Well, Gracie and I had a long morning but everything went well. We saw the Pediatric Urologist and had to check in at 8am so that I could fill out paperwork and Gracie could drink fluids so her bladder was full for her 8:30am ultrasound. She was pretty nervous about the ultrasound having just had such a tough experience with the VCUG (which, by the way, I now know that kids are usually sedated for!! grrr....). But, as promised, it involved no "hurties" and we got to watch a princess video while the tech got the images. Then we had to get a urine sample, which we are pros at now! All of this took a few bunny snacks and promises of cake pops, but hey, whatever works! Then we told our tale to the P.A. and finally saw the doctor. He has ordered a DMSA renal scan to see if there is any scarring of Gracie's kidneys due to infection. If there is no scarring, then we can consider waiting a year, staying on prophylactic antibiotics, repeating the VCUG, and seeing if she has outgrown the issue. Or the scan could indicate that surgery is imminent. If the later is the case, then the doctor is recommending the more invasive, but highly effective, VUR surgery:
What happens during surgery for VUR?
During the procedure, the surgeon makes an incision in the lower abdomen and exposes the bladder. The junction of the bladder and the ureter (the tube connecting the bladder to the kidney) is reconstructed to prevent urine from flowing backward up into the kidney. A catheter is left in the bladder to drain the urine for the first one to two days after surgery.
So it pretty much sucks, but also solves the problem and negates the need for much more testing.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves...first the scan:
The renal scan will happen at Phoenix Children's Hospital. They should be calling us in the next few days to schedule it and then we follow up with the urologist again on May 20th. So more testing and more waiting. Boo. My saving grace is that, in the meantime, Gracie does not have an infection any longer and feels great. We have her on that daily antibiotic to hopefully prevent any further infections.
I am pretty upset over all of this, as you can imagine. We just thought we were "done" with stuff like this, so it's quite a blow to be back to "medical life" which is not fun. Gracie has been so incredibly amazing through all of her struggles, but I won't be surprised if one of these days she just freaks out at one of these appointments. I wouldn't blame her because that's what I feel like doing sometimes! So I try very hard to keep life as normal as possible. So after our TWO AND A HALF HOUR appointment this morning (what 3 yr old can tolerate that?! Oh, Gracie...) we grabbed some cake pops and went to the park to play and feed the ducks, which made everyone feel better (even Mommy).
Thank you all so much for your support during our latest challenge! More soon...
What happens during surgery for VUR?
During the procedure, the surgeon makes an incision in the lower abdomen and exposes the bladder. The junction of the bladder and the ureter (the tube connecting the bladder to the kidney) is reconstructed to prevent urine from flowing backward up into the kidney. A catheter is left in the bladder to drain the urine for the first one to two days after surgery.
So it pretty much sucks, but also solves the problem and negates the need for much more testing.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves...first the scan:
The renal scan will happen at Phoenix Children's Hospital. They should be calling us in the next few days to schedule it and then we follow up with the urologist again on May 20th. So more testing and more waiting. Boo. My saving grace is that, in the meantime, Gracie does not have an infection any longer and feels great. We have her on that daily antibiotic to hopefully prevent any further infections.
I am pretty upset over all of this, as you can imagine. We just thought we were "done" with stuff like this, so it's quite a blow to be back to "medical life" which is not fun. Gracie has been so incredibly amazing through all of her struggles, but I won't be surprised if one of these days she just freaks out at one of these appointments. I wouldn't blame her because that's what I feel like doing sometimes! So I try very hard to keep life as normal as possible. So after our TWO AND A HALF HOUR appointment this morning (what 3 yr old can tolerate that?! Oh, Gracie...) we grabbed some cake pops and went to the park to play and feed the ducks, which made everyone feel better (even Mommy).
Thank you all so much for your support during our latest challenge! More soon...