Claire

[Roger & Karen Ranly]

Sorry for the delay in updating on Claire. I tried to transfer all my contacts to my gmail account now so hopefully this works. Hopefully I didn't miss anyone but if I did, please forward!

Dr. Mentser, the nephrologist, saw Claire this afternoon. He sounded more optimistic about the outlook on all of this. Claire moved out of ICU to a room in the nephrology wing today. After her pain meds this afternoon she finally started perking up.

During her almost 4 hour procedure, they discovered at least 3 more aneurysms in her kidney. They were not able to do balloon angioplasty in any of the involved artery areas, and inserted glue into all the aneurysms, and used alcohol to 'kill' the lower half of her kidney. Because of all of this, she could likely have significant flu-like symptoms for a few days and they started her on steroids to counteract that effect of the surgery. Unfortunately, steroids significantly raise the blood pressure, which they are trying to lower. During the procedure, she developed a small leak in one of her arteries and consequently had to stay in ICU overnight, so they could watch for bleeding. It was a long day and night. Her heart rate was very elevated which could indicate bleeding, but blood pressure remains very high. She was very nauseated and had pain, for which she was given IV meds. She was able to get a little sleep, but was very restless. It sounds like the bleeding risk in her kidney is now over, so hopefully things will keep improving. She was so sad that she wasn't allowed to go home today - maybe tomorrow.

The doctors are suspecting that she has FMD - fibromuscular dysplasia, which unfortunately can affect other arteries in the body other than the renal arteries. Because of her severe headaches it sounds like they'll be doing some additional imaging tests with dye of her carotid arteries,brain, and all the way down to her legs. She'll have to be put out for that also. He said he'll follow up with Claire in about a month. By that time she'll be off the steroids and hopefully her BP will be lower. We'll keep praying for that, as the doctor mentioned that if this procedure doesn't work, they might have to remove part or all of her kidney. We certainly don't want Claire to go through any more! For now it's just good to see her smile again!

Karen

Sent from my iPad

[Roger & Karen Ranly]

Claire had her surgery Tues. morning at 8.  She was in surgery for almost 4 hours.  Kerri and Pat were told initially it would probably be about 1-1/2 hours.  They were paged to let them know that thay found several more aneurisms in Claires kidney.  They filled all aneurisms with glue and ‘killed’ at least ½ of her kidney.  It’s been a rough day.  Claire’s been in some considerable pain, had a lot of nausea, and her BP is still very high, along with her heart rate.  She is in the ICU at least for the night.  They are watching her for bleeding, as they noticed a small leak in one of her arteries as a result of the procedure.  I hope I’ll have a better report tomorrow.  Roger and I are staying at the hospital tonight with Kerri and Pat.

 

Karen

[Roger & Karen Ranly]

Hello Everyone,

 

Sorry if you just received some outdated emails.  The emails I tried to send earlier this week from the hospital sent the minute I plugged my computer in here at home.

 

Claire did make it home this evening.  We weren’t sure earlier today if she would make it, as she was still in quite a bit of pain this morning.  The doctor said the process of the kidney dying can be painful.  He said it probably feels like a large very deep bruise, and said it will just take some time until the body can start absorbing some of the blood and dead kidney tissue, and then finally it will develop scar tissue around it.  She’ll be on steroids to combat other side effects of the surgery for about 2 weeks.  Hopefully once she’s finished taking them her blood pressures will start coming down.  They have to monitor her blood pressure and if it gets too high she has to take another medication in addition to everything else she’s already on.  We’ll be glad when they can stop some of the medications – not very tasty and she’s not a good ‘medicine taker’.   In about a month, once she is healed, Claire will be scheduled for a full body MRA – head to toe.  Basically an MRI with contrast or dye.  The doctor said it will be a rather lengthy test and she will have to be put out again.  They suspect she has FMD, fibromuscular dysplasia, a disease that causes weakening in the arteries.  Since she has the severe headaches, they especially want to check the carotid arteries and vessels in her brain.  With this disease, it’s possible to have blockages or aneurisms in any number of places – so that’s why they’ll do a full body test.  The doctor did say that it’s quite possible she was born with some of these kidney problems – he’s leaning to that assumption since she was definitely born with numerous arteries in each kidney instead of the normal one artery per kidney. 

 

Claire did quite well with the trip home.  Some of the bumps in the road along the way caused some pain for her, but when we saw her at home this evening, she seemed to be feeling quite well considering everything.  Nora and Reid were so happy to see Claire and Mommy and Daddy! 

 

Please keep Claire in your prayers (and Kerri and Pat).  This has been really tough on all of them, and now they still don’t know if it’s over – too many unanswered questions at this point.  We just hope the blood pressure comes down so she won’t have to have another surgery, and that the MRA is completely NORMAL!  Here’s wishing for a quick recovery for her!

 

Thanks for all the good wishes and prayers.  Please, please, keep lifting Claire up with them!

 

Karen

[Roger & Karen Ranly]

Some of you have been asking about Claire and I thought it might be easiest to send another email.  Claire has bounced back remarkably well from the surgery itself.  She doesn’t seem to be in any pain anymore.  She still has to take the steroids which cause stomach pain, but is doing okay with that also.  The hardest part for her right now is to actually take the medication.  Just too much of it right now!   Unfortunately, her BP hasn’t really come down, and is sometimes quite high.  Today, the doctor added another BP med in addition to the 2 that she already had prescribed.  They have to monitor her BP closely and each time it exceeds a certain reading, they have to call the doctor and get the okay to give her extra medication.  We remain hopeful, that once the steroids are finished, the BP will start to come down, but really don’t know.  As of today, a date has not been set for her full body MRA.  We are expecting it to be in early September and continue to pray that nothing shows up in any of her other arteries. 

 

Thank for your continued prayers. 

 

Karen