Down 3 Pounds!

Oh what a beautiful day. Bailey was down 3 pounds this morning for her weigh-in and has been peeing all day long. Every time someone walks through the door, their first words are, "Are you still peeing?" They did slow her down a little bit - the body doesn't like losing too much fluid too quickly - so tomorrow's weigh-in might be a little less, but hey! It's progress. And we like progress.

Although we got a report yesterday that the kidney ultrasound was fine, I guess there was some evidence in the scan this morning of calcium build-up in the kidneys. This was most likely caused by the diuretics which are known to cause calcium build-up, and the whole issue with the flutter and fluid-retainage all work together to cause blood circulation issues. And, there is also evidence of low red blood cells, which are produced by bone marrow which process starts in the kidneys. So. Basically, the calcium that's in there won't go away and may or may not cause problems down the line, but they can use a certain diuretic that will lessen the calcium build-up from here on. And, for the red-blood cell issue, Bailey has to get an epogen shot 3 times a week, starting tomorrow. She wasn't thrilled about that, but the first thing she said was, "It's not a lovenox shot." And she had the epogen shots when she was here on the Berlin, so she knows all about it. It didn't leave too bad of a bruise, like the lovenox shots did.

We were a little caught off guard when the kidney doctor came in this afternoon to explain things to us. In fact, we were pretty upset, but we asked that Dr. D come up and tell us his "version" of things, and that helped a lot. We just communicate with him well, since we've been with him for 15 years, and also he could put it into perspective with everything else that's going on. We'll just take it as it comes, trying not to worry about anything that isn't something to worry about yet. (Boy that was profound. Ha!)

ShrinkyDinks are back! Bailey had Matt (our med student), Dr. Barkimer, Dr. T, Dr. D, 2 nurses, and Scott and Nancy all hovered around a little toaster oven (at different times, of course) watching pieces of plastic shrivel up and flatten out. It was hilarious! I got a few pictures, so I'll post some as soon as we get home. Everyone seemed impressed except Dr. D and Dr. T. We'll have to work on them. Another resident, Dr. Weisbluth, brought in bright colored paper to show Bailey some origami, and then another resident came in and said she was bringing in some crafts tomorrow that would top the origami. I think we have a crafting competition on our hands.

Matt helped Bailey with her Spanish homework today. And Dr. Hoyer helped with a chemistry question. As soon as she gets some algebra homework, we'll find someone to help with that too. (They do have real tutors here, but it's pretty entertaining to get these highly-educated medical people working on homework. And they do give some great advice on colleges, college courses, etc.) We'll miss these residents and med students when they move on after this month. It is by far the best group we've had. They have great medical careers ahead of them, and we're honored to be a part of their journey.

Anybody watch Survivor tonight?! We're huge survivor fans. We already have a favorite player . . . James. Go James!

And go Bailey! Keep peeing!

Love you all!
Angie