Update on Jamie's health

Hello Friends and Fam! I am so not a blogger but finding the need for it more often these days. So here goes.

On Christmas day 2009, Jamie was only 10 days old and got a fever of 102. We ended up at Dell Children's Hospital here in Austin where they determinted that he had a pretty bad kidney infection. The infection was caused by a defect in his urinary tract called vescicoureteral reflux (VUR). It is something that he was born with. At that time, Jamie's kidney were about he same size and a VCUG showed him to have grade 4 VUR on the left side. We spent 10 days in the hospital receiving IV antibiotics. We were told most kids outgrow this problem by 1yr of age and the doctor put him on a low dose of daily antibiotics to help prevent future infections.

Jamie has had no recurrent ifections since December which is a great thing. We saw the urologist in April for a follow-up. They did an ultrasund which showed the right kidney was 55 mm in diameter and the left kidney was 40 mm in diameter. The doctor said that as long as there were no infections we would continue to monitor his kidney growth every few months and he will hopeflly grow out of the problem

We went back to the urologist on 8/16/2010 for another follow-up. We had another VCUG done that showed grade 2 VUR on both the left and right sides. The ultrasound showed the right kidney to be 60 mm in diameter, which is in the 50th percentile for his age/size, and looks completely normal and healthy and the left kidney to be 42 mm in diameter, which is less than the 5th percentile for his age/size, and looks misshapen and deformed.

The damage to the left kidney is irreversible and it will always be smaller than normal. The urologist was glad to the see that the reflux on the left side had improved to grade 2. He said that the grade 2 reflux on the right side was not that concerning and that it was probably there in December. We just couldn’t see it then because the reflux was so bad on the left side. The urine would take the path of least resistance and there would not be enough pressure to show both sides refluxing.

We will repeat the ultrasound in February to evaluate the size and growth of the kidneys. If the left kidney stops growing or gets smaller, we will do a DMSA scan to evaluate the function of the kidneys. If the left kidney is not functioning, we will possibly need to have it removed because leaving it can cause hypertension. The urologist said that only 5% of cases like Jamie’s need to have the kidney removed. So there is a very good chance that he will not lose the left kidney.
The urologist and our regular pediatrician both think that there is a very good chance that the grade 2 reflux will clear up on its own.

Our other concern is the possibility of the grade 2 reflux on the right side damaging his right healthy kidney. The doctors said that only infection would damage the kidney and that the reflux alone would not. So we will be staying on daily antibiotics to prevent another infection. They also said that grade 2 reflux doesn’t involve the kidney as much as the grade 4 and Jamie has a much stronger immune system now that he is older.

While we don’t disagree with the doctors, we are looking into getting a second opinion in Dallas or Houston. Please keep Jamie in your prayers.

Much love,
Emily