Our little Eryn (5yrs) was in the hospital this week. She has been struggling for a long time with bladder problems and things have escalated recently. After constant daytime wetting, painful urination and a constantly overfilled bladder, we took her in again to see her urologist. About four weeks ago we started the first of a handful of tests to see why her bladder can't seem to empty. Through those tests we found out that her kidney's were not looking good.
So. . . the night before a urology appointment (Tuesday night) we found that she was having very bloody stool. We were concerned and called an on-call urologist and he thought we should wait until our regular appointment the following day. That morning the dr. decided it would be best to hold off on our regular appointment and send her directly to the emergency room. There in the ER we stayed the entire day running various tests and watching her bladder empty with a catheter (in large amounts). They almost sent her home twice, but luckily we didn't go before we found out that she was having high blood pressure, anemia and she was also beginning to become dehydrated from the loss of all of that fluid. We saw a kidney specialist there who was very concerned and believed that she might have kidney disease. So it was decided to place her in the hospital to help resolve her kidney issues.
After two days of keeping her bladder emptied her blood pressure went down, her blood levels improved and she seemed to feel better all around. The kidney specialist was very pleased and seems slightly more hopeful about her possible chronic kidney problems. We still have not resolved her bloody stool and have a long way to go dealing with her bladder problems, but we feel grateful to be finally getting the help and attention that Eryn has really needed for quite some time.
I am trying not to feel totally overwhelmed by the number of dr. appts I have to go to this month. Life is crazy for our family, but the blessings are all around us. Eryn received a priesthood blessing in the hospital that we feel really helped her health improve. And we have such a loving and supportive family and ward around us to support and help. I hope that this wasn't too much information. =)
Joseph and I went out in the snow one recent morning. He had the best time and proved to me that a stick is still the best toy. =)
Here is Anna enjoying our huge piles of leaves. We could not believe how many leaves fell in our yard! What a beautiful time of year. Over way too soon. 
