When Aubrey was born it was one of the happiest days of my life. I had two healthy and happy kids. Everything just seemed to be perfect, or so I thought. When Aubrey was just 5 1/2 months old my worst fear came true when she started to get really sick. My oldest son was school aged so I just assumed she had caught something from him. Her fever spiked to 103 degrees. I was terrified. We took her to see her pediatrician who diagnosed her with a viral infection and pretty much sent us on our way.
After another two days Aubrey was still sick, and her fever could only be brought down with medication. So I took her back to the Doctor who decided to run blood work and also a urine test to see if there was something else going on that wasn’t viral. Since Aubrey was so young in order to test her urine they would have to use a catheter. I can’t tell you how devastating it is as a mom it is too watch someone hold your baby down and place a catheter inside of them, it’s heartbreaking to say the least. Little did I know that this would be the first of many more catheters over the next few years. After about 15 minutes the Dr. comes in to the room and my worst fear comes true when he tells us that Aubrey has a pretty bad kidney infection and will need to be admitted into the hospital for IV antibiotics. My heart sank. I couldn’t help but blame myself for letting this happen to her.
At the hospital Aubrey quickly got better with antibiotics and we were sent home. The Dr. explained to me that it is very uncommon for a young child to get a kidney infection and that often times there is an underlying condition causing the problem and we would need to have Aubrey tested. At 6 months old Aubrey was scheduled for a VCUG (Voiding Cysto-Urethrogram), during the test Aubrey would be placed on an X-Ray table and with a catheter in place, a special dye would be injected into her bladder while X-Rays are being taken. This special dye allows doctors to see how your bladder and kidneys are working. The news was bad, very bad. Aubrey was diagnosed with Kidney Reflux in both of her kidneys. Grade 3/4 in her right and Grade 4/5 in her left. From this moment on our lives would be forever changed, Aubrey was immediately placed on a low dose antibiotic that she would have to take every single night until her condition was fixed. She also had to have ultrasounds on her bladder and kidney’s every 3 months and a VCUG every 6-12 months.
To date Aubrey has had more UTI’s and Kidney infections than we can count. But by the grace of God she has had no permanent kidney damage, which can be caused by frequent infections. At the beginning of 2012 Aubrey went in for her 4th and final VCUG which confirmed to us that her reflux had improved but not enough to hold off waiting any longer. After much thought and talks with both her pediatrician and urologist Aubrey was scheduled to have an open surgery called Bilateral Ureteral Reimplantation. During the reimplantation Aubrey will be put under general anesthesia and the doctor will make a low line bikini incision. Her ureters connecting her bladder to her kidneys will be removed and re-implanted deeper into a different spot which will hopefully cause the reflux of her urine to completely stop. The surgery itself will take 3 hours and she will be required to stay in the hospital for up to 3 days, depending on how well she does. We knew this day would eventually come but it doesn’t make it any easier to watch your child’s life be put into the hands of strangers.
I have been preparing Aubrey, as much as you can for a 4 year old, for about two weeks on what is going to happen. I have been very careful not to scare her, but I want her to somewhat know what is going on. I have told her that her doctor is going to fix her back so that she doesn’t get sick anymore and she won’t have to take her nasty banana medicine anymore. She is very excited about no more medicine! Her surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning and I am hopeful that everything will go smoothly and she will do well. Please keep Aubrey in your thoughts and prayers. I’ll keep everyone posted on how she does in the next few days.