How it all started

Sometime between New Year's and President's Day, the Drs assume, Ada had a cold or came in contact with strep and while fighting the illness, her immune system also threw her kidneys out of whack.


Most of Ada's symptoms were so gradual, that it took hind sight to link them all together.

Several weeks ago I noticed Ada looked kindda funny when she woke up in the morning. I described it to my sister that "she looks like she is down's (syndrome) in the morning". But I knew you don't GET down's, so I chalked it up to typical growth and development where the face changes from a toddler to a child. Honestly until I looked back through pictures I didn't realize how much change was taking place. (Even at the hospital, when they first saw her medical personel would ask, "So she looks pretty normal, are you sure she is puffy?" Then when they would feel her legs they would say, "Oh yeah, she is pretty tight.")


Then a couple weeks ago when she kept trying to get out the shorts outfits I noticed she was getting "pudgy". Because she is plenty active and eats appropriately I decided she must be putting on some babyfat that young girls often do building up to puberty. I didn't want weight to become a focus for her, especially at this age.

About that same time she came and showed us a "dent" in her leg. It was a smooth, deep, groove in her leg. Her leg felt "tense" so I massaged it for a while and the dent went away. I figured she had a muscle cramp and it was knotted up enough that the knot was visible and had pulled the area around it funny. Actually, it was from her sitting with one leg over the other for a while and the pressure actually dented her leg. That was the "pitting edema", which we would learn about later.


It wasn't until Sunday, the 2nd of Mar, that everything began to snowball.