Category: kidney reflux

I spent almost the whole day at the hospital with Baby C and my maid today.  We reached the hospital at 10am for the antibiotics drip.  We were told by the doctor to collect baby’s pee for another urine culture to see if the WBCs have dropped.  That’s because no sensitivity test has been done on  the alternative (safer) antibiotics used to treat baby.  If the WBCs drop, it means that the Proteus bacteria is sensitive to the antibiotics.  If not, baby would have to be given the antibiotics that’s known to cause some adverse side effects, if given on a prolonged basis.  I was worried sick for 2 days.  The initial urine test today showed that the WBCs have dropped from 860 to 6… thank God!

I had to place baby on my lap throughout the drips coz the moment she was placed on the crib, she bawled.

Collecting baby’s pee was extremely difficult today coz baby was very traumatized.  She can now remember the hospital and the nurses. The minute she’s brought to her room or sees the nurses, she would start crying.  Consequently, she didn’t cooperate when it came to collecting her pee.  4 urine bags were used as the stupid bags kept coming off, despite having plasters stuck to her skin.  My maid and I then used the ‘carry and collect pee’ method but was unsuccessful as she kept struggling and crying.    We spent more than 2 hours to collect the urine… two times as the first specimen wasn’t enough.

Check out my health blog to view more pix of baby on drips taken yesterday.

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We brought the MCUG film (MCUG done at HUKM 2 months ago) to our pediatric nephrologist at SJMC today.  Upon looking at the film, Dr Indon told us that Baby C’s ureter is positioned slightly lower than where it should be, thus the cause of the frequent urine reflux.   She then referred us to a pediatric surgeon at the same hospital.

The surgeon told us that if Baby C keeps having recurring (breakthrough) UTI, it’s best that a ureteral reimplantation be performed.  This will be a major surgery and the ureter would be reimplanted (repositioned).  Success rate is 99%.  The surgeon said that Baby C is still quite young and he wants to give her body a chance to outgrow this reflux.  It is hoped that the ureter will become longer as she grows, thus reduces the reflux.  However, if Baby C keeps getting UTI attacks, it’s best that the surgery be performed to prevent further UTI attacks, thus prevents her right kidney from being scarred.  

The bill came up to almost RM520 today which consists of consultation fees for 2 doctors (surgeon’s consultation fee is RM100!), immunization (6-in-1 jab and Rotavirus) and miscellaneous charges.  Cut-throat charges eh? 

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I will be an expert in ‘analyzing’ pee very soon.  Today, I collected Baby C’s pee again for the routine FEME urine test.  One look and one sniff of the pee in the bottle, I knew it’s going to be fine…. and true, the WBC has dropped to 1-2 (from 10+ on Friday last week). 

For the benefit of other mothers with kids who previously had UTI, if you ever want to know if your baby’s pee is infected or not, just get your baby / toddler to pee into a transparent bottle. If the pee is clear (you can see by holding the bottle up with your hand against sunlight or just below the ceiling lights), then most likely, the pee is not infected.  If the pee is cloudy (with color like barley water or diluted milk) with lots of particles floating inside the pee, most likely your baby has a UTI. My pediatric nephrologist taught me this.  Sometimes, you will see some particles floating in the pee even if the pee is clear.  The floating particles could be some tissues from the lining of the bladder and does not mean that your baby has an infection.

To quell my phobia of another UTI attack, I will do this simple checking every other day.  It’s going to be very time-consuming as it’s extremely difficult to collect Baby C’s pee and troublesome but I will do anything to save my baby’s kidney from being scarred. 

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Brought Baby C for her 4th dose of antibiotics jab via intra-muscular today.  As usual, she wailed her lungs out.  The dr. ordered another urine FEME test to see if the WBC (white blood cells) in her urine has dropped.  A urine bag was used this time.  I prefer this method of collecting her urine than other torturous methods like inserting a catheter into her urethra or carrying her with her legs apart (she hates this method though it’s not painful).   We waited for almost an hour in the hospital just to collect the urine…. and I had to nurse her several times so that there’s enough fluid in her body.

The urine test showed that the WBC had dropped from 80 to 10+, which is a good sign that the infection is subsiding.  But I’m still worried sick that she will get another UTI attack.  It really breaks my heart to see her poked many times when the dr. searches for a vein (in vain) and subsequently jabbed with very painful intra-muscular antibiotics jab each time she has a UTI attack.  I just have a feeling that she will get another UTI attack.  Oh boy, I am being very very paranoid and pessimistic here…… I must shake this thought away from my mind before I go bonkers! 

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but I can take home leave so that we don’t have to stay in the hospital. Baby C is attacked by the E Coli bacteria (again) and Klebsiella bacteria (which is a strong bug) this time and she needs to have an IV line on her hand for antibiotics to be jabbed through the line. As expected, the dr. could not locate the vein on baby’s chubby hands and feet and she was poked 5 times!!! This time, I requested to be with Baby C in the Procedures Room and my request was acceded as I am considered a ‘regular’ at the hospital.

It was REALLY traumatic for Baby C this time as she was poked 5 times (thrice on her hands and once on each of her foot) as the dr. and nurses searched in vain for a vein. She was screaming with all her might in pain and even her favorite frozen water-filled teething ring or my embrace could not subdue her. The sight of the dr. poking the needle into Baby C’s hands and feet and injecting the antibiotics, in the hope that he had injected it into the vein, only to be rejected when blood oozed out through the needle was just too much for me to bear. Whenever this happened, it meant that the antibiotics wasn’t injected into the vein (well, I think that’s how it works. That’s why finding a vein is very important). The procedure looked as if Baby C’s skin was being skewered as the dr. pushed and pulled the needle back and forth through her skin, like a piece of chicken meat being skewered for bbq and it takes a strong heart to see the entire procedure.

After half an hour of torture and screaming for Baby C, the dr. gave up and said he could not find the vein and said that he will administer the jab via intra-muscular, which was very painful. That was the 6th time Baby C was poked within an hour.

It was another very stressful day for both Baby C and me and we have 4 more days to go as she needs 5 doses of antibiotics jab.

Back home, Baby C was all smiles again when she saw her 2 sisters.  Luckily babies have short-term memory and Baby C will not remember any of these when she grows up. See the bandage on both her feet?  There were 2 more bandages on her hands but I removed them coz Baby C was chewing on them.

Baby C’s UTI attacks are so frequent that I have my drawer stocked up with urine bags and sterile bottles!

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I am so so down today coz the urine test today showed that there are lots of WBC (white blood cells) in Baby C’s urine, which means that there is possibly another UTI attack. 

Ever since Baby C had UTI 3 months ago, I have a habit of smelling her soiled diaper each time I change the diaper. When I changed her diaper in the wee hours today, her urine/diaper smelled foul and the smell is similar to the pee of someone who had just eaten petai (stinky beans) the night before.  I was worried sick and couldn’t sleep well. This morning, her diaper looked dark yellowish and the foul smell was still there.  I immediately took her urine, which took me the whole morning to painstakingly collect, drop by drop.  Hubby then brought the urine to the hospital only to be told that the urine wasn’t enough to do both the FEME urine test and culture test, aargh…. I really wanted to cry!

I thought I had done everything to keep the UTI at bay from changing her diaper after every pee to washing her bum after every poo, feeding her with probiotics, cranberry juice and what not but still these are not enough to keep the bacteria from attacking my poor baby. I just hope that this is only a false positive for UTI  as this happened 2 weeks ago.  My paed told me today that the foul smelling and dark colored pee could just be a vaginal yeast infection as this had happened to baby 2 months ago.   I’m bringing baby to see Dr. Indon tomorrow and I just have a feeling that she will order another urine test done with the urine collected via a cathether inserted into baby’s urethra again!  If it’s truly another breakthrough UTI, my poor baby has to endure another 3 rounds of very painful intra-muscular antibiotics jab, which she just had 2 weeks ago.  Sigh…… when will our nightmare ever end?  Perhaps the only solution now is via surgery?  I hope not.

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I started potty-training Baby C 2 days ago. Not that I want to wean her off diapers at such a young age, it’s just that I’m trying my best to prevent another UTI (urinary tract infection) from attacking my baby.

In a child with Kidney Reflux (KR), the urine backflows to the kidney, then flows back down to the bladder. Bacteria will then feast on the stale urine in the bladder. So if I make Baby C pee all her urine out, there will not be any stale urine in the bladder for the bacteria to feast on.  Also, without a urine-soaked diaper, bacteria will not be able to go up her urethra.

It really ain’t easy to make Baby C pee. She hates it when I remove her diaper and carry her with her legs apart. She hates it even more that I let her sit on the potty. Sometimes, she wouldn’t pee on the potty and will only pee the minute I put on a fresh diaper, aargh! Oh gawd, my backache is creeping up again coz it’s quite strenuous on my back carrying her.

“shee shee baby, please wee wee….. shee shee……”

On the advise of Dr Indon, I am keeping Baby C’s diaper area super clean.  I discard her diaper after just one pee and after she poo poos each time, I wash her bum.  It’s really inconvenient and takes up a lot of time, but if this can prevent a UTI, I have no complaints.  I have to put aside the cloth diapers for the time being as it’s just not practical to wash over 10 CDs each day (and I don’t even have more than 10 CDs).  Also, the antibiotics that she’s taking is making her poo poo 3-4 times a day and it’s not practical to wear CD if she poo poos too often.  The current rainy season is making the inserts hard to dry as well.  Hubby has to burn a bigger hole in his pocket by buying more disposable diapers as Baby C uses  between 10-12 diapers a day. 

In between potty-training Baby C, I still managed to whip up a yummy dish for lunch yesterday.  It’s very easy and fast to prepare and my kids love it!

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Today, I woke up at 6am to get ready for a long day ahead. I nursed Baby C, then checked my email, blogged hop a bit, went for 1/2 hour jog, came home and exercised on my fit ball, fixed milk for Aly and Sher, got them ready for school, had an ultra quick breakfast, nursed Baby C again and off we went to SJMC.

I thought we were quite early but there were other patients who were earlier than us and we were no. 8.   After seeing her first patient, Dr Indon came out from her office and we went to the Procedures Room.  Though it was Baby C’s second time going through this procedure, I was still nervous and very worried that the procedure would hurt my baby and I prayed fervently to God to remove all the pain from my baby. 

I had brought along Baby C’s favorite frozen water-filled teething ring and took it out for her to suck.  The sight of the long catheter made my legs weak.  I can still remember the pain down there when the nurse removed the catheter from my urethra after my 3 c-sections. 

Dr Indon first cleaned Baby C’s private part.  Baby C wasn’t really crying but was fussing coz a stranger cleaned that part of hers with some cold liquid.   When Dr Indon inserted the catheter into her urethra,  I placed my face next to my baby and kissed her.  Then I sang “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands“, her favorite song and clapped her hands.  She smiled a little but was still fussing a tad but not crying.  I was glad when I saw her pee flowed out from the opening of the catheter into a sterile bottle.  I was really surprised that so much pee could come out instantaneously after the catheter was inserted.   It was quite a good amount of pee, an amount which would have taken me 3-4 hours to collect, if I were to collect it by myself.  Dr Indon also massaged Baby C’s tummy (the part where the bladder is I suppose) to induce more pee to flow out.    Dr Indon  commented that Baby C’s pee looked clear and I thought so too.   I was really glad when the procedure was over and thank God that it wasn’t traumatic and painful for Baby C.  I think it helps a GREAT deal that I could be with Baby C throughout the procedure.  That’s the main reason why she didn’t cry.  When it was done at HUKM, I wasn’t allowed to go into the Procedures Room and Baby C cried big time. 

I then brought the urine sample to the lab located a floor below.  I just had a good feeling this time that the WBC (white blood cells) in Baby C’s pee had gone down.  True enough and my prayers answered, an hour later when we went in to see Dr Indon, she informed us that the WBC is only 1 (down from 10-15 WBC 3 days ago), which is normal.  That’s good news since Baby C wasn’t on any antibiotics for 3 days (Tues, Wed and Thurs). That was Dr Indon’s instruction as she wanted to see what new bacteria is proliferating in the urine, without the use of antibiotics. I still have to wait for the urine culture results, which would only be out in 3 days’ time and Dr Indon is quite confident that there won’t be any infection in the urine, looking at the WBC.

Dr Indon asked hubby and me if we would like to continue  Baby C to be on antibiotics. We have a choice of not giving the antibiotics but we would have to be extra vigilant and diligent in that we would have to bring Baby C’s urine to be tested every week for at least 3 more years, change baby’s diaper after just 1 pee and not after a few pees, feed her with lots of water and cranberry juice, etc. However, the risk of having UTIs are higher without the use of antibiotics. Hubby and I decided that we shouldn’t take any chances and will continue feeding Baby C with antibiotics until she’s at least 3.5 years old.  When Baby C’s older, we will have to teach her a technique to wee wee, called Double Micturition or double pee to reduce the risk of UTI.    Dr Indon is also not pro-surgery and prefers to treat patients with antibiotics, which is music to my ears.  I really want to keep Baby C away from surgery and other invasive medical treatments.

To be continued……

I love it when Baby C gives me this cheeky look on her face.  Oh yeah, she also has a dimple on her left cheek, though not as deep as her 2 cheh chehs.

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I was to collect Baby C’s urine today to be sent to SJMC to be tested. Last night, I had planned carefully what to do today.   I should wake up at 6am today, nurse Baby C, do some work on my computer, go for my morning jog, take my bath, prepare Aly and Sher for school, prepare Aly and Sher’s lunch box, nurse Baby C again, collect her pee and hubby to send pee to SJMC, placed in an ice-box at 10am BUT my plan went haywire when Baby C just wouldn’t cooperate with me. 

Dr Indon of SJMC wants the pee collected without the use of a urine bag as chances of contamination is high with a urine bag.  I am to carry Baby C in such a way that her legs are apart and let her wee wee directly into the sterile bottle. But when the actual collection of pee was done today, it was really STRESSFUL, FRUSTRATING and I really wanted to CRY and scream in frustration. This is my first time collecting baby’s pee without a urine bag and it wasn’t easy, as expected.   Baby C was really traumatized and distraught.

My maid sat on the green stool whilst I sat on the white stool and we started off Round 1 at 9:30am. Baby C was struggling, arching her back, screaming, crying, kicking and she poo pooed!  Her pee only dribbled out DROP BY DROP during the entire collection session.  She also poo pooed and I had to clean her up very carefully so that the urine won’t be contaminated.

Very long story cut short, after 20 agonizing minutes for Baby C and me, this is the amount of urine collected. Pathetic isn’t it?  What do I expect?  It was collected drop by drop with great pains.  Baby C didn’t give me wee wee fountains like she would EVERYDAY without fail.  Why of all days she just wont give me a good shoot of pee today?

This bottle of pee is only sufficient to be poured into the bottle with boric acid for the urine culture (bottle on the right with white powder inside). I needed another bottle for the urine FEME test.  But Baby C was wailing away and she was really very traumatized and distraught.   I was distraught too.   Why?  Coz the bottle of urine for culture was already in the fridge.  I was told by the medical assistant at Dr Indon’s clinic that the urine cannot stay more than 2 hours in the fridge and I was running out of time.  The urine had to reach SJMC latest by 12:30pm.   Our house to SJMC would take 20 minutes to reach at the quickest and hubby was very busy today.  So I callled SJMC and the hospital near my house to arrange for the urine test to be done at the hospital nearer to my house.  Then, hubby was to collect the urine report and bring it to SJMC to see Dr Indon for her to prescribe Baby C the new antibiotics.  

I put Baby C for a quick nap whilst I quickly ate my breakfast at 11am.  I only have 1 more hour to collect another bottle of pee and I just knew that I would not be able to meet the deadline.  After breakfast, I woke Baby C up and of course that made her bawl.  The moment I removed her diaper, she peed big time and the pee was everywhere on her body!   Sh*t!!  I had to nurse her again and wait for another half an hour for the pee to come out.  I really wanted to cry.  Baby C could sense my frustration and agitation and this made her bawl and struggle more when my maid carried her, whilst I held on to the bottle. 

It was really a big hoo-ha.  My maid was carrying Baby C who was arching her back, kicking her legs, bawling away till she almost puke, my mil was trying to distract baby with a rattle and I was sitting on the floor, holding the bottle, making “shee shee” sounds and staring at her phet phet, waiting for the pee to come out but only drops of pee trickled down.   I just knew that the urine will be contaminated as Baby C had pooed twice and the urine that trickled down touched her anus too.  Though I had cleaned the area with water and cotton, there could still be traces of bacteria there.

When Baby C was really distressed, I nursed her… with her diaper removed and my maid held on to the bottle, trying to collect the pee.  Baby C was crying away as she latched on…. and kicking her legs.  I was really stressed out and so was Baby C.   I was dry…. no milk flowed out due to the stress and Baby C was dry too…. no pee flowed out.  I really wanted to cry and scream!!

Long story cut short, my hubby was already outside the house at 12:30pm.  I just passed whatever urine I had collected to him and prayed that the urine in the second bottle would be enough for the test.  Thank God it was enough though it was very little.

Results turned out that there were still 10-20 WBC (white blood cells) in the urine, which means that there is still an infection in the urine.  Last week’s results were 20-25 WBC. 

Very long story cut short, I am required to bring Baby C to SJMC on Friday for another urine test.  This time, Dr Indon will insert a catheter into Baby C’s ureter to collect a ‘clean urine’ sample.   It’s going to hurt but it’s the best way to get an accurate reading of the urine test.  Poor Baby C, she will have to endure another painful time.  Sigh…. I just hope we will get out of this nightmare very soon!

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Hubby was busy this morning, so Connie Koo Por (hub’s aunty) brought us to a nearby clinic early in the morning to have the last dose of antibiotics jab administered.  This time, I brought along Baby C’s favorite water-filled frozen teething ring and a rattle.

The sight of the HUGE syringe filled to the brim with liquid made me shudder. I really cringe at the sight of needles and syringes. I don’t know how I managed to survive 3 difficult pregnancies where I had to be given hormone jabs twice weekly at the start of my pregnancy until 12 weeks and 3 c-sections.

Anyway, Baby C wailed painfully when the dr. jabbed the needle into her muscles through her thigh unceremoniously. Then I think he took around 40 seconds or so to sloooooowly inject all the liquid into her thigh. That 40 seconds or so seemed like ages for me and Baby C. Even the frozen teething ring and rattle did not manage to distract her for the pain was just too much for her to bear. Well, I bet no one can bear the pain. Hopefully this jab will be the LAST ever antibiotics jab for Baby C.

I started feeding Baby C with 1 teaspoon of organic cranberry juice diluted with water and add 1 capsule of powdered probiotics into the juice 2 days ago. Hopefully these can prevent another bout of UTI attack.

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