We have a Diagnosis

On Tuesday we spent most of our day at Primary Children's with Sam figuring out what is wrong with his kidney. He had to have 2 tests done in medical imaging in the morning. We knew it would be hard to watch, but I didn't know HOW hard! Poor kid had to get an IV before they could do his renal scan and they just couldn't seem to get it in. After being poked 4 times (twice in each hand), they finally got it. Between the IV and the catheter that he had to have, he was screaming. So sad. He calmed down and was able to get some sleep after they put the sandbags on his arms and legs and put him under the scanner. This picture is of my little radioactive baby under the scanner. He had to stay like this while the machine took pictures of his kidneys and bladder every 15 seconds for 45 minutes. Luckily, we were able to sit right by him, and even reach in and comfort him the whole time. At the end of this test, it seems that there is no blockage and that his kidneys are working normal, so now onto the next test to figure out what is causing the dilation.

We went directly across the hall to wait for an X-ray room. He got to have his IV taken out, which was great. This picture is of him in his little hospital gown with his poor little bandaged hands.

While we were waiting, he started to get hungry. Just as I started feeding him, they came out to get us for his VCUG. Needless to say, he was TICKED when he had to stop eating and get underneath another scanner. For this test, I had to hold his arms down while the nurse held his feet down. It only took about 10 minutes, but it was so hard to watch my hungry and mad baby scream. After turning him from side to side so the machine could get pictures of every angle while his bladder emptied the contrast, a Dr. came in to make sure we were getting all of the right pictures and to explain the findings to us. From the results of this test, it looks like he has Vesicoureteral Reflux.

In the above picture, you can kind of see the pokes and bruises on his hands. :-(

After feeding Sam and eating lunch, we were able to meet with a pediatric urologist to determine what this diagnosis means for us. The doctor was so great (everyone we worked with up there was amazing, which made it nicer). Since he doesn't have a blockage and both kidneys seem to be OK, there is not much we can do at this point. His reflux is a grade 4 or 5, which is pretty serious, but at this point, nothing is being damaged. So, this diagnosis means that we have to make appointments every 4 months for a year to go up and have ultrasounds done to watch the severity of the kidney dilation. He also has to continue to take a maintenence dose of antibiotics every day for a year to prevent UTI's (if he gets a bladder infection, it will reflux into his kidney and cause permanant kidney damage, thus the antibiotics). When he is 1, we will have to repeat the VCUG test to see if the problem is correcting itself. If it is, great! They will continue to monitor him until it has fixed itself. If it doesn't start correcting itself and continues to be a grade 4-5, they will have to do more tests/scans to pinpoint the exact problem and schedule a surgery to fix the problem. So, now we wait and hope for the best!

Being at Primary Children's made me realize again how lucky I am to have 2 healthy and happy boys. I am thankful that we were just there for outpatient tests, and although fixing the problem may take a while, Sam doesn't seem to be bothered by it and so far there isn't any long-term damage. As I watched the little kids who are in the hospital long-term being brought in for tests, or walking around the halls and lobby because they are tired of being in their room, my heart ached for those kids and their families. We are very lucky!

In happier news, I finally caught a smile on camera. He is started to smile a lot now and he will even sometimes give me a little giggle. He is such a fun and happy baby.