Zahra and Nephrotic Syndrome: The Side Effects

It's been awhile I didn't update about Zahra's condition. Alhamdulillah, she's doing well now, but still on the high dose steroid treatment. Up to date..it has been almost 3 months. 3 more days to go in fact.

Her urine dip test is fluctuating between trace and negative since 21 August but Dr Indon said, it's normal for her to have traces in the urine. So trace reading is acceptable. We have to be cautious when the urine raise to 2+ and have to give her antibiotic in any case the rise is because infection - hence her body is fighting it and the kidney 'koyak' again due to the antibody attack and we have to do immediate blood test to see the protein level in her blood if the urine stays at 2+ after 5 days taking the antibiotic.

Facts of the day: The medicine is called prednisone now since it's in tablet, instead of prednisolone - liquid form.

Dr Indon decided to taper off the steroid starting this 17th Sept for a month.. It won't be 5 tablets/day anymore. It's lowered to 4 tablets, alternate day.. but, if only the urine stay at trace/negative. InsyaAllah..

The protein count in her blood also in the acceptable range now, Alhamdulillah.

Here is her blood history:

Date / Urine Level	Protein (64 - 80 g/L)	Albumin (35 - 55 g/L)	Cholesterol (<5.0 mmol/L)
19 June 2011 / 4+	41	21	10.5
1 Aug 2011 / 4+	56	32	N/A
13 Aug 2011 / 3+	57	26	6.9
24 Aug 2011 / Trace	60	31	6.8
6 Sept 2011 /Trace	65	35	6.4

She will have another checkup and blood test this 11 October and most probably I already delivered babyG by that time. Hopefully everything is well, her protein is enough in the blood and the urine maintained no protein.

Talking about side effects, we definitely can point one or two by now. However, not all children will have the same side effects, but this is what we've been told and seen:

1) Harder to sleep - the first dew days she is on steroid on the evening (3tabs morning, 2 tabs evening) she had a hard time to sleep. Average time will be 12 midnight! Then she can't sleep through til the morning like usual. Normally she will sleep until 7AM but now she will woken up around 5AM. Her sleep also not that sound and sometimes I can see she is a bit restless in the sleep.

2) Fine hair - She started to have fine hair especially in the forehead, upper lip, and behind her back. However, I read somewhere that the hair will fall off when she's not on the medicine anymore.

3) Mood swings - She likes to bite even though nobody kacau her. It's like sometimes tiba2 dia rasa irritate and will bite anybody next to you. But lately the biting has lessen, maybe her body already get used to the steroid.

4) Stunted growth - This one hard to tell as she is still small, but according to the growth chart, she was 90% tall before and now fall to 50% (average group).

5) Calcium losses - One of her teeth chipped, but this one not sure because of the ubat or simply cavities. Hopefully sebab I tak gosok je la :(

6) Moon face - it's a term for chubby cheek. She has triple chin now and very chubby cheek due to the steroid. It will go off after 6 month out of the medicine. Tapi sometimes sedih tau tengok muka dia, sebab nampak tak ori sangat chubby tu. Memang obvious chubby sebab ubat :(

The moon face. Zahra having lunch - spaghetti with broccoli and tofu soup

7) Digestion problem - She starts having constipation after few weeks on prednisone. Most probably due to the 'heaty' from the medicine and not enough water. We tried giving her a lot of fruits and water but she still have the constipation and the bloated stomach. Her stomach will be very hard during evening due to all of the food and gas. Dr Indon prescribed her pro-biotic supplement, it's in capsule type, so we open the cap and mix the powder with the milk every night. Alhamdulillah, the bloatness went away and her stool is softer now.

And other rare side effects that might happen is like cataract problems, muscle weakness, osteoporosis, diabetes, etc.. Hopefully she doesn't encounter with those nasty side effects. Aminn aminn aminnnnn....

Talking about giving her medicine, she will struggle every time and MrComot has to hold her tight, and I will pinch her nose and push the syringe inside her mouth, press it on the tongue and make small shots until finish.

She will cry during the 'forced' time but tell you what, Zahra is a very good girl, she never throw the syringe or smash anything beside her.. Every after medicine time, I will say, 'Zahra, dah doneee yeayyy. Clever girl! Nahh..Zahra bawak ubat pegi letak kat sink ok'. And she will hold the syringe and ask MrComot to carry her and put the syringe nicely in the sink. NICELY OK. Not even throw it like marah or what. I feel like crying...seriously. She is such a strong girl...

Zahra with me waiting for the blood test result at SDMC..having her afternoon nap. I forgot to bring the stroller, poor little one, had to sleep uncomfortably like that.

Overall, she's doing fine now. Hopefully everything will run smoothly and according to track. I can't imagine her being sick anymore..kesian her small body. Stay strong sayang, we can go through this ok. Mwah!

37-weeks mommy

I'm 37-weeks this week! It is considered full term already and I'm ready to go into labor anytime now! (37-42 weeks is full term period range).

BabyG is already engaged!

Wow, that is a scary thought. Let me take a new breath..

Ok, according to last week's scan, his head is already in the position, not as in going down only, but already masuk there.. Rough weight is about 2.6kg and will reach 3.0kg if delivered on 40 weeks (based on 100g per week add estimation). Ok la kan..Zahra was 3.4kg hehe and I delivered her in my 40 weeks. The waterbag looks fine too, air ketuban still enough for babyG and he is enjoying his stay inside.

But the scary part came when the doctor said, I can deliver in my 38 weeks if stressed. Life is a bit hectic with Zahra's checkup and all kan..but I really really pray that I'll deliver on 40 weeks (or more! doesn't matter) because Zahra is this close to zero Nephrotic Syndrome and she is on the way to taper of the steroid. I need to monitor her betul-betul.

So babyG, stay strong and hang on ok...mommy not pushing you to stay, you can come out whenever you are ready, but it will be nice if not sooner than October.

On mommy's condition, the heartburn is coming back and I only notice it slows down when I take a lot of fruits. So mommies, eat your fruits ok. And I feel very very heavy..in fact I can feel babyG down there! Scary... I also started to have some discharge, upon reading, it's a sign that my body is readying for the big day. Also started to feel the sharp 1 second pelvic pain. It's more like pelvic snap. Tiba2 je tangkap kat pelvic...

Oh ya talking about discharge, if you have too much discharge from 36 weeks, you may want to do GBS test (Group B streptococcus), it is a bacterial infection and can be passed through to the baby during delivery. Kalau pass through, baby ada high chance dpt jangkitan paru-paru and you may have pre-term baby. Normally doctor will give antibiotic to treat this. It is something rare I guess because I never heard about this during my 1st pregnancy, but it's good to know about any possibilities regarding your pregnancy. For more info you can read about it from here: http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/groupbstrepinfection.html. However, my gynea said I don't have to do the test since I don't have the symptoms.

Zahra still want to latch..it makes me pissed sometimes because my boobs is very sore lately..and I'm afraid it will stimulate the pitocin hormone as well. But kesian Zahra, she will want to latch especially after taking the medicine, probably due to the very bitter taste and want to comfort herself. Due to these situations, I had mixed feeling, pissed and sad. What a feeling.. But I can take it as I am an adult. Zahra is still small...so I braced myself and just let her..

And this is me in my 37 weeks.






Anyway, there are a lot of reasons why I'm not ready to be in delivery yet.

1) I haven't pack my hospital bag
2) The confinement room is not ready yet
- have to change the bed's frame, the plywood support is broken
- need to service the aircond
- need to bring down the babycot, it's still in the master bedroom
- jemur all the comforters and pillow
3) bought the confinement stuff - I don't know why I'm procrastinate on this, malas betul nak beli
4) book the tukang urut
5) confirmed on the cord blood cells banking

See...all is major stuff and it shows how I'm not ready yet.

Other than that, I think we'll manage. Hopefully I'll have a smooth and easy delivery, and cepat-cepat sembuh so that I can take care of both babies. Amin...

My Static-Baby

Remember this entry, where I want sewing machine soooooooo bad?

Tell you what, MrComot bought me one!!! Yeayyyy!!

But another fact you should know... he bought me last May, 29th May 2011 to be exact, and it still in the box, untouched, unopened, unmoved, on the table in art's room (3rd bedroom) UNTIL NOW!!!! With a lot of dust of course.

That will be like, almost 4 months ago ok *sigh*

I chose the machine myself at one of the shops, and it took me almost 2 hours.. and was very excited. I already picture in my head that I'm going to rumble the box, snap a lot of pictures, the function, the mechanism, the capabilities, etc etc and share it in this blog. That explain why I didn't post up anything about my baby, just because I haven't explore it yet.

Then I became so optimistic that I'm gonna sew something for babyG and let see...babyG is due in another couple of weeks..or another month.. with my back pain and all-I-want-to-do-is-lie-down hormone, it seems impossible!

So most probably I'm gonna open the box after babyG popped out..after confinement.. and if only I'm not that busy (I can imagine myself with a growing up toddler and small baby, boleh ke tak busy? hehe)

Ok lets take a peep with my new-static-baby :D

Big and study...and quiet, on the table hahaha.

Maybe I should forget about it and sell it to anybody who is interested? And since the warranty is 1 year..it's almost half a year now..I'll give RM200 off?

Haha..don't know lah..kesian ok machine tu..

Anyway, even though I didn't touch the sewing machine, there is a lot of ideas running wild in my head - sewing/craft related. And I couldn't help it but starting on this one cute project by purlbee.

It's a citrus coaster!!!! --> click click click to see the end product

They are so colorful and summery! Ok, it's not like we have summer here, it's summer all the year round hehe..but I love love love the cheerful colors and ideas. So yeah, I'm making one set.

And guess what?

The project started 3 months ago and I'm just at my 3rd piece now *sigh* (another 3 more to go if I'm making for 6, or 5 more if for 8)

The work in progress.. 3 months and counting hehe

This project is more 'realistic' as it only involves hand stitching than sitting with the sewing machine. But mind you, hand stitching is time consuming... but surprised surprised, I just figured out that I'm loving it!!!

Somehow it's very therapeutic for me sitting on the carpet with my big belly and a plush pillow at my back for support, watching TV and stitch stitch stitch... The only problem is, I just used whatever material I have and most of the felt run out the colors, especially the white one. Bummer! So nak pegi beli ke apa ke macam leceh pulak. It kinda turning me off to continue this project. But I'll try my best to finish it before babyG pop out so that I show it off in this blog ha ha ha.. That will be a good motivation eh?

And another problem, time of course. But it's a lame excuse :P

Oh ya, while at the coaster, I managed to whip an itty bitty star hair clip for Zahra and she lovessssss it very much!! This is my first time working with a very small alligator hair clip, I think around 1.5cm.. Nanti I check and share with it with you guys. My normal hair clip for Zahra is around 3cm kalau tak salah.

It's not perfect, but it's a cutie alright. It's in bright yellow with orange stitch and I personalized it with very tiny star button in teal that I bought online. Seriously..I bought a lot of thing that I think I can open a craft supply shop or something now hahahaha.

Below is a couple of Zahra's pic with the star hair clip!





And that's the story about my sewing machine, and my current craft project hehe.

I plan to create a new blog just for craft/sewing stuff...but looking at the rate I'm going, I don't see it will benefit anybody. I only do craft once in a blue moon hehehe.

Hopefully I manage to finish the coaster soon. Soon as in before babyG pop out. We'll see how :P

Spongebob Baby

Something funny happen last night.

As usual, we catch up each others life the moment we set our foot off from the office, and it will start with on the way back home where we will have various of conversations. Sometimes serious sometimes junk. MrComot reads about serious politics, cars, guy stuff, stocks, whatever important thing happen in this world and me on the other hands, read light blogs, parenthood, religions, gossips, artist, u know..junk stuff. So normally we will exchange our stories.

Since Zahra is still small, I didn't really filter my words. After all I am a woman with grace, I talk only good thing with good words ha ha ha ha.

Ok anyway, last night we were talking about pig and dog.

So last night I raise about this current trend where muslim in Malaysia having dogs as pet, and how some people bad mouthing about them and where this so-called good people say nasty thing up to a point they missed another perspective.... that it's not 'haram' to touch or whatever, only considered as najis mughallazah (the saliva). We always misuse the word and term right? Like pig too..it's haram to be eaten but not to touch..kalau terkena, samak je la kan...

I pun dengan bersemangat ni bercerita..

Tu laa..kita selalu salah faham..babi tu haram makan.. nak pegang babi, pegang la..tapi kena la samak, babi tu najis berat (something like that, I remembered repeating 'babi' a lot haha)

Zahra was latching on me like usual, and suddenly she stopped and pull my shirt

Maak..mak... (she has this habit calling everyone mak, whenever she wants attention) .. baaaa...biiiiii.. baaaa..biiiii

Kannnn!!!!

I was stunned ok! I mean, I never thought she is listening to what I say. After all banyak lagi words lain and babi yg dia pick up?

Hahaha

And then I was thinking back, what's wrong with it? Babi is just an animal. And I didn't use it in bad context, you know, like cursing or what. So I play along with her..

Yes sayang..babi bunyi macam mana? oink oinkk

Oakk oakkk

Coww?? Mooo moooo

Mooo moooo

Cat?

Nyaaaaaaaa

Bird?

Aaakk...aaakk..

Dog?

Woof woof

Babi?

Oaakk oaakkk

This reminds me how your kids absorbing every little thing, like a sponge! And it's time for us to be careful and watch our speech. She used to mock when I said 'Bodoh' or 'Damn' - she said doh! and dem! (it was bad traffic with bad driver all around to my defense hehe) But she was smaller that time and I don't think she really understands what it means. But now she's getting smarter, we really have to watch out.

I have this friend whom like to say 'fuck' a lot, even though when she drops her pen. It's not really a curse per se, just something she does out of habit. I know she thinks it's cool but it ain't cool to me.

Even though Zahra is still a small kid and will make her own choice later, but as a parent, I'll try my best to set a good example. I don't want Zahra cursing or loves using bad word, well just because I don't like it and again, it ain't cool. Who doesn't love Bill Compton, with the refined speech, instead of Andy Bellefleur the vulgar and crude sheriff. Told ya I am a woman of grace ha ha ha.

End of word, gotta start with myself first! Lepas ni mommy cakap sopan santun ok. And babi is animal tauuuu... don't use it to scold people. It's not cool :)

Ps: Even though 'babi' is only an innocent animal, I still find it vulgar hahaha. I feel more comfortable to use the word 'pig' :P

Eid 2011

Hi everyone! How was your raya? I hope everyone had a blast. Mine biasa-biasa je, like usual, all the families will be at one's house and everybody will go there to gather. This year is at Auntie Zaza's where I had scrumptious dalca daging and vanilla cupcakes. Yum!

But I didn't eat that much because my stomach still adjusting and I have low appetite. It's so weird...

Anyway talking about raya, do you know that I only salam MrComot on the 3rd day!!! So kelam kabut and tak kisah ahahaha. No drama nanges whatsoever. At first I nak la salam2 on the morning macam biasa kan..but dengan tak siapnya lagi, then buat sup for Zahra, prepare her lunch because we are going out beraya, then siap kan dia lagi, and tup2 MrComot dah siap sembahyang raya (the mosque is few meters only from our house), then when he came back, I take my bath, have my solat sunat hari raya..then siap2 myself pulak and eh eh dah pukul 11AM! Rush to Zaza's house..meet families..then went to Auntie Jot's house..then balik rumah after Asar and the 3 of us terbongkang flat hahaha.

And guess what we have for dinner? Maggie goreng!!!!

Punyala don't know what to eat and I have no heart for rendang anymore. Ughhhh...I know they are yummy..but seriously I can't eat rendang anymore that dah. By the way, if I can pun, we don't even have raya food in the house, only some cookies haha.

Then we had a few open house invitations throughout the weeks and attend all of them. This weekend we still have a couple, by my aunties.

Raya this year might sound boring but it's actually a blessing in disguise. Both of us get to rest a lot, which we need the most and fully refreshed on the next week, to work. Even though deep down inside I still feel longer holiday will be a bliss, but I had enough time resting. And for the first time holiday with Zahra was so much fun and stress-free. Kalau cuti 2 hari weekend je, memang rasa penat sangat.

I have so many stories to share. Will try to write again later. Below is Zahra's pic on the raya morning, when I asked her to smile..and she sengih like that. Haha. And with her baju kurung from Giant! :P