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I thought this was a mommy diary?
2006-08-23, 5:57 p.m.

I forgot to write after we had Jack's annual check-up with his urologist a couple of weeks ago. How did I miss that? First, let me just say that I can't imagine too many 13-month-olds that are content to sit still and be calm as a doctor is squirting their back with that sonogram jelly and trying to take pictures of his kidneys. However, Jack did beautifully. He didn't want to lay down on his stomach, of course, but he did stay put on the table in "crawling position." He seemed to enjoy watching the images on the screen. I really think he would've stayed there for several more minutes if it had been necessary.

Here's what we know... The doc says his right kidney looks *perfect* and yay for that. His left kidney, though, remains underdeveloped. While his right one grew about a 2cm over the past year, his left one only grew 0.3cm. We all could see that it was significantly smaller, even without an M.D. after our names. Even still, the doctor said that there didn't appear to be any fluid in his kidneys, which we extrapolated to mean that maybe his urinary reflux has improved or disappeared. However, the ultrasound isn't the diagnostic test for that, so he can't and wouldn't come out and say that directly. Next year we'll go back to radiology and find out for sure. As content as Jack was to be having an ultrasound, I can't imagine he'll be so happy to have to have a catheter inserted and dye injected into his poor little bladder. I'm not looking forward to that one. Also, the doc said that (assuming that the reflux is still there to some degree) correcting the reflux would not correct his issue with the growth of his kidney. They're finding that to be just a separate developmental issue and he is likely stuck with it. What this means though, is that surgery appears to be off the table for him, which also is good. His one perfect kidney is all he'll ever need and the doc said that even if something did happen to that kidney (accident or whatnot... Needless to say we probably won't be encouraging him to play football, just in case), that his left kidney is still good enough to keep him off of dialysis. In the big picture, his only worry is a higher risk of high blood pressure as an adult, so that will have to be monitored. It wasn't all that we were hoping for in our office visit, but it was all still very good news.

Besides that, Jack is doing wonderfully. He has finally discovered some use in walking and is doing more and more of it everyday, though he still finds it easier to crawl over distances more than 15 feet or so. He is a tall boy, so I can only imagine that balancing is still an adventure for him. He doesn't have much use for talking in actual words even still, but is very effective in gestures and even occasionally will use the sign language to communicate when he's hungry (it's the only sign he seems to really have absorbed.) I have been a bit concerned in the past for his lack of talking, but I've decided that it's just not the avenue of development that he's decided to pursue just now. I think he gets a lot from me in that he's just studying everything now and has been for as long as he's been aware of his surroundings. One day his language is just going to EXPLODE, I think.

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