Kidney Doctor

How do you respond when you hear that your child has only 1 kidney? What kind of life will they have? Does the other one work like it should? So many questions and far to few answers. Well, we were luckily able to get in to see the kidney Doctor pretty fast. November 8, 2012 off we went to Vanderbilt to see what her future may be. Her Doctor was a really nice man that took the time to go over what test we need to do and what he knew so far about her kidney. The fact that the previous ultrasound discovered her one kidney showed its right on target for growth is a good sign. The fact that my daughter was just shy of 7 months and already 18lbs showed that she was growing wonderfully, which is a concern when the kidneys are not working correctly. Obviously we couldn't be 100% positive that her kidney was working well enough to make up for her missing one kidney until we had blood test done. He also wanted to make sure her one kidney wasn't refluxing. That test is called, Voiding Cystourethrogram (VCUG).
             Before we could have the VCUG, we needed to have her blood drawn to find out about her kidney function. Now I am usually very laid back, go with the flow type of person, but I thought I was about to hit the girl. She kept digging all around Callie's arm trying to find the vein. Callie was screaming! It is hard enough to hold an infant down when they stick a needle in their arm, but its much worse when the tech keeps moving it all around their arm trying to find the vein that they swear they can see! After about five minutes I finally had enough. I was furious! Another tech came in and was able to get her blood on the 1st try. I will ask for that girl next time. My poor baby screamed for several minutes afterwards and her arm was bruised for almost two weeks. But on the plus side, her blood results all came back normal:))) So, at this point, her one kidney is functioning  as if she had two.
  Now onto the VCUG. We had this done on Black Friday. Yay.. a way to spend our day right?  I had plenty of time to research this procedure prior too and it seemed painless (according to reports) and pretty fast. I had no idea how being cathed, with no pain meds and being wide awake, can be painless but hey maybe they knew something I didn't. Well let me tell you it was not painless. Callie was talking and happy right up to the time they put the catheter in. OH my! The nurses in the next room heard her scream! My husband and older daughter was in the hallway, they could hear she scream! She screamed the entire time and it was not fast. They had to fill her bladder with a special dye to see if it refluxed back to her kidney. She kept peeing the dye out so fast that they were not ready to take the pictures so they had to keep putting more dye in her bladder. After the 2nd time they were prepared for her. They said she has a very active bladder, I knew that. She pees like a horse all day long lol. Anyways, I cried the entire time, she cried and screamed, but after what felt like a life time, we were done. We got the results the very next morning, and Callie does not have kidney reflux! But, she has a bladder outpouch that can hold urine so it makes her more susceptible to UTI infections that can, in return, hurt her one kidney. Her Doctor wants to wait and see if the outpouch makes any problems before putting her on meds to prevent an UTI. Why, I have no idea, to me that's just playing with fire but what do I know? I am just mom, right? Another plus, since her blood work and reflux test came back great, Callie does not need to be on any special diet. He even said she should be able to play sports and everything as long as her kidney function stays up. We have to go back in 6 months for a recheck. He said that we will keep checking her every 6 months until 2 and if everything is still great then it will be once a year until... I guess forever.

    I am learning that with any syndrome it is always two steps forward and one step back. No reflux and great kidney but a bladder outpouch that can put her kidney in jeopardy.