Saturday morning news

Mom has been regularly speaking with the nurses and doctors at UCSF. (I find it amazing that the chief of pediatric urology was there both last night at midnight and this morning at 6. I don't think these are his regular hours!)

Loki is stable. His potassium and sodium in his blood are not too far out of the normal range. He is producing some urine but it is only coming out through his Penrose drain. Some urine coming out this way is not very strange after a surgery. The problems are that none is coming out via the normal route, and what is coming out via the drain is too dilute. As Mom mentioned, he is on the nasal cannula for oxygen support, at 30% oxygen and 2 liters per minute. This need could be unrelated to his current kidney problem, and instead just be due to exhaustion.

The urologists still suspect ATN as the problem. The good thing about that, accoding to my Internet reading, is that if the cause of the ATN can be removed, then the tubules repair and regrow fairly quickly. After surgery, the cause could just be the shock, so there is chance this could resolve itself. Another possibility is that Loki could be temporarily placed on kidney dialysis, in order to give his kidneys a chance to heal. Thus, for now, nothing is being done besides very close monitoring of out little man. The urologist was "cautiously optimistic."

In a reversal, my minor cold symptoms have returned, and Mom's have left. I am going to drive her to UCSF but return home. She has a place to stay nearby. If needed, you can reach either of us by our mobile phones. I, however, have lost my voice.