Update!!
Keira's UA came back looking good, which rules out kidney failure, which is what I was most worried about. Unfortunately, Keira's blood work got misplaced, so she has to get it re-drawn today. Our beloved pediatrician is kind of at a loss, but still concerned about the B12. She's going to send us to/consult with a geneticist, metabolic specialist, and infectious disease specialist. Apparently, B12 can be an indication of a genetic predisposition to cancer. We should hear more next week.
Then on November 12th, we had such a great day together:
Grocery shopping can be a feat with this girl, but she was my little helper today!!
Plus DIY accessible parking. I feel I should get an award today for ingenuity in grocery shopping!
One last post about our lovely morning together. When stopping at Home Depot for paint, we came across a whole display of these toys that I formally thought of as of obnoxious but now delightful because they're the only toy that gets a reaction out of Keira. Anyhow, I let her choose (I hold up two at a time and she looks at the splash smiles at the one she likes best) between the one pictured and two more standard Christmasy ones. She clearly chose this one! Typical little girl moment!
That was a stellar mom day, if you ask me, and evidence that our imminent worries about Keira had passed. To catch you up...we ruled out liver damage and kidney failure and leukemia. We also found out that Keira's blood test drawn LAST YEAR by a different doctor showed the same result, meaning that her B12 has been elevated for a long time. After doing some research, we thought that perhaps Keira's medical food, which is full of chemicals*, might be causing the B12 retention. However, the dietician confirmed that hundreds of her patients are on that particular formula and don't have the B12 issue.
Long story short, we don't know why her B12 is high. We get to add 2 more specialists to the list: metabolic specialist and geneticist. We're chasing shadows. Maybe it's nothing. High B12, in itself, isn't necessarily harmful. But it is very unusual and is often a marker of bad things (noted above). She doesn't have any other new symptoms that we know of, so...life goes on.
*This is for you if you like to geek out on medical stuff... My friend Jos Zamzow drew to my attention that B12 supplementation (Keira's formula is, essentially, one big supplement, and it is her only source of food) comes in 2 forms: methylcobalamin and cyanocobalamin. If the latter makes you think of cyanide, you are on to something. Cyanocobalamin is not something nature intended for our bodies to deal with. However, this form is the most commonly used in vitamins because it is cheaper and easier to manufacture. Jos confirmed that the company making K's formula does use the cyano version. Our theory was/is that perhaps the cyano was hard for K's system to digest, therefore causing her to retain the B12. However, given the dietician and metabolic dieticians' assertions that they've seen hundreds of kids on this formula long term and no elevated B12s, this conclusion seems unlikely.
Plus DIY accessible parking. I feel I should get an award today for ingenuity in grocery shopping!
One last post about our lovely morning together. When stopping at Home Depot for paint, we came across a whole display of these toys that I formally thought of as of obnoxious but now delightful because they're the only toy that gets a reaction out of Keira. Anyhow, I let her choose (I hold up two at a time and she looks at the splash smiles at the one she likes best) between the one pictured and two more standard Christmasy ones. She clearly chose this one! Typical little girl moment!
That was a stellar mom day, if you ask me, and evidence that our imminent worries about Keira had passed. To catch you up...we ruled out liver damage and kidney failure and leukemia. We also found out that Keira's blood test drawn LAST YEAR by a different doctor showed the same result, meaning that her B12 has been elevated for a long time. After doing some research, we thought that perhaps Keira's medical food, which is full of chemicals*, might be causing the B12 retention. However, the dietician confirmed that hundreds of her patients are on that particular formula and don't have the B12 issue.
Long story short, we don't know why her B12 is high. We get to add 2 more specialists to the list: metabolic specialist and geneticist. We're chasing shadows. Maybe it's nothing. High B12, in itself, isn't necessarily harmful. But it is very unusual and is often a marker of bad things (noted above). She doesn't have any other new symptoms that we know of, so...life goes on.
*This is for you if you like to geek out on medical stuff... My friend Jos Zamzow drew to my attention that B12 supplementation (Keira's formula is, essentially, one big supplement, and it is her only source of food) comes in 2 forms: methylcobalamin and cyanocobalamin. If the latter makes you think of cyanide, you are on to something. Cyanocobalamin is not something nature intended for our bodies to deal with. However, this form is the most commonly used in vitamins because it is cheaper and easier to manufacture. Jos confirmed that the company making K's formula does use the cyano version. Our theory was/is that perhaps the cyano was hard for K's system to digest, therefore causing her to retain the B12. However, given the dietician and metabolic dieticians' assertions that they've seen hundreds of kids on this formula long term and no elevated B12s, this conclusion seems unlikely.
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