|
First of all, our internet has been down for about a week or so. Did anyone miss me? haha. Thanks to those who sent cards to my mom. She was very surprised and happy that christians in other parts of our country were kind enough to do this for her! that didn't sound right....she wasnt surprised there were nice christians, she was surprised about the cards. is that better?
Now the big news, which is not good news. Tyler went to Remicade on Monday and his blood pressure was extremely high (210/?)(195/?) etc so they pulled out the IV and canceled the Remicade. They made plans to send him directly to the ER but after a little bit his pressure dropped down to 150/90 so they just got him in to the nephrologist that day for a consult.
At the nephrologists office his b/p was normal. That figures. But I was relieved he was ok. Even the Dr. said he was just going to run lab work etc to find out why he had blood in his urine. So then I start worrying about him missing Remicade and what will happen if he can't have it.
The next day in the span of 10 minutes his gastroenterologist called and his nephrologist called. He has post-streptococcal glomelularnephritis. There is no cure, but it will go away...eventually. He has to have low sodium diet, take Lasix, and be monitored closely by his dr for blood in urine and b/p.
The gastroenterologist said he could have Remicade IF his b/p was ok the day he was getting it, so that is fantastic news. He had a followup appt at the nephrologists office this morning and he still has a lot of blood and protein in his urine and his b/p is high still. The PA said they are treating kids that have had this for 2 years, so Tyler was down about that, but hopefully his will not last that long. They gave him b/p medicine that will also keep the protein from leaving his kidneys. or something like that.
What happened, more than likely they said, is that he had a strep infection sometime recently (whether on skin or in throat) that wasn't completely gone and this strain of strep affected his kidneys. Some strep can cause Rheumatic fever, will this one causes PSGN. pretty rare, but is still seen in kids. So, the moral to this story is if you have even an inkling your kid has strep make sure they are treated and take the whole amount of antibiotics. Tyler had been sick a couple of weeks ago or so and went to the campus Dr. and they gave him Bactrim for upper respiratory infection (which was probably strep). The medicine has side effects of nausea and vomiting (which he had so he was missing a lot of classes) so he stopped taking it because he was feeling better. I don't blame Tyler for this, they didn't check for strep, they said Upper Respiratory and they gave him a yucky antibiotic. He knows from now on not to get THAT one.
It could be worse, so we are just taking things day by day and see how he feels. He has to check his b/p 3 x a day, weigh every day (to see if he is retaining fluids) and eat a low sodium diet under 1500 mg a day) Of course, I am worried about him but I try not to let him see it (of course now he will read this and know I am worried:)
Please keep him in your prayers.
Thanks, Kathi
p.s. I am at the library typing this and I don't know when our internet will be fixed so I might not be able to get back on for several days.
|
