News alert: Kappa, lambda and sodium

The diagnostic lab called C.'s pediatrician yesterday because the blood test results showed alarmingly high sodium levels which translate into serious dehydration.

The diuretics clearly did that. This revelation explains the puzzling gauntness and the dietitian explained how: Every cell contains water so when somebody is dehydrated every cell in his body dries up and shrinks.

Well, those blood tests are the gift that keeps on giving: today some more results rolled in including some that had never been tested for C. According to the liver specialist, they indicate a hematological problem.

"I think you should consult a hematologist also due to the high kappa/lambda ratio."

When I consulted Dr. Google about these results, the illness that was always mentioned in its context was multiple myeloma which took my father from us twenty years ago.

So the list of worries and specialists on C.'s case is growing fast. But the answers still elude them all.

Fifteen years on and farewell to MAD

We're still grieving over the 15th anniversary of the worst terror attack in history. It is hard to believe how long ago it was - I still vividly remember exactly what I was doing when I first learned of it as if it had happened yesterday. But at the same time, doesn't it seem the outrage over those egregiously vicious acts has dissipated too quickly and easily? What are your thoughts?

At the urging of our GP, who is filling in for C.'s pediatrician (the latter, at the age of 70, decided to climb a few Californian mountains), I consulted a dietitian about the C.'s plummeted albumin and slightly low hemoglobin levels. I did so very reluctantly since I've never had a high regard for dietitians, presuming their knowledge to be scanty and freely available from Dr. Google.

Well, I may be prejudiced but, strangely, I'm also pretty open-minded. After a brief session with this dietitian I did a 180. She  won me over with her explanation of how the body needs carbs and, when it doesn't get any, it breaks down protein to extract the carbs therein causing protein depletion..

She added that C. may have tolerated the MAD - Modified Atkins Diet - but was now apparently suffering these side effects from it.  (She's been on it for about 10 years.) I left the clinic - 5 minutes from home - with instructions  on how to introduce carbs gradually and a referral for repeat blood tests next month. (Could it get any simpler?)
So C. has already had red quinoa and brown rice which has left me  high on optimism again. True to form, my imagination has run amok and I'm dreaming that the carbs will not only help heal C.'s pressure sores but boost her energy and cognition levels. (An occasional bit of fantasy never hurt anybody, right?)

And yesterday we brought C. to our HMO's Wounds Clinic where the experts re-examined C.'s whoppers, declaring them all either "healing nicely" or "not-too-bad".  Her course of antibiotics was halted and the iodine and gauze treatment continued along with twice weekly visits from our our dear home visiting nurse.

Seeing a dietitian

I finally made an appointment with our health maintenance organization's dietitian today in the pursuit of advice on how to cure C. of her newest  condition. (Yes, free so why not). After finally reading  the GP's referral note, which I'd stashed away two weeks ago  I learned it has an impressive medical title: Hypoalbuminemia.