Blood and Urine Results Okay (Kinda)

Ryan is not able to verbalize if he is feeling poorly. He will show us, through body movement, when something is really bothering him. We’re thankful that he has a way of letting us know, even though it might, or might not, be involuntary. Still, when it gets to that point whatever is making him uncomfortable is almost always acute (i.e., sharp or severe in effect). We are immediately behind the eight ball in treating him. We never want to get to this point. 

So, periodically we do routine blood and urine labs. The latest was when I took him to Children’s Hospital last month for a bone density clinic. The results came back several days ago and I checked them online.

Good news! All his blood and urine results look good. Well, kind of. Blood-wise, everything is about where we want them. His urine culture did return leukocytes as present. Leukocytes are the increase in white blood cells in the urine in response to bacteria; if you have them then bacteria is almost a certainty. That means his urine is contaminated. This is something I knew for several months. We use urine dip sticks to measure at home. But, this is different from his urinary tract being infected. Other symptoms must be present. The most common are cloudiness and odor from the urine. Ryan’s urine is absent of these tell-tale signs.

In simple terms for Ryan, it means bacteria has colonized but is harmless (for now, anyhow).

This is actually not that uncommon. In fact, almost everyone has some bacterial colonization somewhere in their body. It could be in the urinary tract, the digestive system, the respiratory system, or any other place. It’s a guarantee that if you’re a hospital worker — or spent as much time as I did in that environment — you a colonized with something. Most people live their lives without ever knowing or being affected.

It will probably just be the way Ryan is, where his immune system keeps these infections at bay. We just need to keep him healthy!

Hey, it’s a far cry from where he was just a year ago when we couldn’t stop the infections. It lets me know he is getting stronger and his body is responding better. I take this as a good sign. A very good sign, indeed.