Starting off simple

So let's start off with a few numbers...shall we? There are currently 314,716,121 people in the US based on the current Census. Now divide that by 40,000, that's roughly 7867. Take that number and divide that in half, which is 3933,roughly. Why all these numbers? Well, needless to say that the final number were my odds. 1 in 3933. Let me clear it up for you. I have a very rare kidney disease that is called Prune Belly Syndrome. Prune Belly Syndrome affects about 1 in 40,000 infants. So, that means right now there are currently 7867 cases. Why divide that in half? Well, here's where things get a little grim. Only 50% of these cases live past 2 years old. About 20% are still born, and 30% die of renal complications before age 2. Needless to say I have beaten the odds. 1 in 3933 is pretty damn slim chances, but I've made it. So, I bet your wondering what causes this terrible plight. I'm going to try and keep this as simple as possible. Just for those people that haven't spent their whole lives around doctors, unlike myself. Simply enough, doctors believe that Prune Belly Syndrome is cause by this: an underdeveloped prostate causes a blockage in the urethra, this creates an obstruction in the urinary tract. This obstruction causes an over-distension of the bladder and upper urinary tract, therefore stretching the abdominal wall (causing damage to stomach muscles). It is also thought that an insult, or fluke, disrupts the development of the lateral plate mesoderm. The lateral plate mesoderm later develops into the abdominal wall and genitourinary tract (kidneys, ureter, bladder, urethra). In a nutshell, there is no genetics involved in PBS. Pretty much just a fluke. There's also other things that are affected later on because of the bloating of the abdominal wall. The main one is that when the baby is born the abdomen looks like a prune, because the abdominal wall goes back to where it should be. Go figure right? Belly looks like a prune when your born and the syndrome is Prune Belly Syndrome. Another is symptom is that there can be skeletal damage, just because of the bloating. Personally, my rib cage is a little flared at the bottom of it. It's nothing serious but it is something to mention. There are other symptoms that I could have possibly gotten, but thankfully I don't have it as serious as I could have had it. THANK GOD! So, that was just an explanation of PBS and everything so that you, the reader, have a back story on it. I will be writing about my life in this blog about once a week. Hopefully you come back to read the rest of it. Trust me it will be worth the time. Until next time everyone. God Bless.