Post-Christmas/Post-Strep

I had every intention of posting each day of Christmas, but got hung up around Day 10.  You may have thought it was a result of our going back to school and work, and certainly that fact played a part.  But mainly my attention suddenly got diverted to the toilet - yes, the toilet - on the eve of our return to reality.  If you get grossed out easily, stop reading.  No, I'm not talking poop here.  Just blood.  The youngest one, just a few days from her sixth birthday, called me to the bathroom that night because her "pee look[ed] all brown."  Completely freaked out, I googled and realized I should call her doc immediately, which I did, and they wanted to see her pronto.  We high-tailed it to Frederick for a late Monday evening appointment; urine analysis, once-over, no other symptoms, no weird kid injuries, nothing in the urine but blood and protein (no infection obvious) -- so, "come back in two days to see what the lab says."  We go back; labs say nothing - another, more comprehensive once-over - "go to Robinwood now - get an ultrasound of her kidneys and bladder and get a blood sample.  STAT."  Done.  Wait.  Wait.  Wait.
Finally, Thursday afternoon I got the call that the only thing they could find was that such-and-such levels indicated that she "recently" (within a couple of months) had strep.  ("Do you remember her having strep?"  "No.  Bad stomach-bug before Thanksgiving?  But no strep - throat or skin - that we can remember.  Wait a minute - she did have a little fever one day.  She did have itchy hands one afternoon.  Does that count??")
So, they think she had/has something called post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis (GN) - "a disorder of the kidneys that occurs after infection with certain strains of Streptococcus bacteria"  - according to this website.
Dr. Crowder, one of the very talented doctors at The Pediatric Center in Frederick and surrounding areas, told me that they see about ONE of these cases a YEAR!  How crazy is that?!  That MY kid would be so unique . . . Another doctor who worked with us, Dr. Chaitovitz, explained to me in terms that even I could understand how this little disorder works:  kid gets strep somehow (usually the skin-brand), strep goes untreated, strep hangs out in the body for a while, strep finally finds kidneys and "attacks," kidneys create an antibody to defend the kidneys, the antibody makes the kidneys "leak" blood and protein (therefore, the cola-colored urine).  They treated her with an antibiotic to be certain that the strep is gone, but they are continuing to keep a close eye on her blood pressure and weight to be sure she's not going into kidney failure, which can and does happen with some of these affected kids.
So far, SG has had impeccable blood pressure and she's not taking on any "water weight," so they are convinced that her kidneys are working fine.  But just to be sure, we get to go back often to see our nurse and pee in a cup!  She's not had ANY pain or discomfort and her urine is looking normal (although the doc says there are still blood and protein there - we just can't see it.  It'll be like that for up to a year!).
So, if your kids are feeling "streppy," go and get that culture and make them take their Amoxicillin!  Brown pee is SCARYYYYYYYY! 

the birthday girl at her party ~ the guests had no idea about her wee issue . . .