what's going on...

Some of you may know already, but to try to keep everyone in the loop, here's what's been going on with us - if you're interested...Ever since Memorial Day we've been having a bit of a medical crisis and even though I'm the pregnant one, it's not me in crisis! Jonathan went to the eye doctor on Monday, but was given the news that his retinas were bleeding, which was causing his poor vision. The next day he went to have blood work done and saw a retina specialist who attributed the bleeding to hypertension or diabetes. We were already thinking diabetes since just about everyone in his immediate family has it. So that was Tuesday...Wednesday he gets on his way back to Tampa for work, when an hour into the drive he gets a call on the lab work. His blood pressure was through the roof (180 something over 130 something) and the labs showed his kidneys weren't functioning properly. They said, "Get to the hospital now!"

So he finally gets back to the house and after getting William set up with my parents for the afternoon, we rush to the E.R. They took him back quite quickly and got on with their tests. Of course, there were no answers for us there; his b.p. was still sky high and he was confusing the E.R. docs because he had none of the "typical" symptoms of kidney failure. So they admitted him later that night. He has since seen all of the nephrologists (kidney doctors) at the hospital who are completely stumped as to why this is happening to someone so young and in good health. Regardless of why it's happening, they're trying to fix it - most importantly. On Friday, Jonathan underwent his first round of dialysis and was given a blood tranfusion because they found he's also very anemic. That's when the doctor told me and Ed specifically that right now Jonathan's kidneys are "toast." The doctor we saw that morning, Dr. Doll, is a very kind, understanding, helpful man who is just laying it all out there for us, making sure we're aware of everything that could happen. We're thankful that he has such good dcotors there! Then on Saturday Jonathan had another round of dialysis, which brought his kidney levels up. They're not all in the safe range, but they're getting better and he's starting to feel better too. However, he has a permanent catheter in his chest in order to continue with dialysis, which he'll have to do for an indefinite amount of time.

But now it's 9:00 Monday morning and he's having a biopsy done hopefully any time now. This will tell the doctors whether his kidneys have the possibility of recovering themselves (with extensive treatment), or if he will eventually need a transplant. So, that's about it for now, until we get some preliminary results from the biopsy. There are lots of pros and cons with both options right now, but whatever it takes to make him well is what we're going to do! I just want to tell everyone THANK YOU for your calls, flowers, offers of help, and most importantly prayers right now. We don't understand all of this and why it's happening, we just have to get through it. We're trying to do that and your help and support are really a blessing. Thank you! I'll post more when we know something...