Aldosterone what? And hello Fall!

I love Fall. I love the change of season, the cooler nights, the leaves slowly starting to change and fall to the ground, the Fall decor hung around my house, the pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks, and wearing jeans and a comfy T-shirt. I love everything about Fall. There is just something about the changing of a season that is so refreshing to me. It's kind of like a fresh start, a new beginning, opening a new chapter in this thing called life.

I haven't blogged much lately. We've been a little busy and dealing with a new chapter in the life of our sweet middle child Camden. He has been dealing with some medical issues for the past several weeks. So here's the scoop with Camden. We have seen so many doctors, had numerous tests, and seen Camden (yet again) rise above the challenges set before him and take things like a champ. This kid never ceases to amaze me, and has the best outlook on life. I love him to pieces! So here's what's been going on.

At the end of September Camden suddenly passed out as we were leaving church. It happened three times in a row within a few minute period but completely took us off guard. He's only passed out once before (when having blood drawn) so luckily we knew the signs to look for and Michael was able to catch him as he fell. He said he was dizzy, said things were blurry, he turned super pale and out he went. We ended up calling the paramedics since we had no idea what was going on. We spent the rest of the day at Cardon's ER and didn't get any answers on what was going on. His blood work came back fine (however getting Camden's blood drawn was not an easy task, his blood kept clotting as they were drawing it so they had to poke him twice and start an IV), but he was orthostatic meaning that his vital signs did funny things when he went from laying, to sitting, to standing. So we left with the advice to follow up with our pediatrician and his neurologist within a few days.

Three days later we had the visit with the pediatrician and he ordered more blood work and wanted Camden to get checked out by a cardiologist. We got the blood draw done but sadly both of his arms were still bruised from the ER visit and it was not a happy experience for him at all. We then got checked out by the cardiologist who said everything looked and sounded great however he was still orthostatic with his vitals. She ordered an echocardiogram and we had that done a few weeks later and it came back normal. Healthy heart- check!

In the mean time we got the blood work back that the pediatrician ordered and it showed that Camden's thyroid levels were elevated so we were referred to a pediatric endocrinologist. Before we saw the endocrinologist, we had the appointment with his neurologist who follows Camden because of the possible NF1 diagnosis that he could have. She in turn ordered many more tests which we really had to pray over and decided that the only one we would proceed with was the MRI of his brain and spine. It's been 3 years since his last set of MRI's and we feel it's wise to follow up with that and make sure there are no neurofibromas growing in those vital areas. That is scheduled for the middle of this month. I don't believe anything going on right now is related to the possible NF1 Camden "may" have but that is my opinion.

Shortly after that visit, we finally got in with the endocrinologist (due to a cancellation) and he ordered more blood work. Luckily this time, it was an easy draw (praise Jesus). We got these results back last week and they showed that Camden was not producing any aldosterone and that his thyroid levels were slightly elevated (those will be checked again in 6 months). Aldosterone is hormone that the adrenal glands produce and it regulates the blood pressure, helps the body retain sodium (salt) and is responsible for the potassium levels as well. This is not something that they see a lot of and it's pretty rare to see this in children. But this could explain the passing out, the orthostatic vitals, along with the fatigue and paleness. However, this only gave an accurate reading for the morning time so another test was ordered so we could see if Camden produces any aldosterone at other times during the day or night. So we collected all his urine this past weekend for a 24 hour period, nothing like having a cooler in the bathroom and keeping urine cold for 24 hours. These test results come back on Monday or Tuesday and I'm sure they will be very telling.

However, as we have been waiting for these results, Camden has been dealing with dizziness again, he appears pale a lot of the time, and his fatigue has been more pronounced than usual. So after a phone call with the doctor yesterday, he would like Camden to start on the medication to replace the aldosterone that his body is most likely not producing. Even though we haven't got the results back yet, he feels we can safely start Camden on the medication to see if we can get him feeling better.

This is the first time any of our kids have ever had to be on a prescription medication of this kind. We hardly ever even give our kids Tylenol, so this was all new to us. After reading up on the drug, I was a bit anxious about the whole things because it is a steroid and a synthetic hormone. But after having a talk with the pharmacologist, the endocrinologist, and praying about it we feel like it's something we need to do to get Camden back on track. And Camden is ready to feel better too and is quite eager to get started on it. We plan on starting him on it tomorrow and continue to wait for test results that should be in as early as Monday or Tuesday.

I still have a ton of questions for the doctor and we will most likely get a second opinion. Because this is not common and quite rare, the doctor couldn't answer why this is happening or what could be causing it. As a mom, I would love to know the root of it and have all my questions answered. However, I realize we may not know why and just have to be at peace with no having all the answers.

If you think of it, please pray that Camden adjusts to the medication fine and that his body will start to feel better, and that we are able to gain some insight when we get the test results back.

I leave you with some pictures of Camden on his skateboard. He started showing an interest in skateboarding this summer and recently started attending open gym at a local skateboard school. He had his first class last night and did amazing. Even though it wore him out, he was all smiles!