Update on Kennady 5/23/12
Monday afternoon Kennady started throwing up big time. This is not anything new. In fact, she throws up quite a bit and we have gotten used to it. Honestly, the ‘throwup’ is not near as bad as other kids because she only eats ‘formula’. Anyway, it is not easy and we always have to be on guard to turn her on her side so that she will not choke on it. One time that happened as a 2yr old and she stayed 10 days in ICU with pneumonia.
It took a turn for the worse on Monday, when we begin to see blood in the ‘throwup’. At that point, we decided to take her to the ER at Dell Children’s hospital in Austin. I insisted that I be the one to take her. Erica stayed home with the boys.
When we got there (8:45pm), it was PACKED with people. Fortunately, they got us in quick (advantage to have a child with special needs). As soon as she got to the ER room, she started smiling and perking up. Here is a pic.
From that point on, she did not throw up and had no other symptoms. They did a catscan and xray to confirm that her shunt had not clogged again. They tested urine for infection. Nothing…Well almost nothing. They tested her blood, but for some reason did not check her electrolytes. So, everything looked normal and we were sent home around 1am.
Everything was normal until 4pm Tuesday. She started throwing up big time. At this point, she couldn’t hold water down and we decided to take her back to the hospital. This time Erica went and made sure they checked all the components in the blood. They found that her sodium levels were low.
From birth she has struggled with her sodium levels. She lacks a hormone that regulates her kidneys. When she doesn’t get the right amount of medication, she pees too much or too little. This throws her endocrine system off. Sodium levels are affected and she struggles. The worst case scenario is that she would pee herself into dehydration and eventually die. As she grows and her body changes, she needs more or less of the medication. Obviously, there is really no way to determine that we need to change medication until something like this happens. This condition is called Diabetes Insipidus. It has nothing to do with the other type of diabetes you are probably familiar with.
As of Wed morning, she is in the hospital and we are waiting for her levels to balance out. This occurs with changing the amount of fluids she gets and the medication given. Thank you for the prayers and support. We are so grateful to have so many loving people in our lives.
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