The Marinellos

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

VCUG and Neurologist.

So last week Seth had 3 doctor appointment and they were not our favorites but we did get some answers. Tuesday we went to Banner and he had a VCUG done which is a voiding test where they put some liquid through a catheter and watched where it went. (meaning if it goes back up into the kidneys or stays in the ureters and out through the bladder) Seth's did not. His went straight back up to the kidneys. When he was born he had a grade 4 or the right side and a grade 5 on the left side. In February he had a minor surgery where they put deflux balls to stop the urine from going up to the kidneys. He has had one UTI since then but as of Tuesday that surgery really didn't help at all (Left side is still grade 5 and right side is a grade 3) we were just lucky to avoid them. So on Thursday we met with the urologist and they did an ultrasound on his kidneys and ureters and then came and talked with us. From the results of the VCUG and the ultrasound they decided to go ahead and do a surgery to correct it. It ends up being a 99% success rate which we are happy with. I really do not want him to have to have surgery but if it mean no more UTI's and antibiotics for this reason I am okay with it. So on October 4th we have to be at Phoenix Children's Hospital at 6am and the surgery will probably start at 7:30am if they are on time. The surgery will last anywhere from 3-4 hours and they will but below his belly button and open up his bladder. They will then reconstruct/reroute his ureters. If they have to cut too much of the ureters then they will have to insert a stint which will most likely happen and that they will leave in for 6-8 weeks and then do an outpatient surgery to take it out. After the surgery he will be in the hospital for 2 days minimum depending on how he does. He will have a lot of bladder spasms after so they will give him an epidural to help with the pain and stuff and then start pain meds. He is one tough cookie so I think he will do great. In my head because he is not walking yet maybe he wont have a ton of pain like the kiddos who want to get up and move at one but yet on the other had you hear that you always heal faster if you get up and walk around so I am not quite sure how it will go but he will do great like he always does. Here are some pictures from the VCUG.

Not a fan of the purple gown for boys but couldn't do anything about that.

Just hanging out.

This is what happens when you dad is a goof and acts like a robot when he got his vest on. I could not be in the room during the test because I am pregnant but I had to get a picture of them.

Right before the test and not too happy.

And again not happy.

During the test they have to strap him to a board at his head, stomach and feet and he was not a happy camper but did not cry until Mike had to put his arm above his head which if you know Seth he LOVES his hands...so that when he started freaking out. The nice thing is that they just filled his bladder until its full and he went pee right away so he only had to be held down for like 5 minutes. 

So Friday we met with his Neurologist about his seizures. The doctor decided to try a drug keppra (that he was on before the spasms) and we are going to try it for 2 weeks and if it doesn't work then we have one other drug Depakote to try for two weeks and then if that does not work we will go with vigabatrin (the one that can cause vision loss) So far we have seen a big decrease in is spasms. He is still having them but it is a lot less and we still have next week when we increase the dose so we are praying that this actually helps so that he can just stay on this drug until they are gone. I love this drug because of the fact that the side effects are so little and it is such a safe drug. So if you think about it or Seth just pray that they drugs that he is on right now will keep working and we wont have to change anything!

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