And The Hits Just Keep On Coming

It was another crappy day at the doctor's office today. On top of the bleary-eyed exhaustion, frazzled nerves, and headaches that rules the house right now, the health issues just keep stacking up. Based on this week's lab results, Jordan's urinary tract infection is more serious than we thought. Her sodium & chloride are also a little low. Her platelets are high. We didn't even really get to the blue legs, but the fevers and cold sweats are probably related to the infection. Perhaps there is another infection we haven't found. Hopefully the augmenten and the antibiotic shot she got today will take care of the infection(s). On a more positive note her blood pressure is back down to a good, livable range.

Once infection-free Jordan will have to have an ultrasound and some other tests to see why, at only (almost) 8 months, she even has a UTI. Even if she were perfectly healthy otherwise, she would be having these tests, as a UTI is not really expected for anyone her age, even on these medicines. UTIs are very worrisome in babies, and usually indicate a bigger problem than just the infection. Perhaps her kidneys are not formed correctly, or working correctly. It's possible that she will have to go on a profilactic antibiotic to try to keep them from getting infected in the future. It all boils down to more tests, more doctors, more things to worry about, and more things to go wrong.

The lab report stated that, in addition to the infection (which they are culturing now), there are unknown brown crystals in her urine. So far all the docs are stumped on what they are, so they're referring to a specialist. Hopefully we'll know by tomorrow, or at least the next day.

I'm holding out for the humorous result, though. I told them that I was the one that collected the urine sample, by sticking the collection bag to her privates while sitting on our sofa, then cutting the bag open with our kitchen scissors to pour it into the plastic container. Not exactly "sterile" conditions. The brown crystals are probably chunks of Maple & Brown Sugar Frosted Mini-Wheats from my breakfast. It's not my fault if they go on a wild goose chase over those.

In the end we were at the doctor's office for 2 hours. At least we can't complain about our pediatrician. She is an honest, caring, smart doctor, who acknowledges her limits and treats us respectfully when we ask questions or when she is explaining things. She's a great "project manager" for us, keeping on top of doctor appointments, labs results, imaging results, and all the other little tidbits. She even offered to put together our file & a cover letter to make it easier for the new docs we're trying to get scheduled with across the US. She calls on weekends and evenings to find out how things are going or to give us test results we're waiting for, good or bad. We never feel rushed, and know that she's given up more than one lunch to meet with us (as was the case today). We're very thankful to have her help and guidance through all of this (thanks Kelly for the research and recommendation!).

ACTH countdown: 42 days down, 6 to go