It's been a busy and rough past few days for Isaac!
Friday Isaac had a VCUG test done. This procedure was done to discover if Isaac has urine refluxing into his kidneys to see if this was the source of the scarring on his small right kidney. He was very mildly sedated for this procedure, but to be honest it didn't seem to have any effect during his test. He screamed and thrashed the entire time. They had to tie him down to the table to catheterize him and run the test. Greg and I were with him the entire time, but it was very traumatic.
Sunday Isaac woke up crying because he was in tremendous pain so we called the doctor and were told to bring him to the ER. In the ER he had to be catheterized again as we suspected a urinary tract infection (UTI), but his urine came back clean. They simply decided that most likely his urethra had been slightly hurt during the VCUG procedure (not shocking considering how traumatic it was for him), so it will just take a few days for it to heal and urinating will be painful for him until it heals.
This morning we met with the pediatric nephrologist. He let us know that Isaac has extremely high urine reflux in his right kidney and over time this is what has caused the scarring. We aren't sure if he was born with a small right kidney or if his right kidney is now small due to the urine reflux damage, but either way the nephrologist told us that the damage is done. Isaac's right kidney will always be small and always be damaged from this point forward. All we can do now is try to make sure it doesn't get worse. He may need surgery to fix this problem so the urine will no longer reflux into his kidney.
Our next steps are more tests and meeting with a urologist to determine if surgery will be necessary. We received a referral for a urologist today, so the urology office should be calling sometime soon to schedule that appointment.
Thank you for keeping Isaac in your prayers! Please continue to pray for him to be free from pain, and for the nephrologist and urologist to have wisdom in deciding how to treat his kidney problem to prevent further damage.
Friday Isaac had a VCUG test done. This procedure was done to discover if Isaac has urine refluxing into his kidneys to see if this was the source of the scarring on his small right kidney. He was very mildly sedated for this procedure, but to be honest it didn't seem to have any effect during his test. He screamed and thrashed the entire time. They had to tie him down to the table to catheterize him and run the test. Greg and I were with him the entire time, but it was very traumatic.
Sunday Isaac woke up crying because he was in tremendous pain so we called the doctor and were told to bring him to the ER. In the ER he had to be catheterized again as we suspected a urinary tract infection (UTI), but his urine came back clean. They simply decided that most likely his urethra had been slightly hurt during the VCUG procedure (not shocking considering how traumatic it was for him), so it will just take a few days for it to heal and urinating will be painful for him until it heals.
This morning we met with the pediatric nephrologist. He let us know that Isaac has extremely high urine reflux in his right kidney and over time this is what has caused the scarring. We aren't sure if he was born with a small right kidney or if his right kidney is now small due to the urine reflux damage, but either way the nephrologist told us that the damage is done. Isaac's right kidney will always be small and always be damaged from this point forward. All we can do now is try to make sure it doesn't get worse. He may need surgery to fix this problem so the urine will no longer reflux into his kidney.
Our next steps are more tests and meeting with a urologist to determine if surgery will be necessary. We received a referral for a urologist today, so the urology office should be calling sometime soon to schedule that appointment.
Thank you for keeping Isaac in your prayers! Please continue to pray for him to be free from pain, and for the nephrologist and urologist to have wisdom in deciding how to treat his kidney problem to prevent further damage.