Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Update on Evelyn

I have been prolonging posting an update about Evelyn until we had something concrete to report...but we're still waiting for that, so I figured I'd let you know what we do know.  She started acting much more like herself last week around Wednesday, and the antibiotics seemed to be doing their job.  She's gotten much better about taking her oral meds, which has probably helped a lot!

On Monday, we had the two follow-up labs to determine if she had anything anatomically that could be causing the UTI she had.  The first lab was an ultrasound.  In this they look for a couple of things...first, to see if there is any blockage in the urinary system and second, to see if there is any swelling in the kidneys indicating infection.  She did really good with this procedure and was talking and smiling at the ultrasound tech - at least until she turned her over onto her tummy...she wasn't a huge fan of that!  According to her pediatrician, her right kidney was a little swollen (which could be the remains of the infection she had) but her left kidney and the rest of the urinary system looked fine.


Getting ready for her ultrasound...being naked and her feet are two of her favorite things!

The second lab is called a Voiding Cystourethrogram (VCUG or dye test).  This lab essentially is a radiology lab that examines if there is reflux in the urinary system and/or problems with the bladder completing voiding urine.  This one wasn't so fun.  To do the lab, they catheterize the patient, then inject a dye into the urinary system that can be seen in contrast via a series of X-rays.  And of course, it's our job to keep her still while the procedure is performed so they can get good images.  She (naturally) hated this from start to finish.  I felt like the procedure took 10 minutes longer than it needed to...they cathed her, then sat waiting for what seemed like an hour (Dan was watching from behind a window, and said it was about 10 minutes) for the radiologist to actually come in and perform the test.  It seems like they could cath a patient as the radiologist is coming in and save the agony of the poor baby screaming for 10 minutes!  Evelyn wasn't happy at all (which, I can't blame her!).  The nurse asked if she could dip her pluggie in glucose water, so I told her sure.  Evelyn quieted a little, so the nurse put a nipple on the bottle and tried to give it to her.  Evelyn HATES anything that is cold, and is pretty picky about the kind of nipple she will drink from...so when the nurse shoved the bottle in her mouth, poor Evelyn was gagging because it's cold and not what she likes!  After about 30 seconds of her continuing to try to offer her a bottle, I told her it clearly wasn't working.  (I applaud the effort, but really - when the baby is gagging, don't keep shoving it in her mouth!)  Evelyn is screaming at this point and we're still waiting on the radiologist.  When she finally came in, she tried making small talk and tried to "entertain" Evelyn.  For real....if she's screaming with her Mom, I'm going to guess there is nothing you are going to be able to do to make her happy in the cold, scary room!  I finally said, "she's going to be upset until we get this done, so the faster we can do it, the better."  Finally, they got moving and finished the X-rays in about 3 minutes.  So what should have taken about 7 minutes start to finish, took about 20.  Poor baby!!  No wonder her Dad keeps promising her ponies!  (For those of you not on Facebook...I posted on Monday morning that Evelyn has a whole stable-full of ponies waiting for her for all the times her Dad has told her, "I'll buy you a pony after this test!")  The radiologist immediately indicated that she did have some reflux in the left kidney, and said that our pediatrician would follow up.  I was able to talk to her today, and she said that Evelyn has a grade 1 reflux in the right kidney and a grade 3 reflux in the left kidney.  It sounds like they don't really do anything to treat grade 1, so it's the left kidney they are concerned about.  From what we understand, they will treat her with a low dose of antibiotic daily until she outgrows this (which typically happens).  She is referring us to a pediatric urologist for treatment, so we'll know a lot more once we meet with him/her.  I'm not sure when that appointment will be, their office is supposed to be contacting me for the appointment.

I'll be sure to update you as we know more...but for now you can be praying for Evelyn's urinary system to heal completely and swiftly, that her body will be on earth as it is in Heaven - perfect, whole, and healthy!

No comments:

Post a Comment