@trishanna, neph and I theorize that my very bad case of shingles knocked out the kidney, with damage showing up about 60 days after shingles onset. Function continued to spiral down over the summer. Then dialysis begun in late summer/early fall gave kidney enough of a rest that it recovered a little, emphasis on little. We both believe this is a temporary recovery, we're just not sure how long it will last. Meanwhile, neph will monitor labs weekly and I know what to watch for in terms of symptoms so if the poor widdle thing gets tired again we can re-start dialysis. Meanwhile, I intend to enjoy the bejabbers out of this "vacay" from 3 days a week hooked to a mechanical kidney. Yippee!