Now it’s the kidneys…

I stayed with Rudy late into the night last night as there was concern about his kidneys kicking back in.  About 12:30am it seemed like one  of the meds was helping him as he started to pee, so I went to a friend’s home to bed.  Unfortunately, he didn’t keep this up and when I arrived this morning during rounds the team was confounded and concerned that there’s been virtually no output to speak of.  What confounds them is the fact that all of the other numbers that typically impact kidney function (blood pressure, labs counts, etc) are right where they should be.  An ultrasound shows good blood, but for some reason they aren’t kicking in.  What concerns them is that Rudy’s belly is getting quite large as none of the fluids they are putting into him have any means of coming off.  We are waiting for Nephrology to come and take a look as kidneys are their specialty.

I told Rudy that if he’s being ornery, he needs to stop.  When Wilson was potty training he got upset at us and decided to take things out by not going to the bathroom for days, so exceptional bladder control runs in our family and it’s been used in protest.  I raised this during rounds and added that I’m getting a sense that Rudy might not like the doctors very much and not peeing is his way of showing it.  Dr. Rick did not argue with this and said, “He doesn’t need to like us.  He just needs to pee.”

A little levity keeps us positive, but we are concerned.  Please pray.