Tweet
Well Gabrielle had all her tests redone yesterday. It's amazing the roller coaster of emotions you ride while having them done.
Anyway, heavy traffic caused us to be 10 minutes late, although that didn't matter because everything ended up being over an hour late by the end of the morning.
She had an renal ultrasound first, and then a VCUG (which is a real time x-ray of her bladder with dye through a catheter). We didn't get the results of the ultrasound until we spoke with the urologist after all the tests (I'll get to those). But the doctor who did the VCUG, said she had new grade 4 reflux in the ureter which was previously blocked, and all the other ureters (she has 4) remained the same. So now we're thinking, "great everything is the same or worse, surgery here we come".
Then we went up to see the urologist. He walks in all smiles. He says that she is doing great and he is very happy with the results. Huh? Now comes the flood of good news. The ureterocele (the blockage she had) is pretty much gone, it is no longer visible on the ultrasound, and only visible on the VCUG when she is refluxing. The new reflux was almost expected because that ureter was blocked before. The hydro-nephrosis (fluid backed up in the kidneys) is dramatically improved showing that things are flowing well. Also he explained that the VCUG is almost a skewed test. Because they force so much fluid into her bladder, what you are seeing is really a worst case scenario.
Now what does all this mean? She stays on prophylactic antibiotics to prevent infection. Any stray bacteria that ends up in her urine (which it will) will be taken care of. But the key point is things are flowing and the stagnancy of her urine is gone, so the bacteria should never have a chance to build up. She will go back for another ultrasound in 6 months. She will go back for another VCUG when she is a year old. He said don't sweat explained fevers, i.e. from vaccination, cold/flu/virus. He said a UTI fever will be distinguishable (102+). Basically now we let her grow (which she is) and hopefully she will grow out of the reflux, if not surgery. If things improve then we watch some more, but either way the surgery is extremely successful. The pressure is off a bit for ten months at least.
Thank you everyone for keeping her in your thoughts and prayers. I know it helped.
Anyway, heavy traffic caused us to be 10 minutes late, although that didn't matter because everything ended up being over an hour late by the end of the morning.
She had an renal ultrasound first, and then a VCUG (which is a real time x-ray of her bladder with dye through a catheter). We didn't get the results of the ultrasound until we spoke with the urologist after all the tests (I'll get to those). But the doctor who did the VCUG, said she had new grade 4 reflux in the ureter which was previously blocked, and all the other ureters (she has 4) remained the same. So now we're thinking, "great everything is the same or worse, surgery here we come".
Then we went up to see the urologist. He walks in all smiles. He says that she is doing great and he is very happy with the results. Huh? Now comes the flood of good news. The ureterocele (the blockage she had) is pretty much gone, it is no longer visible on the ultrasound, and only visible on the VCUG when she is refluxing. The new reflux was almost expected because that ureter was blocked before. The hydro-nephrosis (fluid backed up in the kidneys) is dramatically improved showing that things are flowing well. Also he explained that the VCUG is almost a skewed test. Because they force so much fluid into her bladder, what you are seeing is really a worst case scenario.
Now what does all this mean? She stays on prophylactic antibiotics to prevent infection. Any stray bacteria that ends up in her urine (which it will) will be taken care of. But the key point is things are flowing and the stagnancy of her urine is gone, so the bacteria should never have a chance to build up. She will go back for another ultrasound in 6 months. She will go back for another VCUG when she is a year old. He said don't sweat explained fevers, i.e. from vaccination, cold/flu/virus. He said a UTI fever will be distinguishable (102+). Basically now we let her grow (which she is) and hopefully she will grow out of the reflux, if not surgery. If things improve then we watch some more, but either way the surgery is extremely successful. The pressure is off a bit for ten months at least.
Thank you everyone for keeping her in your thoughts and prayers. I know it helped.
)
278/275/271/160
Comment