My Doctor's Appointment

Well, yesterday I had my Doctor's appointment to talk about my reflux. The wait was so long, that I passed the time talking on the phone! Mommy thinks that I'm such a girl!
(notice the phone is upside down)

I also gave Daddy eskimo kisses!

And, Mommy thinks this picture is so silly. Daddy was asking for a kiss for a few minutes until he finally attacked me and then I turned my head and stuck out my tongue! I still look happy though.. I thought it was funny too!

A Note From Mommy (sorry this is long!):

The visit to the hospital went pretty well. Overall, they said that the surgery would be elective if we decide that's what's best for her. They confirmed that Jaydlie does have a duplicate system (2 tubes leading from the kidney to the bladder instead of just one)

However, this is not what is causing the reflux. The problem is the way that the tubes are connecting to the bladder. The doctor described it by saying that there is a muscle around your bladder that the tubes have to travel through before attaching to the bladder itself. With Jaydlie, those tubes are attached at a 90 degree angle which allows the urine to leak back into the tubes and suck back up into her kidney. The tubes are supposed to be attached at a very sharp angle, which allows the urine to fall into the bladder, but gravity keeps it from going back up. We could do surgery, there are two types. The first is an injection, which would be non-invasive. They would inject a fluid into her bladder muscle underneath the tube to move it slightly so that the angle is much sharper. The second surgery is open surgery where they would cut the tubes and re-attach. That would be an invasive surgery with anesthsia, etc.

The good news is that the Doctor said that she can still grow out of it. That's because as she gets older, her bladder muscles will stretch and grow and may move tubes naturally as a consequence. She said that the decision is up to us, and to do some research about the options. Also, we can rest easy that her daily antibiotic dose is so low, that it's not doing any permanent damage to her. Many kids stay on antibiotics for this condition for 15-20 years. All in all, we need to keep up on her medication, and take her in for a VCUG once a year, and a kidney ultrasound every 6 months. We are doing the kidney ultrasound in June and we will find out if her kidneys have been damaged. We think we will base our decision on surgery based on that visit. If there is scarring on her kidneys, something will need to be done. If her kidneys are fine, then we will most likely wait it out and hope she outgrows it in the next few years. We'll keep you updated!