DS 2 and his health problems

I came to the realization that I had not posted on my blog about what is going on with DS 2 and his health. I had not mentioned the story at all. Why this is such a surprise to me considering I rarely blog, I don't know. But here is what took place in November.


The Sunday before Thanksgiving, we got home from church and DS2 laid down on my lap and took a nap for about 2 hours. That is a rarity since he stopped taking naps by the time he was 2 and he was almost 3 1/2 at the time. (Anyways) He woke up with a fever of 104. I gave him some ibuprophen, thinking maybe he was teething, and he drifted in and out of sleep for the remainder of the day. His fever had broken within another hour or so. The next day, he
The pediatrician originally thought he had a bladder infection but the test came back from the lab neg for infection but positive for crystals. So that sent us to rainbow Babies in Cleveland. In the meantime, DS2 had had a hard time "going" and said that it felt like someone is hammering his private when he goes. :( So the doc was puzzled because there are no one on either side of family that has kidney problems. He ordered an ultrasound and did some bloodwork. If the ultrasound doesnt show any stones, he said that doesnt mean there arent any, but they are too small to show up then he will have to do a CT scan. But he doesn't want to expose Ds2 to radiation if he doesnt have to.


The ultrasound didn't show any stones! Thank you Jesus! And although the doctor said its pretty likely that he passed a stone or maybe more at the time it was hurting to go potty, by the time he got the results of the test and saw us a month later, the pain was gone and he didn't think that there was an immediate reason to put DS2 through a CT scan. However, the lab work showed that his levels of calcium in his body were off the charts high. And, the chemical in our bodies that breaks down calcium so it can be passed through our kidneys and out of our bodies - DS2 doesn't have nearly enough of that chemical. So, doctor said he was a "kidney stone waiting to happen." What that meant, was quite complicated. That required a lifestyle change for the whole family. First, reducing calcium in the diet isn't as simple as that. Studies have shown that reducing calcium directly from the diet causes our bodies to pull calcium out of our bones to make up for the lack in our diet. Instead, we must reduce our sodium, which, in turn, reduces just enough calcium to make a difference. The doctor didn't state this, but I assume that by us trying to reduce the calcium directly, we reduce way too much. Using the indriect method of reducing sodium also reduces trace amounts of calcium. I have learned this from label-reading. Funny thing, how I have to read every label for my son's health when I hate those labels! I always make sure whether it be box or can that they are turned around so I don't have to look at them. I think they are ugly! I know, I know. It's a ridiculous thing to say, its just a label, but it is ugly! Now, I have to look at them. :( LOL! The doctor said DS2 needs to have no more than 1500 mg of sodium per day in his diet, and that it would be much easier for us to change the eating habits of the whole family than just one member. Reason being -- I have to make nearly everything from scratch. He also has to try to drink 6 8oz glasses of water each day. And, we have to give him 2 tsp of Bicitra 3 times each day in 2 oz of juice. This medicine is to keep the calcium crystals from binding together and becoming stones. It doesn't reduce the calcium, but just keeps it small and hopefully passable.