kidney reflux – Page 3 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Still No Sign Of Pooping

Today is the third day Baby C has not pooed and I brought her to see the pediatrician. Our dr. told us that it’s normal for breastfed babies to go through long episodes of not emptying their bowels. He asked if we wanted enema to be pumped into Baby C’s rectum but hubby said no. BTW, our dr. also advised against administering the enema and told us to wait for 2 more days and to bring her back for the enema to be administered should she not empty her bowels by then.

Baby C also took her jab (DTP, HiB, Hep B, Polio) and the Rotavirus immunization (taken orally) today. My brave baby must have been immuned to jabs (for she’s taken many over the past 1 month) and did not even cry when the needle was poked into her bum. Hopefully the Rotavirus will stimulate her to empty her bowels today.

When we were inside the dr’s office, the nephrologist from HUKM called me on my handphone. Baby C’s urine culture done last week revealed that there are some bacteria (the bacteria responsible for causing UTI) in her urine. The bacteria must have been resistant to the new antibiotics (Trimethroprim) given to her and the dr. asked us to switch to another antibiotics. Luckily we were in the hospital and my pediatrician prescribed the new antibiotics (Cephalexin) to her. We may bring Baby C to a pediatric nephrologist at a private hospital for a second opinion as it’s almost impossible to see the chief nephrologist at HUKM. The dr who saw Baby C at HUKM 3 weeks ago is only a young doctor and does not seem knowledgable. Sigh…. I just hope our nightmare will end very soon.

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Baby C Can’t Poo

for 2 days already and I am worried sick coz my baby has always been a good ‘pooper’ since birth and has never had problems with emptying her bowels. I hope the built up poop inside her body will not aggravate her kidney reflux and cause another UTI. If she still can’t poo poo by tomorrow, I may bring her to her pediatrician. I’ve been massaging her tummy the whole day and praying that she can poo poo today but she didn’t even let out a fart today. I wonder what’s wrong with her. I am dammmmmn worried now. Being a mum is just so tough and always full of worries…

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Baby C Has Grade 3 Kidney Reflux

The hospital called this afternoon. The nurse conveyed to me the report, which states that Baby C has kidney reflux or VUR grade 3. I had expected it to be grade 3, and thankfully it is not grade 4 or 5. The hospital has also given us a nearer appointment date, which is in 2 weeks’ time.

Now, I can only pray that Baby C’s kidney reflux will resolve by itself and that she does not require surgery. I read that 50% – 85% of cases with grade 3 VUR will experience spontaneous resolution of VUR, meaning that the problem will resolve by itself over time.

Here’s an excerpt on the treatment and prognosis of Kidney Reflux, from Answers.com :

Treatment depends on the grade that is diagnosed. In grades I and II, the usual treatment involves long-term use of a small daily dose of antibiotics to prevent the development of infections. The urine is tested regularly to make sure that no infection occurs. The kidneys are evaluated regularly via ultrasound and VCUG (every 12 to 18 months) to make sure that they are growing normally and that no new scarring has occurred. Grades III, IV, and V VUR can be treated with antibiotics and careful monitoring. New infections, scarring, or stunting of kidney growth may result in the need for surgery. Grades IV and V are extremely likely to require surgery.

Surgery for VUR consists of reimplanting the ureters into the bladder at a more normal angle. This adjustment usually improves the functioning of the valve leading into the bladder. When structural defects of the urinary system are present, surgery will almost always be required to repair these defects.

Prognosis
Prognosis is dependent on the grade of VUR. About 80 percent of children with grades I and II VUR simply grow out of the problem. As they grow, the ureter lengthens, changing its angle of entry into the bladder and resolving the reflux. The average age of VUR resolution is about six to seven years. About 50 percent of children with grade III VUR require surgery. Nearly all children with grades IV and V VUR require surgery. In these cases, it is usually best to perform surgery when the patient is relatively young, in order to avoid damage and scarring to the kidneys.

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Baby C Has Kidney Reflux

The MCUG test went smoothly today. We reached Hospital UKM at around 9am and went to the pediatric daycare ward for the catheter to be inserted into her urethra. When the doctor arrived, I carried Baby C into the procedures room and I was told to leave the room. I really hate it that I couldn’t be with Baby C each time she has to go through such painful and traumatic times. I was told to sit at the waiting area but I just stood outside the room and held on to my rosary and prayed fervently to God that He will remove Baby C’s pain and discomforts. I was told that Baby C did not cry when the tube was inserted into her urethra but only cried when she was given an antibiotics jab on her bum. Clever me had brought along some toys to the hospital and I told the medical assistants to keep her distracted with them.

Next, we brought her down to the Radiology Department for the MCUG test to be carried out. I will never forget the 2 hours I spent there. First, something really embarassing happened and all I could say was “oh sh*t!!”. Check out my other blog to read.

When it was finally Baby C’s turn to go into the X-ray room, my heart pounded. I felt really anxious and nervous. I again took out my rosary and prayed fervently. I have not felt so worried sick for a long time. The last time I felt this worried sick was when I was pregnant with Alycia (only 10 weeks preggers) and I was suspected of having German measles. I could hear Baby C wailing her lungs out and all I could do was to pray, with a BIG lump stuck in my throat and watery eyes. When her cries intensified, the radiologist came out to ask if Baby C had any pacifier. I told her that Baby C does not suck one but gave her Baby C’s toys and teething ring. Moments later, I didn’t hear Baby C’s cries anymore. The toys managed to distract her. Those painful cries from Baby C will forever be etched in my memory.

The procedure went quite fast. When I heard the radiologist called out “Cassandra’s mother, please come in“, I rushed into the x-ray room and quickly picked Baby C up from the x-ray table and hugged her tightly. I can never forget how worn out her face was from all the crying. I then asked the radiologist if Baby C has kidney reflux and my heart was crushed when she said yes. The report, which would indicate what grade her reflux is would only be out in 2 days and the hospital would call to notify us.

Some of the disadvantages of a government hospital are that you have to wait for hours for your turn. And know what? Our next appointment to see the nephrologist is only in 3 months’ time! Goodness, how can we wait that long? Of course, we would like to see the nephrologist ASAP to see what’s the next course of action. After pleading for a much nearer appointment date, we were given an appointment which was scheduled for September! Goodness gracious, no wonder many patients with terminal illness and patients waiting for transplants had died while waiting for their turn to seek treatment in government hospitals. We will see how it goes. We may bring Baby C to a private hospital but that’s going to be very costly and all her bills will not be covered by insurance since it is a congenital problem. I am praying that Baby C’s kidney reflux is only a mild grade and that it will resolve by itself as she grows older.

Baby C’s pink bear rattle and the frozen water-fiiled teething ring helped a great deal in distracting her. The radiologist told us that the frozen teething ring managed to pacify her and stopped her from crying.

Baby C’s Fisher Price toy.

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Update On Baby C’s Suspected Kidney Reflux

We will be bringing Baby C to the hospital to have the MCUG test done tomorrow morning. The test is to see if she actually has a kidney reflux. I am really worried that Baby C will be in great pain as she will NOT be sedated! I can imagine how she will struggle when the nurses or doctors are trying to insert the tube into her urethra… without any GA or sedation…. and this has been causing me much distress. Please pray for her, that the procedure will be successful, without any complications and that Baby C will be free from pain, discomfort and any negative side effects. And most of all, please pray that Baby C does not have kidney reflux or any blockages.

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A Really Hectic And Tiring Day

This morning, my mil brought our maid to the market. I was home alone with the 3 gals as hubby has gone to his shop. I quickly went to the kitchen to get everything ready before Baby C woke up… but sh*t, the water was only trickling down the tap. I knew that the water pipes at our area must have burst again as this happens very often. I quickly fixed milk for the 2 older gals, brushed their teeth, washed them up, fixed them breakfast, washed the milk bottles, stored water and did everything that needed water before the taps ran dry. Also made a call to PUAS to make a report and was informed that indeed there was a water pipe burst. In between all these, Sherilyn my trouble-maker played with the water that I had stored and poured away half the amount of water that I had stored. Boy was I fuming mad with her.

Later, I heard Baby C’s cries from the baby monitor in the kitchen and quickly went up. Nursed her, changed her diaper and o.O… I saw greenish gooey discharge on the diaper. No wonder her diaper smelled foul last night… the same smell when she had UTI last month. I tell you, I was worried sick that she may have another UTI attack and prayed hard that it’s not UTI. Without further delay, I put the soiled diaper in a plastic bag (for the dr. to have a look), called hubby and asked him to quickly come back to bring Baby C to the hospital.

FYI, if your child has a history of UTI, at the onset of a fever or a foul smelling urine, quickly bring her to the hospital and quickly collect a urine sample to do a urine culture. If it’s UTI, it’s important that antibiotics be taken immediately before the bacteria goes up to the kidney and scar / damage the kidney.

The paed wasn’t sure if it was vaginal yeast infection (VYI) or another UTI but said that it’s most likely a VYI as Baby C has been taking antibiotics for the past 1 month and it is very common to get VYI when one is taking antibiotics. This always happens to me too whenever I am on antibiotics. I was given a cream to apply on her private part and if there is still discharge / foul smell, I will have to put a urine bag on her private part to collect her urine to be tested.

Baby C was supposed to get a Rotavirus and Pneumococcal jab today but I told the paed that I will delay it to next week as she may develop a fever after the jab and I will not know if the fever is caused by the jab or by a UTI.

Meanwhile, Alycia who followed us to the hospital got her booster MMR jab and I was really amazed that she wasn’t scared at all and she did not even let out an “ouch” or a cry! I was really proud of her!

I am so tired and sleepy now. I woke up at 4:30am this morning when Baby C puked after I had nursed her. It was my mistake. I snoozed along with her during the feed. I ended up having to clean her up and changed the bedsheet and did everything all by myself. Hubby was snoring away in the gals’ room and I did not want to wake my maid up. After I had cleaned Baby C up, she poo pooed big time and I had to clean her bum too.

next up…… Sherilyn my trouble-maker got herself in trouble at Guardian Pharmacy today.

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Poor Baby C Was Poked Twice

When the doctor told me yesterday that she needs to have Baby C’s blood taken, my heart skipped a beat or two for a moment for I know it will surely be extremely difficult to find a vein in her chubby hands or feet…. which means that the nurses have to poke her a few times. My heart bled too when I saw the nurse poke Baby C’s hand to have blood drawn out. The first time, she was poked on the right hand, which was unsuccessful. She wailed her lungs out. After spending a few minutes searching high and low for a vein on her hands and feet, the nurse finally found a vein and poked her left hand. I was desperately trying to distract my poor baby with a musical toy and prayed so hard to God that the needle will not hurt my baby and my prayer was answered…. Baby C was so engrossed with a musical toy in the clinic that she did not let out any cry during the second attempt to draw out her blood. Phew….

A satisfied Baby C after I had nursed her and changed her pooped diaper inside the doctor’s clinic. Read the story here.

Poor Baby C’s hands plastered on both sides. Now, she has 5 tiny holes on the back of her palm. My poor baby has been poked 5 times on her hands and 1 time on her foot in 1 month, resulting from the UTI / suspected kidney reflux.

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Feeding Baby C Medicine

Feeding Baby C antibiotics requires TONS of patience, ideas and energy. I started off feeding her the antibiotics at 8:30am today after Alycia and Sherilyn had gone to pre-school and only finished the entire 3ml at 9:45am…. which I split into 3 sessions. It took me 20 – 30 minutes to squirt 1ml of antibiotics into her mouth. I had to cradle her with my left hand and hold the syringe with my right hand…. and then dance with her, sang to her, walked round the house whilst singing to her, whilstled to her, jogged round the house with her to amuse her and clowned around to distract her and to make her swallow the antibiotics.

Since yesterday, Baby C has been really cranky and I had to let her suckle my breast every single hour of the day. The moment I put her back in her cot or on the bouncinet, she would start whining again. When her cries were ignored and she wasn’t picked up immediately, her cries would accelerate into loud vibrating wails with long pauses in between….. and her body would stiffened and turn red and at times threw up…. which was really quite frightening. She also had to suckle my teat teats the whole night and she was practically sleeping under my armpits the entire night…. till I had pins and needles on both my hands. Oh God, I just hope things will get better in days to come, else I just can’t do anything but cradle her and let her latch onto my breast the whole day.

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Updates On Baby C (Day 3)

I am back home to bathe and to pack some stuff again. Finally this morning, the paed managed to find a vein on the back of BB C’s left palm. As expected, BB C wailed her lungs out when the needle was poked into her hand. My heart bled too seeing her tiny hand being poked and the dr. had to insert a small pump/valve and squeeze her hand tightly to draw out the blood, drop by drop…. to collect 3 small bottles of blood. The blood results were just out and the white blood cells are still quite high, thus she is to continue the antibiotics, given via the UV line.

BB C needs the antibiotics for 7 days but the dr. has given me permission to take home leave to go home. However, I need to bring BB C back to the hospital for the nurses to inject the antibiotics thru the IV line 3 times a day.

One of my readers told me that I can avoid having BB C go thru the test (where a dye will be injected thru her urether) to rule out Kidney Reflux. However, there will be tedious procedures where I will need to bring BB C to the hospital very frequently for her urine to be cultured. I hope I can choose this option instead of having to risk BB C doing the test as she will be sedated. I never want to see BB C sedated as she is just so small and fragile. We will also be consulting a pediatric Nephrologist for a second opinion.

Please continue to pray that BB C does not have Kidney Reflux. Miracles do happen. It has happened many times to me in the past. When Alycia was diagnosed as having Hip Dysplasia when she was just 6 mths old, my world was suddenly crushed too. After 3 months of non-invasive and non-medical treatment, her hips condition finally resolved by itself. I am praying hard that another miracle will happen and that BB C does not need surgery / invasive medical treatments to get treated.

Will post my updates tomorrow. Time to return to the hospital now to nurse BB C and hopefully, she has peed into the urine bag.

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Updates On Baby C

I am back home for a short while to take a shower and to pack my breast pump and other stuff.

Baby C’s fever went up to 39.3 degrees Celsius at 4am today. The nurses stripped her down and sponged her…. and she wailed her lungs out. They asked me not to put on the long sleeved rompers on her as the heat is all trapped inside. Instead, they put on the hospital scrubs on her which was really thin and airy. Her fever just wouldnt go down and the dr also couldn’t find a vein on her hand, thus could not insert the IV into her hand. Feeding her medicine is quite tough as she would spit the med out and puke. Hopefully the dr can locate the vein later. Antibiotics and medication fed thru the tube is much easier and recovery is faster too.

BTW Bb C has UTI and could be having Kidney Reflux too. She has a dilated right kidney (since in-utero). She has to undergo another test in a couple of months to rule out KR. She has to be sedated too to do the test 🙁 My heart is totally crushed seeing how BB C is suffering. Seeing her refuse my teat teats and refuse to nurse breaks my heart further.

Her hand was poked twice yesterday (but Dr couldn’t find the vein) and leg poked once to draw out blood. It was really a big hurdle to collect urine from the urine bag attached outside the 2 labia for a culture on BB C’s urine. It was only successful on the 4th & 5th attempt (need 2 cultures). I have to face another hurdle tomorrow when her urine has to be collected to be cultured again. This is really like a long long nightmare that just wouldnt end. Please continue to pray that BB C will recover fast and does not have KR coz if she has KR, she has to be on antibiotics up to 7 yo.

Gotta return to the hospital now….

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