Upcoming Appointments

Although there are no other tests that can be done to make Boston's diagnosis any more or less conclusive, there are a couple of upcoming appointments that we are preparing for.

October 31 - Sonogram and doctor's appt: one week from today I have my "new patient" appointment with St. Luke's Perinatal Center. Until now, I had been seen by Dr. Magee and Crystal Murphy at Women's Care Group at Shawnee Mission Medical Center and had been going to St. Luke's for specialist consultations. With the likely diagnosis of Pierson Syndrome, it was recommended that I transfer all of my care to the Perinatal Center to work with Dr. Elizabeth Wickstrom, who is a perinatal specialist, meaning that she works exclusively with high-risk pregnancies. It will be nice to have all of my care located in one place because it means fewer doctors visits and more centralized care. All of my visits will be downtown, so I won't have to miss much work to go. Even though I have been there before, this appointment is classified as a "new patient" appointment. I will spend about an hour getting a detailed level 2 sonogram done, which is what I am most looking forward to. The sonograms really let me "spend time" with Boston, getting to see him as a real person and watching him move around. It is so neat to see what is causing all of the bumps and movement in my belly. I am also to eager to see how his kidneys are doing. How they look will give us a better idea of what to expect. If they look "bright", then that will give us a better idea to expect issues at birth. If they look normal, then we will have reassurance for another month that his kidneys look normal. It doesn't guarantee that he will have no problems when he is born, but it could tell us that at that moment they look fine.

I will also have a "nurses appointment" and a "doctors appointment." Since I haven't been a regular patient there, I don't know what these will consist of or why they are different. I will be glad to have my mom there for support through all of the appointments.

November 7 - Meeting with Dr. Blowey: Dr. Blowey is a baby kidney doctor at Children's Mercy Hospital. On the first Friday of every month he meets with pregnant mommies who have kidney diagnoses for their unborn babies. I will be interested to find out from him the ins and outs of baby kidney disease and what will happen when Boston is born. I am going to ask him what kind of tests they will do and when, what will be the circumstances where he has to stay in the hospital, how long will it take to find out if he has this disease, if he is born "normal," how long will we know that he really is "fine," and anything else that I can think of. I have been writing down questions as I think of them, but I welcome suggestions of things to ask. If you have had any questions about Boston's condition, please send them to me so I can make sure to ask Dr. Blowey about them. I am looking forward to talking with Dr. Blowey because he is the one that will be able to answer all of the questions about what will happen after Boston is born.