In August, Charlie woke up with extremely puffy eyes. We thought it was an allergic reaction, and she had a five year check-up that day so we waited until her doctor’s appointment to get it checked out. At the doctor’s office we discussed seeing an allergist to pin point what the allergy was from. Her pediatrician wanted to do a urine sample just to be sure it wasn’t anything else. He explained that Charlie was spilling a “ridiculous” amount of protein in her urine.

After more blood tests and urine samples, we were referred to Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. There she was diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome and immediately put on a steroid. After two months on the steroid, she was still spilling a lot of protein, and she was scheduled to have a kidney biopsy. The biopsy showed her to be steroid resistant and diagnosed with FSGS. She is currently on Cyclosporine and a blood pressure medicine while being weaned off the steroid.

We are lucky that our girl is still her smiley, happy self despite all the medications, blood draws, and daily urine checks. We are very grateful for Mott Children’s hospital and our pediatrician for his intuition in recognizing a potentially more serious condition.