This morning we woke up like any other first full day at the beach and made breakfast and set out to bike ride, buy flip flops (yeah, I forgot them) and swim in the pool at our luxury 1950 cinderblock rental.
What happened in the Roberts Alternate Universe is that at about noon I got a call from the transplant team that Gage’s creatinine was 2.4 which is nearly triple his norm.
“They want you to come to the hospital for Gage to be admitted.” the nurse says.
I explain we’re on vacation and we conspire a plan to drive 1 1/2 hours to a major city for a hospital that can do STAT labs. We do this and learn the creatinine is down to 1.9. This made me feel better but no one with a medcial degree was happy, so we had three options:
1. Go home to Atlanta and admit Gage for evaluation and treatment (probably of fluids and steriods).
2. Stay at the lab and test for UTI to rule out an infection/reason for high numbers. Go back to beach, make him drink and drive back to The Big City tomorrow morning for a retest of labs.
3. Go to ER, provide fluids and if the numbers come down to around the 1.0s then we’d know it was dehydration and we’d be released for the week.
SIDEBAR: Gage had labs on Thursday before clinic but as the Kidney Gods would have it one label got switched onto another kid’s vial of blood and so they had to retest labs on Saturday morning. Not good because Gage didn’t eat and drank little Thursday and Friday so Saturday morning when he did have labs I didn’t think they’d be great.
When I heard her say 2POINT WHATEVER I kind of blacked out. I think she said 2.4 but she may have said 2.6 but I knew it was bad. The last time Gage was in the 2POINT WHATEVER was when they sent him to be evaluated for a kidney transplant. So yeah, not my favorite numbers, those twos.
I am quite upset and freaked out but in the interest of saying calm for Gage I’m staying in control. I’ve only cried a few times but the biggie was with the doctor a few moments ago when I asked him to step out of Gage’s room.
I think it just bottled up for the several hours we’ve been dealing with everything and then of course, Gage’s life is interrupted again. Vacation with the family is known right now for kidney crisis episode #TooManytoCount.
In a couple of hours we’ll know if I will be headed back to the ATL with Gage in tow for admittance into Children’s. We’ll leave the rest of the family here to finish the vaction as planned, which is sad, but it’s what we do. We take the sad stuff and we deal with it the best way possible.
This is what I told the ER doctor tonight…“My first priority is Gage’s kidney, keeping it safe. The 2nd priority is preserving the family vacation. So, we will retest, figure out if the function is still bad and if it is I’ll head to Atlanta with him tonight or tomorrow. That plan sounds reasonable, right?”
Sounds so reasonable, yet I can’t believe my ears as the words pass my very own lips.
As he is hooked up to IV fluids, my incredible son is laughing right now with his cousin while they make fart sounds with the plastic gloves that have entertained the kids over the years. That he can still do that while facing leaving the beach (he knows it’s a real possibility) is amazing. He’s so resilient that it overwhelms me sometimes. Sometimes my sadness for his experience overwhelms me too.
Read for the update (he is not in kidney rejection).
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FWIW, Hotter’s CRT was 2.something (like you I kind of blacked out after hearing the “two…”) one time, and it turned out that this was secondary to puking all day due to pain from a dying gallbladder that ended up having to come out (that in and of itself ended up being Big Drama because rather than a general surgeon who does several cholycystectomies a week he had to have it done by Transplant, and they nicked his liver, and there was a bile leak, and then we had to rule out pancreatitis and they weren’t sure if it was the native “pank,” as Transplant called it, or the donor one if that was the case, and OMG). Fluids reversed the situation without steroids getting involved, and we all lived happily ever after (sorta, hee!). Here’s hoping that’s the case for Gage, too!
Girl, anywhere, anytime, I’ll be the wind under your stinkin’ wings. or whatever.
xoxox
Fingers crossed, and prayers sent!
Doing the low number dance for you…. I reserve this for only very special cases.. You can thank me later
Maddie
Oh I like this, I think (if it’s ok with you) I will join in the extra special low number dance.
also, all the things are now crossed. Thanks for the update.
That sucks. It really does seem like these things happen at the worst times. You guys are going to need a vacation from your vacation!
Good thoughts and numbers comin’ your way.
Oh, Julia, I am so sorry to hear this. Will be keeping Gage and all of you in my prayers. Will also be watching for updates. Sending love!
Lots of prayers and positive thoughts headed your way.
I hope you get low numbers soon!! Hang in there.
Hoping for good stuff to happen. Bummer….hang tough.
Oh Julia, praying for you guys!!!
Love to Gage and the family.
I have been thinking about you since yesterday. Silly how we get attached to virtual strangers, but your kids have firmly entered my caring zone. I hope the numbers drop and you guys get the vacation you deserve. Back when D’s creatinine was above 6, I often meditated on the image of a slide and would picture it going down. Crazy, I know, but it was all I could do.
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