A week from today my sweet little 6 month old, Justin, will be undergoing kidney surgery for a UPJ Obstruction, which means (in very basic terms), that Justin’s kidney isn’t draining well due to a blockage in the tube that connects to his bladder. His left kidney is currently quite a bit larger than is normal--which for the short term has been just fine. His kidney functions well, there has been no damage done and he doesn’t feel pain or discomfort from the obstruction. However, if it were to go untreated there could be kidney failure. The obstruction generally occurs when a baby is still growing in the womb. We found out when I was 19 weeks pregnant that there was something wrong with his kidney and as a result had a number of follow up appointments with both a perinatal specialist and then a perinatal urologist before he was born to monitor his kidney. We were told that many of these cases when diagnosed before birth or early after birth may improve on its own and that surgery is not always required…unfortunately, that is not the case for Justin.
The morning after he was born he had an ultrasound to see how the kidney was doing. It was still quite large so we were told to make an appointment with Children’s Hospital to consult with our specialist. Ten days after he was born he had to undergo a 30 or so minute procedure that required he be strapped down to a board with a catheter that shot some sort of dye into his body that would determine whether he had reflux between the kidney and bladder which can cause urinary tract infections. Thankfully they were able to rule that out which meant we were able to stop giving our teeny tiny little baby antibiotics.
The next step was making an appointment for another un-fun procedure when he was 4 months old to see if the kidney had continued to grow in size or whether it had begun to regulate. This procedure also included him being strapped down with a catheter but this time also included an IV which sent a radioactive fluid through his body that would determine where the actual blockage was (I think...lots of technical-ness going on that I can’t translate into normal people terms and since it’s been a while since it took place, I don’t remember too much beyond the fact that he has to have surgery.) My poor little man was poked 4 times before the IV line finally took and you better believe that he was SO not happy by this point!! I’m so grateful however that he was (is) as young as he is because it could have been a whole lot worse. If it had been Ashley up there—oh boy! That would have been an absolute nightmare. This second procedure took around 50 minutes and Justin actually fell asleep for the middle portion of it and only fussed (eh, more than fussed) for the other part. Directly following this appointment we met with our perinatal urologist (I’m sure I’m saying this wrong) and he concluded that Justin would indeed need to have surgery and we would need to do it sometime after Justin hit the 6 month mark.
So, Justin turns 6 months this Saturday and will be having surgery next Wednesday (the 30th, the day after the boys turn 6yrs). Surgery is at 7:30am (check in at 6am!!) and will take 2-3 hours. The surgery (Pyeloplasty) will correct the blockage and allow urine to flow normally between the kidney and bladder. He and I will spend the night in the hospital and will hopefully be able to come home on Thursday morning. The surgery has an 85-90% success rate and you better believe we will be praying mightily that the surgery will be a success!! We have been told that recovery takes about a month and we will be going back about 10 days post surgery to have a drain removed from his back. Around 2-3 months post-op he will have a follow up ultrasound and will continue that until he hits the year mark to check on the status of the kidney. Year 2 post-op he will go every 6 months, then will go once a year until 5 years post op.
I feel so very humbled every time we enter Children’s Hospital. There are children and families and parents there that are dealing with so much more than we are. I have been brought to tears numerous time as I see these sweet little people that are so very sick. It’s heart breaking. I’m so grateful for wonderful doctors and nurses who care for these little people and do all they can for them.
6 comments:
A friend of mine is going through the same thing with her little guy. He is only 5 weeks old so they are still on step 1 or 2.
Will say a prayer for you all! Angels will be surrounding you and the doctors and your sweet baby. Promise you!
My little girl had surgery for kidney reflux when she was 2. She had taken daily antibiotics from the day she was born. The surgery was not fun, but we survived, and luckily, she won't remember any of it. After the surgery, the follow up tests showed that the reflux had not been corrected (grade 4 in the larger kidney, grade 3 in the other). The doctor wanted to reschedule the surgery for a few weeks later. I wasn't ready to go through that again, so I put it off. 6 months later when we went in for the pre-op tests, her kidneys had corrected themselves! Prayer definitely helps with things like this! Good luck with Justin's surgery! Be prepared that it will be really hard, on him and on you. But, Children's is the greatest place to be, and the nurses and staff are awesome.
We sure hope and pray that this surgery will be a success for sweet little Justin. We send our love.
Hang in there tough Mama. Sending prayers your way for a speedy and successful recovery for that sweet little man!
You let me know if you need anything from either of us. Call V if you need to talk medical stuff. I'll tell him you might be calling so he'll take the call at work. I will be praying for you.
What a sweet little baby. I had no idea little Justin had any health problems. We will be praying for him and your family tomorrow as he heads for surgery. We love you all.
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