the UTI mystery: part 3

December 17

After Makenzie's VCU scan our pediatrician contacted me to discuss what's next. The results did show that Makenzie has reflux on both sides. Grade 1 on the left side and grade 2 on the right. Reflux is when the urine goes back up the ureter towards the kidney. The severity can go all the way up to a grade 5. So, grade 1 and 2 are definitely not the worst case scenario. Dr. Lewis was going to refer us to a nephrologist to discuss what to do next. But, we did know that a daily antibiotic would be part of the plan.

A couple of days after returning from Utah we were able to meet with a U of L pediatric nephrologist. Mitch was able to come to this appointment, which I was grateful for. The doctor asked several questions and examined Makenzie. Makenzie also had to give a urine sample. She did pretty good, but she doesn't like when they need to look at her pee pee area (and I don't blame her - it's good she doesn't like it). He had been sent all of the results from Makenzie's tests and her medical history, so he was prepared to talk with us.

The main reason for the appointment was to discuss a treatment plan. First thing, she will need to take a daily antibiotic, Septra, for the next several months. He explained that we need to give her body time to correct the problem and by giving her a daily medication to prevent infections we'll hopefully be doing just that. We would also need to take Makenzie into the pediatrician every two months to have her give a urine sample and they'll test it for infections. For every symptomatic infections there are probably a couple non-symptomatic ones. If we can catch the non-symptomatic ones and treat them, we'll be allowing her bladder to heal and correct the reflux. We also need to have her take showers, not baths and keep that area really clean.

The nephrologist seemed really positive that Makenzie will be able to grow out of this. After discovering that Mitch is a medical student he went into "teacher" mode and explained everything in greater detail and also told him the worst case scenario. He also explained the anatomy to us and pointed out that Makenzie actually doesn't have a duplicate kidney, but rather duplicate ureters (so two ureters on the right side). He was very kind and we were appreciative of everything he was able to explain to us.

Near the end of April or beginning of May Makenzie will need to have an utrasound and VCU scan again to see if there are any changes. We'll then meet with the nephrologist to discuss where to go from there. She'll need to have the tests repeated every 6 months until the problem is corrected or it gets worse and other things need to be done.

We've already had one two-month check and Makenzie's urine came back normal. So far she hasn't had anymore infections. We're hopeful that the reflux goes away and that UTI's won't be an issue anymore!