstairs aren't available for that after 5 (on an outpatient basis). The lab came down to us; how nice of them:) Judah was a champ, as usual. I wonder how many times in my life I'm going to have to hold his hand and watch while a nurse inserts a catheter. This visit was another 3 hours by the time the call came back from the ped. that his levels were back to normal and we could go home. Yay! It was a long, tiring, somewhat frustrating day, but I praised the Lord all the way home that we were actually going home! On Sat. Judah's culture came back with 2 different bacteria - infection. So, even with a prophylactic dose of antibiotics, Judah will still get an occasional minor UTI infection. At least it's not in his kidneys. And, I'm praising Jesus that the infection is minor enough that he had no symptoms! I truly believe that God's hand is on Judah, and He is protecting him.

When all is said and done, I just had no idea that the combination of these 2 diseases - Hypopituitarism & Chronic Kidney Disease - would be so complicated and so involved! A tiny little gland in the middle of your brain, the pituitary, directly or indirectly effects pretty much every other part of your body. And obviously your kidneys are pretty darn important, too. I just didn't know. BUT GOD... God knew. God knows. He knows the inner workings of Judah's body intimately and perfectly. He designed Judah. And just the other day, as I was looking at Judah, God hit me with this truth afresh: God created Judah for His pleasure, His glory. He sees Judah in a way that I can't. He sees him whole and well, the way that Judah one day will be. And he sees beauty in Judah right now. Judah is beautiful. It's a weird dichotomy that I now live with on a daily basis: I pray for healing, and mourn the fact that Judah has a difficult, challenging life ahead of him...but I wouldn't change him for the world. He's my precious, darling boy.

I'm so thankful that on a day-to-day basis Judah is healthy. He's not constantly battling for his life. He's not sick. He's happy and content. I thank God every day for him.