Happy Thanksgiving to all of our devoted readers! I can't even begin to explain how thankful we are for this holiday season. This time last year Tim and I wouldn't even talk about the 2010 holiday season because we were so afraid of what the future held for us and our little family of 3.
This year- yeah this year is the first year that I actually understand exactly what Thanksgiving is all about. Thanksgiving is not about the food on our table or where and when we will celebrate the holiday. No, Thanksgiving is about the people that you get to spend it with and looking back over the past year and realizing how completely blessed you are to be exactly where you are on this given day.
My goodness we have so many things to be thankful for this year. Our family and friends for standing by us, supporting us and loving us throughout this year. The nurses that we spent our long days at the hospital with. Dr. Alonso, Dr. Alam, Dr. Tiao and the entire transplant team for successfully getting my kidney out and into Max with as few complications as possible. We are so incredibly thankful for Dr. Ben, Dr. Brad and the entire nephrology department for their expertise and devotion to getting Max to where he is today. We would not be where we are without them. (Dr. Ben- We are going to miss you greatly).
Thankful doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about this holiday season. I don't know if there is a word out there to express our gratitude that we get to celebrate this Thanksgiving with our son. Max has taught us more in his short 2.5 years than we have learned in our entire lives. His smile is contagious beyond belief and oh his laugh. Yeah his laugh is medicine for the soul. He is the light of our lives and we are thankful, blessed and honored that he is here with us to be celebrating this beautiful 2010 holiday season.
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 25, 2010
November 12, 2010
Urology Follow Up
Max had his urology follow up appointment last week. Dr. Alam walked in and started laughing because Max was literally climbing up the windows.
He took a look at Max's vesicostomy and said "We'll see you back in 6 months with an ultrasound." I looked at him confused because we always do ultrasounds and follow ups every 3 months. He told me that Max is clearly growing very well since the transplant and that he "has faith for his bladder." He wants to give nephrology the time that they need to get Max's kidney 100% healthy and to get his meds situated.
6 months from now will be Max's 3rd Birthday! I can't believe it. At our next appointment we will ramp up Max's ditropan to help with the stretching process of his bladder. 3 months after we do that, Max will have a urodynamics and a VCUG done to see if his bladder has grown and to check the pressures. With that information, we will be able to see if Max's vesicostomy can be closed.
So this all means that it's possible that Max will have a closed system in less than a year! We are holding onto hope, but not getting them too high. We are well aware that there is still a chance that he will need a bladder reconstruction, but there is nothing wrong with keeping the faith- especially when the doctor told us he has faith as well.
Keep the faith.
He took a look at Max's vesicostomy and said "We'll see you back in 6 months with an ultrasound." I looked at him confused because we always do ultrasounds and follow ups every 3 months. He told me that Max is clearly growing very well since the transplant and that he "has faith for his bladder." He wants to give nephrology the time that they need to get Max's kidney 100% healthy and to get his meds situated.
6 months from now will be Max's 3rd Birthday! I can't believe it. At our next appointment we will ramp up Max's ditropan to help with the stretching process of his bladder. 3 months after we do that, Max will have a urodynamics and a VCUG done to see if his bladder has grown and to check the pressures. With that information, we will be able to see if Max's vesicostomy can be closed.
So this all means that it's possible that Max will have a closed system in less than a year! We are holding onto hope, but not getting them too high. We are well aware that there is still a chance that he will need a bladder reconstruction, but there is nothing wrong with keeping the faith- especially when the doctor told us he has faith as well.
Keep the faith.
November 10, 2010
2nd Annual Project Santa
It's that time of year again! I can't believe the holidays are just a few short weeks away.
With the huge success that we had last year, Tim and I have decided to continue with Project Santa this year. We will be collecting toys for the kids that will be spending their holiday season at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.
We are asking for those that want to help this year to send new toys with minimal cloth on them so that they can be wiped down easily. We are looking for toys for all ages (birth to eighteen years of age). The deadline for getting your toys to us is Monday, December 13th. This will give us enough time to get the toys to the hospital in time for Christmas.
If you have any questions or are ready to drop your toys off please contact me at mommy2max08@yahoo.com.
We are looking forward to another successful year of putting smiles on these kid's faces!
With the huge success that we had last year, Tim and I have decided to continue with Project Santa this year. We will be collecting toys for the kids that will be spending their holiday season at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.
We are asking for those that want to help this year to send new toys with minimal cloth on them so that they can be wiped down easily. We are looking for toys for all ages (birth to eighteen years of age). The deadline for getting your toys to us is Monday, December 13th. This will give us enough time to get the toys to the hospital in time for Christmas.
If you have any questions or are ready to drop your toys off please contact me at mommy2max08@yahoo.com.
We are looking forward to another successful year of putting smiles on these kid's faces!
November 1, 2010
Life is Good.
Max had his biopsy on Thursday morning and everything went well with it. They were able to sedate him without having to intubate him which resulted in him waking up smiling and talking to us. He did great.
Dr. Brad and Dr. G came into the room a few hours later with the results. The second biopsy looked a lot better than the first. Max was considered to be in level 2 rejection (moderate) with the first biopsy and he is not borderline level 1 (mild). Dr. Brad told me that the pathologist had a hard time finding one aspect of the rejection on the biopsy. We were able to see the slides on the computer and there is a huge difference between the two biopsies. The first one had a lot of bluish purple dots all over it which were the bad cells that were attacking the kidney. This time around, there were very few. Very good news.
Because there was still minor rejection they went ahead and gave him another dose of the IVIG and and one more dose of IV steriods. He also got two high doses of oral steriods in hopes that this will treat the remaining bad cells. There is some confusion of whether or not there will be a sixth IVIG infusion. I am waiting for that to be cleared up and Dr. Ben will let me know the verdict later this week.
Max's creatinine is still hanging out at .5, but the doctors are now pretty certain that it's because of the high dose of Prograf (anti-rejection medication) that he's on, so they are okay with it staying at .5 while he is on this dosage.
Max is doing great. He is all over the place and doing what a typical, healthy two year old does (minus the eating).
We also have some very good news on the home front. We are officially under contract and will be closing by the end of the year. The plan is for us to rent the house back from the new home owners until March 31st. We will then move in with my parents and break ground on our new home at that time.
We're anxiously waiting to see what else November has in store for us!
Life is so good.
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