Little miss Bailee girl has had some issues lately that i would like to blog about. I previously blogged that she has now had 3 bladder infections in her short little life. I was stumped on how she was getting these. I couldnt help but start to blame myself for either how i was wiping her or leaving her in a diaper too long etc. I was having a really hard time because every time we went to the doctor (which was a couple times a week) they would have to cath her and get a urine sample only to tell me that she had yet another bladder infection. At one point she was throwing up like crazy and even a little dehydrated. They did some blood work and found out she had some type of virus. So sad for such a little girl. My docotr suggested that we go to primary childrens and runs some tests on her kidneys, bladder and urethra. So we went up to Primary Childrens hospital on Tuesday and found out the following:
1. Her kidneys and Bladder look great!
2. She has a little bit of a hard time urinating
3. It appeared that she had a little bit of Reflux on the bladder.
Reflux of the bladder: There is a tube called the Ureter that goes from the Kidneys to the bladder. In a normal person the Ureter goes all the way down in the bladder and rests next to a muscle. When you are finished urinating the muscle clamps down on the Ureter and prevents the left over urine that you dont pee out, from going back up to the kidneys. Well in Bailees case, her Ureters are not in the bladder all the way, so when she urinates, there is no muscle next to it to clamp it off so it just shoots back up to the kidneys. Well you would think that is ok because the kindeys are what makes the urine. But once the urine leaves the kidneys it becomes contaminated so the left over urine can have bacteria in it which will go back up to the kidneys and create kidney infections.
We left primary childrens feeling a little uneasy and unsure about the whole thing. Well Bailees doctor called yesterday with the actual results and said that she has a pretty significant case of reflux and she wants to send us to a urologist at Primary Childrens to discuss our options.
We were lucky enough to get into Dr. Snow this morning. He basically told me that they have a grade scale from 1-5(5 being the worst) and they graded Bailee a 2. So a mild to moderate case. So he told me we have 2 options:
1. Preventative antibiotics: This is where she would have to be on antibiotics for at least a year. 1/4 of a dose 1 time daily for a year. The statistic shows that patients Bailees age that are graded a 2 have an 80% chance of recovery within the year doing the antibiotics. After the year is up they will x-ray her and if the reflux is gone they will take her off the antibiotics and if not then she is on antibiotics for another year until she reaches 3 years old. If she still has it then, then they will just do surgery. The antibiotics will prevent any bacteria from getting into her urine and going up to her kidneys. over time, her Ureters can grow and move into the correct spot and she would be fine.
2. Surgery: The surgery would happen here in a couple weeks and what they would do is they would put her out and make 2 little incisions near her bladder and insert tubes or pull her Uterers down and into the correct spot so the muscle will clamp down on it and prevent urine from going up to her kidneys. She would have to be in the hospital for 2 days post surgery and would have 2 little tubes coming out of the incisions, acting as a catheter until everything heals which will be a couple weeks. The surgery has a 98% success rate and the risks for infection, bleeding or any complications are less than 5%.
Both options are terrible in my opinion. I dont want her being on antibiotics for that long. Her immune system will be ruined. Once she will finally be able to be off them she will get so sick all the time because she has not been exposed to anything. But surgery is so so so scary. I dont want them to put my little girl out and make cuts in her little tiny body. What if something does happen?? She is just too young to be going through any of this :( The doctor told me both options are not fun and that we need to just go home and pray and figure out what would be best for our little girl.
My mind is definitely leaning more towards the surgery. I just feel that with antibiotics her immune system could have long term side effects and potentially ruin her life. She has a chance of being in and out of the hospital all the time because she will not have been given the opportunity to build up her immune system. I also feel like what if she is not part of that 80% and she ends up having the surgery anyway? Then her immune system is crappy and she has to have surgery. With the surgery the problem would be fixed right away and she can stay normal. Although, its surgery, so things can definitely go wrong.
We all got blessings the other night and Bailees said that all this stuff that has come over her body will be fixed and healed and that she would be ok. So i have to have faith and do lots of praying and fasting to know what route to take. I am so thankful that i have a heavenly father that know me and knows Bailee and can tell me exactly what to do. I know she will be ok and that Heavenly Father will be right there with her no matter what we decide to do.
I got to take pictures of the different tests she did the other day so here is our trip to Primary Childrens!
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