A busy week, medically speaking.

Monday morning found us at two different doctors; Cailynn, Corinne and I at the pediatrician, and CJ, Carissa and Trent at the orthodontist for CJ. Cailynn had her 1 month check-up. She is now a whopping 10 pounds!!! and grew an inch too. Really glad to see that she is growing well, though I wouldn't have minded her staying little just a bit longer! The Doctor heard a heart murmur during his examination and referred us to a cardiologist for an electrocardiograph. I know a lot of babies have a heart murmur (I had one, Corinne had one) but because the kidneys and heart develop at the same time in utereo and because Cailynn's kidneys have problems, the Doctor wanted it checked out. We got that scheduled for Friday (today), the same day as out appointment with the urologist.



Which brings us to today! We began today at Children's Medical Center in the Cardiology department. To be brief, the EKG was uneventful (meaning Cailynn didn't put up much of a fuss) and the doctor said that he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Yipee!
Then the receptionist from Cardiology took us to Urology. We were an hour early for our appointment. Of course as soon as I left to take Cailynn to change her diaper, we were called in. So I hurried back, baby half dressed, and we were taken back to a room, where we waited another 20 minutes until the doctor came in. He reviewed Cailynn's renal ultrasound and her voiding cystograph with us and then drew us a picture illustrating the problems with her kindeys.

There are 2 issues, but they are related. She has the duplicated ureter in her right kidney and ureterocele (a tiny hernia) in her bladder. It also appears that the upper lobe of her right kidney is not functioning well (that's where the extra ureter is attached). She also has VU reflux, pretty severe. VU reflux is characterized by grades 1-5, 5 being most severe. She has grade 4-5. This has caused her ureters, and kidneys to some degree, to become swollen.

So the plan is..... she needs a test of her kidney function (DMSA) to see how well that right upper lobe is working. The doctor is assuming it is not working well. If that is the case, she will need surgery to remove it (and as much of the ureter that is attached to it). That woud occur when she is 3-4 months old. If, on the other hand, it functions well, surgery will not be needed.
She will also need surgery to re-attach the 2 remaining ureters to her bladder and remove the ureterocele. This, we were told, is a much more delicate and complicated surgery. Therefore the doctor prefers to wait until she gets bigger/ older. Maybe 6 months old - 2 years. This will depend on her staying infection free.

For now we continue to pray for healing and keep giving Cailynn antibiotics. We are waiting to schedule the next procedure, DMSA. This procedure requires Cailynn to have an IV and most likely be restrained for 30-45 mins. I imagine it will be scary and uncomfortable for her, so we are praying for her to experience peace and comfort throughout the procedure. Also, we pray that the right upper lobe functions well enough that it doesn't need to be removed.