Mischievous

So my little devil of a child decided this afternoon that he'd like to know how betadine and peritoneal dialysis fluid takes.  Uh-huh, that's right, Stephen uncapped his peritoneal dialysis catheter today and shoved it right in his mouth.  Awesome.

I knew he had woken up from his nap and had been rolling around in his crib a bit, but I left him in there hoping he would go back to sleep because he had only been sleeping for about an hour and half.  When things got really quiet, I figured he had fallen back asleep.  But when I checked the monitor, he was sitting upright lounging back on his crib.  Went I went in, he had the tip of the catheter right in his dirty little mouth.

I knew there was a day when this was a possibility, because I had heard other Mom's having the same problem with toddlers, but since Stephen never took an interested in catheter before, I figured we were good to go.  But that little devil reached right in his "catheter spanx," pulled out his catheter, uncapped the end, and stuck in his mouth.  I have to say, it was quite a feat for him to be able to do all of that!!

So I took him in to the nephrologist and they've taken a culture and started IV antibiotics (in his dialysis fluid).  Hopefully this will just be a funny to tell later and won't result in any sort of infection.  But from now on, I'll be doubling up on safe checks for the catheter and wrapping in some sort of saran wrap or press'n'seal.


In other events, Bill and I were back at the University of Pennsylvania yesterday to finish up my evaluation to be a kidney donor.  We met with another social worker (aka donor advocate) and the nephrologist and I had to give some more blood and had a CT scan.  The appointment with the nephrologist was to go over all of my test results, health history, have a quick exam, and to talk about all the risks.  I think it was a very productive appointment and we learned a lot about the process and the donor "selection" process.  The nephrologist will present my case to the transplant committee and the final decision will be made as to whether or not I'm a fit donor.  But unless something crazy showed up on the CT scan, like having only one kidney or some weird kidney anatomy, I will be accepted as a donor, no problem.  Then it's just waiting until we find a paired match and for the surgery to be scheduled.  And then the real craziness will begin!!