Monday, December 11, 2006 at 06:55 AM EST

Happy Holidays. Sam loved Halloween this year, and wanted to trick-or-treat every night for nearly a week afterwards. We'd try to distract her, but she usually wound up throwing a fit.

PT continues to go well, and her therapist is considering trying a new walker w/her (called a "reverse walker"), to see if that will help her stand up straighter.

Her hearing test was fine; she'll continue to have those every 6 months, as that is standard for kids who had meningitis.

She started two new kidney meds, but one raised her potassium, so they stopped that; the other is to preserve kidney function. Her labs are about the same, but not as good as they were a year ago; kidney function is not improving at all, in other words. A new blood test they can do now puts Sam's estimated kidney function at @25%. This was not happy news to hear, but not totally unexpected, as Sam's illness was so serious. Kids can keep cruising for years on that level without extra intervention, but may also require dialysis or a transplant sooner than that; with that in mind, I had a cat scan done last week to evaluate my kidneys, as that is the first step for a potential donor work-up. It was my idea to go ahead and do that--this is not an urgent issue that the docs are pushing. I just want as many ducks in a row as possible in the event that things go downhill kidney-wise.

Sam also had some elevated bp for a while, but that has since resolved.
We go back to kidney clinic in January.

In other, cuter news, Sam can say the Pledge of Allegiance, and sang her heart out at her preschool Christmas show; she missed it last year, so we were really excited to see her in it this year. Dave & Karen and their staff did such an amazing job putting the pageant together. It was just another reminder of how fortunate we are to have Sam in their care while we're at work.

Sam sees the eye doc this Saturday, and will hit both Shriner's hospitals early in the year as well.
I've posted a few new pics, and will put some of her Christmas photos up soon as well.

Thanks for keeping Sam in your thoughts and prayers!!
Jessica

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Wow!
Busy lil girl lately!!

Have a GRREAT Holiday, Sammy!!!

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