Garrett and his Vesicoureteral Reflux

Giving mom a smile before it is time to go.
Garrett watching cartoons before his procedure.

The end of December, Garrett had a procedure done to help end his vesicoureteral reflux, or reflux of the kidneys. That is when the urine backs up into the kidneys, which it is not supposed to do, and can cause infections, scarring, and kidney failure later on in life. The doctors like to catch and treat it early so there is a lesser chance of damage. Garrett was diagnosed with this en utero and for the first 2 years of his life was on a low dose antibiotic to fight any infections while the doctor monitored to see if it would heal itself, because they tend to do that with age. So every day I had to give him antibiotics which I didn't feel good about. He had to have two VCGU tests where they inject fluid into his bladder through a catheter, while he is strapped down, and move him around to take pictures. It is very unpleasant and it's hard when your baby is crying "mommy" for over half an hour and there is nothing you can do to settle him. So, long story short, one of his kidneys looked good, the other was at a grade 3, with a 5 being the worst. So his urologist recommended having a procedure done where they inject a bit of collegan into his bladder right at the urethral tube to cause a bump, making it hard for the urine to go past that back into the kidneys. So we scheduled that thinking that was a better way to go than actual surgery, and he wasn't as bad as some. We had to be at the hospital at 6am, and didn't go back to a room till probably 6:30 or 6:45. His procedure was supposed to be at 8:30, but they had to move him back because they had to put another pt in front of him, so we were stuck in this room with him till about 10. It was rough. Finally it was time and they gave him a sedative, that took effect pretty quickly. They rolled his bed away with his arms behind his head, just relaxing. I should have gotten a picture. So we waited for about an hour for the procedure to be done. At the new hospital, they have this board that you can see your patients number and keep track of what process they are in. Pretty darn cool. It turned out that I knew the pre-op nurse so that was cool to catch up. It had been years.
The doctor came out to let us know he had found something unexpected, which was probably the root cause of his reflux. He had posterier urethral valves that were supposed to digenerate when Garrett's sex was determined, because they are a female part, but his never did, and when he would urinate, they would poof up like sails, blocking a lot of the urine flow. So he cut those away, and hoped for the best. Garrett coming out of anthesthesia was hard. He is grumpy, in pain, stinking from the tube down his throat (and by the way, this procedure can be done in a clinic on adults but because kids can't stay still, they have to have this whole ordeal.) He was extremely crabby and all we had to do was get him to drink something and we could go. We didn't get out of the hospital till around 2. And since this whole thing, he has had two uti's or bladder infections, and has had to be on two rounds of antibiotics. I need to ask the doctor if that is normal or what is going on. So that was our whole crazy ordeal, and hopefully it will be over soon.