Thursday, February 26, 2009

The Missing Kidney

How much can one mom handle? In the past few years I've had my fair share of burdens and it seems like they keep popping up one after the other. Supposedly God only gives you what you can handle, but does he know I'm not a superhero? Does he know that one more thing might push me over the edge? I mean, does he really want to meet me that soon? Lately, I'm not sure but for some reason I'm being tested in a big way.

You can only imagine my complete state of shock when the pediatrician told me that Sophia may have been born with only one kidney. Her left kidney could not be found on the ultrasound from the previous week. I took the sheet from her hands and sorta chuckled. Yes, I chuckled. I mean one kidney? C'mon, she already has a weak heart. The doctor suggested a CAT scan and that was that. I didn't ask questions. I didn't worry like a frantic parent. I was actually pretty calm. For those of you who know me...I didn't even cry! I left the office, paper in hand, and kept looking at it over and over. It read, "The left kidney was not seen, possible congenitally absent left kidney." Hmmm...now I know that you can live with only one kidney. People do it all the time. Some people even generously donate one kidney so a loved one can continue to live. But being born with only one kidney - that sounded silly, medically probable, but silly.

After the initial shock wore off, I suddenly remembered that Sophia had an ultrasound at another office when she was three months old. They never mentioned a missing kidney. I rushed over to that office and requested the medical records. There it was - "the left kidney measured 5.4 cm." What a relief, right? Well, not yet. Maybe the left kidney never grew? I asked my husband if this was a possibility. He too thought the whole thing sounded silly but wasn't sure what to make of it. He called to schedule another ultrasound.

So this morning my starving daughter (she had to fast) and her daddy went to get another ultrasound. And I'm happy to say that Sophia has two perfectly normal healthy kidneys. Thank You God, I really wasn't ready to meet you either!

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