There is good news and bad news. I haven't actually wanted to write since we saw the kidney specialist. I don't know what we were expecting, but it seems worse than we had imagined. They stage the disease from 1-5, and the doctor feels that Al is stage 3. There will be some additional tests next week and a follow up appointment next month. Basically, all the doctor told us was that there isn't any treatment available, so the goal is to keep the disease from progressing. They don't know why he has this, but feels it has been going on for some time. On the way home, Al said he was never sick a day in his life before all of this.
The good news is that he is feeling better. He said he thinks his saliva glands are starting to work again. He has only been getting up maybe once a night for a sip of water over the past 2 weeks. Before then, is was several times a night.