Abby had her tests run this morning on her kidneys. If you recall, the doctor diagnosed her with a urinary tract infection two weeks ago, and because of her being so young he wanted to be certain there was nothing going on with her kidneys. So, he scheduled her for both a renal sonogram and a VCUG. Well, there is good news and bad news. First the good news:
Abby did AWESOME! The nurse told us that she has never seen a two year old handle her procedure as well as Abby. That made my heart smile. :) The past few days, we role played having a sonogram, and she knew that it would be painless. In fact, yesterday morning when she first woke up, I went in her room, and she was in her crib, her Ariel doll in hand. Abby had lifted her shirt to expose her tummy, and she had Ariel's hand on her tummy, simulating a sonogram. Abby said, "Look Mommy. Doctor!" It cracks me up that she turned her favorite little mermaid into "Dr. Ariel"!! Too funny. So, when it came time for a real sonogram with a real nurse, Abby did wonderfully! It did help that Mickey Mouse was on TV too. :)
Then came the VCUG. First they sweetened her up by letting her pick a Beanie Baby toy. She chose Bucky the Beaver. It was that or a "Class of 2008" Owl. Seriously. Ha! Abby had to wear a little toddler-sized gown and they had to sedate her. While watching my child slowly drift off into oblivion is not my favorite thing to watch, I must brag on her because she, again, did GREAT! The anesthesiologist had her blow into her mask ten times, and by blow seven, she was just about out. I was so impressed she didn't fight it. The procedure took about 15-20 minutes, and she recovered very quickly.
The bad news was the diagnosis: she does, in fact, have reflux (or VUR, Vesicoureteral Reflux, in case you look it up on WebMD which I've already done today!!). This means that when she urinates, instead of all of her urine leaving her bladder, some of it flows backwards into the kidneys. This obviously isn't good because it allows bacteria to reach the kidneys, leading to mores severe issues. Reflux is graded on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the most severe case, and Abby's is a Grade 3 on both sides. The doctor at the Pediatric Imaging Center said that many kids outgrow the reflux, which hopefully will be the case for Abby.
I did speak with our pediatrician when I dropped off a urine sample after her procedures, and he said he will likely put her on antibiotics to eliminate (hopefully) any future infections, and he will also refer us to a urologist; but he wanted to look over the results first. Well, about 10 minutes ago, my phone buzzed that I had a voicemail. Guess who? The doctor's office with Abby's results and information. My phone never rang. Don't you just love when that happens? So now I'm waiting for the nurse to call me back with more information.
So, that's what I know. I'm so proud of Abby and how mature she was this morning. And she seems to have no effects whatsoever. Luckily, a trip to Target to pick out a toy, a milkshake from McDonald's and a fifth watching of The Little Mermaid didn't hurt! :)
When I know more, I'll post something. I hope y'all have a wonderful Wednesday!
OK, the nurse just called me before I posted this, and Dr. G. is putting Abby on a low-dose antibiotic, and she gave me the names of two urologists in the area to set up an appointment with. So now you're up to speed!
This Morning's Procedure
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Posted by The Tenner Family at 4:34 PM
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6 comments:
Cathy, I will be praying for your sweet little Abby and for God to heal her kidneys completely. He is the Great Physician and I know he will continue to keep her healthy. Glad Abby handled everything okay today, and that you did well, yourself. Way to go! Keep us updated!
Cath - I will pray for sweet Abby also. I'm glad she did so well, and you too. Is she still in diapers? Just curious. I'll be thinking of you and Abby. Love to you!
I'm so sorry about Abby's diagnosis but hopeful that she will outgrow it. We'll be thinking of your family and keeping y'all in our prayers.
You don't know me but I am a friend of Lisa Copelands. When I saw this post I had to respond. My daughter was diagnosed with the same thing at 1 year old. She just happend to be diagnosed when she was hopitalized with a bladder infection. That's when they found damage to her kidneys and took us to have a VCUG. She was also a stage 3 and the Urologist gave us the option of antibiotics or sugery. We chose the antibiotics. Once she was potty trained we took her off the medicine and has only had one infection since. Just know, that I know how scary it is when they throw all this information at you. Most of the time, they do grow out of this and the only problem is getting them to take the medicine EVERY day!! Good luck to you!
Thanks to everyone for the prayers and concerns! We see the urologist on September 30. Ashley-yes, she's still in diapers; slowly but surely we are potty training. Hopefully it will happen before she goes off to college!! :)
Cathy - we are very familiar with all of the words you just used ;) Hayden has renal u/s's often and VCUG's too. Oddly enough he's never had a UTI (I cath him daily x4). But he's been on Amoxicillan and now Bactrim for UTI profilaxis and has done well. Good luck! If you ever want to talk "urology lingo" just let me know. We've got a urologist in our array of doctors... :)
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