No surgery required!

I know that title probably surprised a few people. Just to summarize his kidney news...

At my 20 week ultrasound the doctor noticed that Luke's kidneys were both swollen. Because of this they wanted me to have ultrasounds every 6 weeks to keep an eye on it. This was a good and bad thing - good because we got to see the him so much! and bad because it was a constant reminder that his kidney was having problems. The right one eventually corrected itself, but the left kidney has been a little stubborn. The ultrasound that I had at 8 months confirmed the fact that his kidney was still swollen and the doctor said that the delivery should go fine and that we would just need to get an ultrasound on Luke after he was born to continue checking on it. The doctors would always explain to us that if it was bad enough, Luke would need surgery to correct the problem (which turns out to be a slightly constricted tube leading from the kidney to the bladder). But the hope was that it would just fix itself over time. Or right away. That would have been nice too. We did the ultrasound when he was 3 weeks old. Can you just see this little guy on that huge bed with the goo on his belly? It was again confirmed that his kidney was still swollen. So our pediatrician (I love her!) ordered a VCUG, a renal scan, and a visit with the urologist at Primary Children's Hospital.

For the VCUG they use a catheter and put a dye into his kidney and watch as the dye moves from his kidney to his bladder. This one was quite an adventure. They called me the day before and explained that they are going to sedate him in order to make things a little more comfortable for him and therefore would need to fast prior to his appointment. For a little guy that eats every 1 1/2 hours, this was a little bit surprising to me. They said nursing was okay until 8 am, and until 10 am he could drink only pedialyte. Well, that meant using a bottle and he did not go for that. He hated it in fact, which means that the last time he at was 7 am and his appointment didn't start until 11:30. I was so worried. Dave gave little Luke a blessing that morning that the Spirit would be with him to comfort him and that all would be well. We have never seen him so calm when he was hungry before. It was amazing in fact. He just sucked on his pacifier, which I don't like to use unless in circumstances like this one, and was just peachy. Well we got there and to make a long story short, they tried 6 times insert an IV for the medication. I hated every second of it. I couldn't hold back the tears. He is just too little for all of this stuff! In the end they decided to just stop trying and just give him a bottle of glucose water. Heavens. He was fine with just that. They inserted the catheter and got the pictures they needed and we were done. I was so excited to get out of there and feed him. Poor little guy.

Next came the Renal scan which we did today. For this they did the same thing - inserted a catheter and an IV. But this IV was used to put radioactive fluid into his bloodstream which would eventually end up in his kidney and his bladders. With this they could check the kidney from both ends, the filling up and the drainage. It took them two tries to get the IV in there and after they put heavy pillows on his legs and arms, we were able to sit there with him for 45 minutes while the fluid was tracked. We could watch as his kidneys filled up and then drained into his bladder. It was pretty cool to see, except that it was completely obvious that his left kidney was not draining like his right one. I thought that surgery was going to be the only option. With that test over we went upstairs to meet with the urologist about the results. He explained to us that the normal drainage time for a kidney is 10 minutes or below. Twenty minutes and above to drain is considered abnormal and requires some help. Luke's right kidney drained in 2 1/2 minutes and his bad one, the left one, drained in 11 minutes. The doctor explained that between 10 and 20 minutes is really the "okay" zone. It doesn't mean that we should worry about it, but it is good to keep an eye on it. He said that surgery is not required and all is well. Oh my goodness. I was so happy. I couldn't keep the smile back. I hated even thinking about his having to have surgery. Anyway, the urologist said that he would like to keep an eye on it and to have an ultrasound done in 6 months. He usually keeps an eye on things until they are potty-trained and then it's just nothing to worry about.

What a day. And to top it off I took the last final of my undergraduate career. I am graduating in April and can't wait. Again, what a day. We are definitely blessed. Heavenly Father is watching over us for sure.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Brienne