I am writing this from our hotel room in Jacksonville. We are praising God that Sam has been feeling better, and it looks like surgery will happen tomorrow. On Thursday, we finally discovered that his fevers and illness were not from his vaccinations, but from a bad UTI he had! So, we got him started on antibiotics, and that has made a world of difference.
The surgeon said that as long as his fevers went down and stayed down through the weekend the surgery should be able to proceed as planned. Praise God for making that happen! There is still a chance that once they open him up tomorrow they will see too much irritation and inflammation and have to close him up and postpone the surgery anyway. But we are praying that that won't happen, of course.
Tomorrow morning, we'll check in at the hospital at 6:15, and his surgery is scheduled to start at 7:30. It should last for four hours, and he'll have two amazing surgeons working on him. If we can get internet at the hospital, we will do our best to update the blog when we get updates from the nurses. If not, Ben hopes to update tomorrow night when he gets back to the home where he's staying in Jacksonville. We look forward to sharing the good news with you.
For those who read this on Sunday, we'd appreciate your prayers for all three of us to sleep well tonight. It's always harder to sleep in a strange place, and I know my mind will be racing and imagining what may or may not happen tomorrow. Ben and I said at dinner tonight that we are glad Sam doesn't know what's happening tomorrow, so he'll still get a good night's sleep!
We are continuing to trust in God's perfect timing for this surgery, and for Him to heal our precious Sam. We know that even as he is in the surgeons' hands tomorrow, he is ultimately in his Heavenly Father's hands, and that is the best possible place for him to be. We know the Great Physician, and He is worthy of our trust and praise. Thank you all for upholding us in prayer during the days ahead.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
If I keep waiting for pictures, I'll never post...
***Update*** It's now Wednesday the 10th. Just wanted to give you all another brief update. At the pediatrician's visit I mentioned below, Sam got two immunization shots. He didn't get any in Russia, so he is behind, and we are working to catch up. Well, it appears that he is having a reaction to them. On Tuesday morning during music class, all of a sudden he got really still and quiet (after having fun and playing just moments before). I started comforting him, and noticed he had goosebumps. And then he started totally shaking. Scary. So I got up and left class (Shannon and Asher came with me). We went straight to the doctor. He had a 103 fever and threw up in the office. Wow. Since then, he's continued to have a high fever, which we're trying to control with medicine. In between the spikes he seems to feel pretty good and is smiling and laughing. But when the fever returns, he just wants to rest on my shoulder. Thankfully he hasn't thrown up again today (after 4 times yesterday), but his fever was 104 at noon today. If it's still high tomorrow, we'll go back to the doctor. Our biggest concern (other than Sam getting well!) is surgery. It's possible we'll have to postpone it if the fever doesn't get better very quickly. We'd appreciate your prayers for God to heal Sam from this fever now, and that we'd still be able to proceed with surgery as planned on Monday.
**Original post*** OK, so the last time I posted was over a month ago. And I promised to try to post more often in that post. Hmmm. Guess that didn't really happen. I realized that the main problem is that I always want to include pictures. But they are on the camera. And the idea of downloading pictures, organizing them in the correct files on the computer, and then adding them to a post just seems overwhelming most days. So I don't post at all. Tonight I finally realized that an update with no pictures would be better than nothing at all!
Sam has been asleep for a couple hours now, and Ben and I have been working frantically to catch up on the things we can't do when he's awake--anything related to paperwork, email, or the computer in general. He wants to be a part of whatever we're doing, so I just have to leave the office door closed all day. I guess our nights of relaxing and watching a movie are going to have to wait a few more years. But it's worth it for sure.
Sam turned 15 months old on Saturday. It's hard to believe. We just went to the pediatrician today and she is really encouraged about his growth and his progress in general. He is eating pretty well and is growing and staying consistent with his growth chart, so that's great news. He doesn't really like to eat any veggies, but that's not stopping his growth so far, so I'm glad about that.
I'm trying to remember what else has happened in the last month...it's kind of a blur! Classes have started again at UF, so we are still getting used to our new schedule as a family. Ben is doing a fantastic job at scheduling a block of time each day to be home with Sam. I know it's hard when he takes the bus back and forth to campus, but I'm sure it's worth it when he sees his little boy run to the door with a huge smile on his face to welcome him home.
I only spend one morning on campus each week, which is a big change for me. I take Sam to a music class on Tuesday mornings, and he really loves it. "Music" was one of the first signs he learned, and he asks for music to be playing in the house most of the day. The class is a little longer than his attention span, but he does enjoy the dancing, rhythm sticks, and other things we do. I'm sure the older he gets, the more he'll get into it. We go to class with my friend Shannon and her son Asher, so that's a fun part of class time as well.
Sam is continuing to add more signs to his vocabulary. He just added "please" this week, so now we are finally able to work on his manners! He also "barks" like a dog whenever he sees a dog in a book, in person, or hears one outside. It's pretty comical, actually. Lately, when I'm in the store with him, he'll start barking and I have to look all around to find the small picture of a dog that he spotted from across the store. It makes me smile, and I always wonder what the other shoppers are thinking!
Mostly, we are just head-over-heels in love with our son and grateful to God for bringing him into our family. Next Monday is his big surgery in Jacksonville. We'll be there for a few days as he recovers. I'm hoping to have Ben post on the blog (he's staying with some friends in Jax) to let you all know how it goes. Thanks for your prayers.
Here's hoping my next post (with or without pictures--but hopefully with) will be in less than a month!
**Original post*** OK, so the last time I posted was over a month ago. And I promised to try to post more often in that post. Hmmm. Guess that didn't really happen. I realized that the main problem is that I always want to include pictures. But they are on the camera. And the idea of downloading pictures, organizing them in the correct files on the computer, and then adding them to a post just seems overwhelming most days. So I don't post at all. Tonight I finally realized that an update with no pictures would be better than nothing at all!
Sam has been asleep for a couple hours now, and Ben and I have been working frantically to catch up on the things we can't do when he's awake--anything related to paperwork, email, or the computer in general. He wants to be a part of whatever we're doing, so I just have to leave the office door closed all day. I guess our nights of relaxing and watching a movie are going to have to wait a few more years. But it's worth it for sure.
Sam turned 15 months old on Saturday. It's hard to believe. We just went to the pediatrician today and she is really encouraged about his growth and his progress in general. He is eating pretty well and is growing and staying consistent with his growth chart, so that's great news. He doesn't really like to eat any veggies, but that's not stopping his growth so far, so I'm glad about that.
I'm trying to remember what else has happened in the last month...it's kind of a blur! Classes have started again at UF, so we are still getting used to our new schedule as a family. Ben is doing a fantastic job at scheduling a block of time each day to be home with Sam. I know it's hard when he takes the bus back and forth to campus, but I'm sure it's worth it when he sees his little boy run to the door with a huge smile on his face to welcome him home.
I only spend one morning on campus each week, which is a big change for me. I take Sam to a music class on Tuesday mornings, and he really loves it. "Music" was one of the first signs he learned, and he asks for music to be playing in the house most of the day. The class is a little longer than his attention span, but he does enjoy the dancing, rhythm sticks, and other things we do. I'm sure the older he gets, the more he'll get into it. We go to class with my friend Shannon and her son Asher, so that's a fun part of class time as well.
Sam is continuing to add more signs to his vocabulary. He just added "please" this week, so now we are finally able to work on his manners! He also "barks" like a dog whenever he sees a dog in a book, in person, or hears one outside. It's pretty comical, actually. Lately, when I'm in the store with him, he'll start barking and I have to look all around to find the small picture of a dog that he spotted from across the store. It makes me smile, and I always wonder what the other shoppers are thinking!
Mostly, we are just head-over-heels in love with our son and grateful to God for bringing him into our family. Next Monday is his big surgery in Jacksonville. We'll be there for a few days as he recovers. I'm hoping to have Ben post on the blog (he's staying with some friends in Jax) to let you all know how it goes. Thanks for your prayers.
Here's hoping my next post (with or without pictures--but hopefully with) will be in less than a month!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Officially ours for two months today
Two months ago today, we were standing in a courtroom halfway around the world when a judge made a decision that would change our lives forever. She declared us to be the parents of our son! It's amazing to think that two months have already flown by since then. As my faithful readers (I'm grateful for you all!) are painfully aware, I have not updated this blog in almost a month. It's hard for me to believe. Then again, I rarely have a moment to myself! Now that I am on this side of mommyhood, I am amazed that any of you moms are able to update blogs with regularity. This is a very impressive feat, and not one that I am sure I will be able to live up to. But I am hoping to get better!
In general, things are going REALLY well with our family. We are thankful and blessed beyond words. We feel like attachment is definitely happening. Even when we're in groups of people, Sam never reaches for anyone else to pick him up but the two of us. And when he wanders around exploring, he is constantly looking back to make sure we're still there. Often when I'm holding him and he meets someone new, he'll give them a big smile, and then turn his head away from them and bury it into my shoulder. I am told that these are all great signs of attachment, and it does seem that way to us. We're going to continue to be cautious for the next several months, and then we'll reevaluate our plans later this fall. The line of people waiting to hold this boy is very long! :-)
Sam is a joy to parent. He is so much fun and loves life. He is always smiling and laughing. Today he spent a couple hours just exploring and playing in the kitchen. He is able to play a little more independently once in a while, and it's a nice time for me to be able to get a few things done too.
Since I last posted, Sam has met all of his grandparents, one set of great-grandparents, and an aunt and uncle. We are looking forward to introducing him to the rest his extended family, though of course he won't remember any of it. But we will have pictures to document it all!
In looking back at my older posts, I realized I never updated Sam's medical plans. He has surgery scheduled for September 15 in Jacksonville. It will be an open abdomen surgery, and will take 3-4 hours. That is a long time for my baby to be under anesthesia! He'll be in the hospital for 3 days (they think) and I'll be able to stay in the room with him the whole time. Ben will stay with the parents of one our students in Jax, and will be with us every day in the hospital. As part of his surgery, he'll get a stent put in one of his ureters to help it heal properly. Then, we'll go back to the hospital three weeks later to have it removed. It will be a rough several weeks in our family. We'd appreciate your prayers, and I promise to keep you all more updated.
A few other tidbits about life with Sam: He is using 15 signs consistently now, which is so fun. He loves to communicate and tell us when he sees lights and fans. He is getting three molars in (at the same time!), so sleep has been a little rough. But otherwise, he had been sleeping about 12 1/2 hours through the night. We are loving that when it happens. He has progressed from walking to running, and doesn't slow down for a moment. Today he figured out how to climb up onto the kitchen chairs, and tried to get up on the table. We have a little monkey on our hands for sure!
This post is getting long, which is my fault for waiting a month! But I want to share a few pictures before I go. You'll notice the creative shots with the grandparents, since they can't hold him yet!
With Grandpa and Grandma Anderson at our house (Sam is sitting on our car)
With Dandie and Papa Nugent in Atlanta (can you see Ben's hands holding him in the chair?!)
With Nana Nugent at Uncle Packy's wedding in Jamaica
Family picture in Jamaica
He LOVES to play with my Swiffer. Now if I can just figure out how to get him to actually clean with it...
Superman time with Daddy
Climbing under the chair, right before he figured out how to climb on top of it!
In general, things are going REALLY well with our family. We are thankful and blessed beyond words. We feel like attachment is definitely happening. Even when we're in groups of people, Sam never reaches for anyone else to pick him up but the two of us. And when he wanders around exploring, he is constantly looking back to make sure we're still there. Often when I'm holding him and he meets someone new, he'll give them a big smile, and then turn his head away from them and bury it into my shoulder. I am told that these are all great signs of attachment, and it does seem that way to us. We're going to continue to be cautious for the next several months, and then we'll reevaluate our plans later this fall. The line of people waiting to hold this boy is very long! :-)
Sam is a joy to parent. He is so much fun and loves life. He is always smiling and laughing. Today he spent a couple hours just exploring and playing in the kitchen. He is able to play a little more independently once in a while, and it's a nice time for me to be able to get a few things done too.
Since I last posted, Sam has met all of his grandparents, one set of great-grandparents, and an aunt and uncle. We are looking forward to introducing him to the rest his extended family, though of course he won't remember any of it. But we will have pictures to document it all!
In looking back at my older posts, I realized I never updated Sam's medical plans. He has surgery scheduled for September 15 in Jacksonville. It will be an open abdomen surgery, and will take 3-4 hours. That is a long time for my baby to be under anesthesia! He'll be in the hospital for 3 days (they think) and I'll be able to stay in the room with him the whole time. Ben will stay with the parents of one our students in Jax, and will be with us every day in the hospital. As part of his surgery, he'll get a stent put in one of his ureters to help it heal properly. Then, we'll go back to the hospital three weeks later to have it removed. It will be a rough several weeks in our family. We'd appreciate your prayers, and I promise to keep you all more updated.
A few other tidbits about life with Sam: He is using 15 signs consistently now, which is so fun. He loves to communicate and tell us when he sees lights and fans. He is getting three molars in (at the same time!), so sleep has been a little rough. But otherwise, he had been sleeping about 12 1/2 hours through the night. We are loving that when it happens. He has progressed from walking to running, and doesn't slow down for a moment. Today he figured out how to climb up onto the kitchen chairs, and tried to get up on the table. We have a little monkey on our hands for sure!
This post is getting long, which is my fault for waiting a month! But I want to share a few pictures before I go. You'll notice the creative shots with the grandparents, since they can't hold him yet!
With Grandpa and Grandma Anderson at our house (Sam is sitting on our car)
With Dandie and Papa Nugent in Atlanta (can you see Ben's hands holding him in the chair?!)
With Nana Nugent at Uncle Packy's wedding in Jamaica
Family picture in Jamaica
He LOVES to play with my Swiffer. Now if I can just figure out how to get him to actually clean with it...
Superman time with Daddy
Climbing under the chair, right before he figured out how to climb on top of it!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
13 Months Old!
In honor of Sam turning 13 months old today, I thought I'd finally post a few more pictures. It's amazing how hard it is for me to find a few minutes during the day to sit down and do this! :-)
He's not always this happy at mealtime...I just had to show off his "battle scars" from his fall out by the pool. (Don't worry Grandmas, he's all better already!)
At a Fourth of July parade--in honor of our new little American citizen!
After overcoming his intense fear of the water, we now have a little fish on our hands! Here is Sam swimming with his buddy Asher.
I couldn't resist this bathtime shot. This is one of those pics he'll kill me for when he's a teenager. :-)
Another one of our bathtime fun.
In the pool with Daddy. He's enjoying himself more than his face is showing.
Getting ready for bed in my favorite monkey jammies. We actually call him our little monkey because he loves to climb all over the place!
Another shot with Asher, and his daddy Derick.
13 months old today! I'm a sucker for that smile!
I appreciate all of you who take the time to stop by and catch up on what's happening with our family. I hope each of you gets to meet Sam sometime soon!
He's not always this happy at mealtime...I just had to show off his "battle scars" from his fall out by the pool. (Don't worry Grandmas, he's all better already!)
At a Fourth of July parade--in honor of our new little American citizen!
After overcoming his intense fear of the water, we now have a little fish on our hands! Here is Sam swimming with his buddy Asher.
I couldn't resist this bathtime shot. This is one of those pics he'll kill me for when he's a teenager. :-)
Another one of our bathtime fun.
In the pool with Daddy. He's enjoying himself more than his face is showing.
Getting ready for bed in my favorite monkey jammies. We actually call him our little monkey because he loves to climb all over the place!
Another shot with Asher, and his daddy Derick.
13 months old today! I'm a sucker for that smile!I appreciate all of you who take the time to stop by and catch up on what's happening with our family. I hope each of you gets to meet Sam sometime soon!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
I love...
*rocking with my son while he's drinking his bottle and looking deep into his dark brown eyes.
*the way his little legs are crossed at his ankles when we're rocking. It's adorable!
*listening to him crack himself up over something and start giggling with his contagious laugh.
*that he loves to be held by Ben and me. All the time. I try to remember this is a *good* thing for attachment, and have learned to do dishes, vacuum, cook, and eat one-handed. It's amazing how quickly you can adapt when you need to!
*watching him learn new things every day. He waves hi and bye-bye, and is signing "all done" and "more." It's so fun to communicate with him!
*that he has grown from an intense fear of the water to loving bath time and swimming with Daddy.
*that when he's not feeling good, I'm the one who gets to console him, rather than a nurse halfway around the world.
*how his little face lights up and he screams with glee whenever Daddy gets home.
*watching my husband transform into an amazing Daddy before my eyes.
*being a mom!
*the way his little legs are crossed at his ankles when we're rocking. It's adorable!
*listening to him crack himself up over something and start giggling with his contagious laugh.
*that he loves to be held by Ben and me. All the time. I try to remember this is a *good* thing for attachment, and have learned to do dishes, vacuum, cook, and eat one-handed. It's amazing how quickly you can adapt when you need to!
*watching him learn new things every day. He waves hi and bye-bye, and is signing "all done" and "more." It's so fun to communicate with him!
*that he has grown from an intense fear of the water to loving bath time and swimming with Daddy.
*that when he's not feeling good, I'm the one who gets to console him, rather than a nurse halfway around the world.
*how his little face lights up and he screams with glee whenever Daddy gets home.
*watching my husband transform into an amazing Daddy before my eyes.
*being a mom!
Friday, June 27, 2008
Friday update
Thanks to all of you who have been praying for Sam. He is doing so much better! His fever finally broke on Wednesday night, and he is back to his happy, cheerful self. We are happy to have our healthy little guy back to normal for now.
A few medical updates for those of you who have been wondering:
*We saw the cardiologist today. He listened to Sam's heart and did an EKG. He said his heart is completely normal and he doesn't see anything to be concerned about! Thank you Jesus for taking care of this part of our son's medical journey. We learned today that murmur just means "noise" so a heart murmur is just a noise the heart makes when the blood flows through it. It's not a bad thing (at least in Sam's case). We're going to do a follow-up appointment when he's two and might do an echo cardiogram at that time just to be thorough, but the doc said there was no reason to do it now. I'm sure Sam's glad about that!
*We have an appointment scheduled with our doc in Jax for next Wednesday. We'll bring the test results from Tuesday with us, and hopefully he'll be able to clearly explain to us what's wrong and the next steps ahead. It will be so helpful to have the complete picture.
*In my last post, I was wrong about one of the tests Sam is getting next week. He is getting an ultrasound and a DMSA (not an RNC). This is basically a renal scan. The bummer is that he'll need to be still for 40 minutes to an hours. A one year old? Are they kidding? I'm going to call and see if they have any sedation options or anything. It seems highly unlikely that he could do that on his own.
I promise to post more pics in my next post. Sam and Daddy were going to go swimming today, but it just started raining. Hopefully tomorrow. Woo-hoo!
A few medical updates for those of you who have been wondering:
*We saw the cardiologist today. He listened to Sam's heart and did an EKG. He said his heart is completely normal and he doesn't see anything to be concerned about! Thank you Jesus for taking care of this part of our son's medical journey. We learned today that murmur just means "noise" so a heart murmur is just a noise the heart makes when the blood flows through it. It's not a bad thing (at least in Sam's case). We're going to do a follow-up appointment when he's two and might do an echo cardiogram at that time just to be thorough, but the doc said there was no reason to do it now. I'm sure Sam's glad about that!
*We have an appointment scheduled with our doc in Jax for next Wednesday. We'll bring the test results from Tuesday with us, and hopefully he'll be able to clearly explain to us what's wrong and the next steps ahead. It will be so helpful to have the complete picture.
*In my last post, I was wrong about one of the tests Sam is getting next week. He is getting an ultrasound and a DMSA (not an RNC). This is basically a renal scan. The bummer is that he'll need to be still for 40 minutes to an hours. A one year old? Are they kidding? I'm going to call and see if they have any sedation options or anything. It seems highly unlikely that he could do that on his own.
I promise to post more pics in my next post. Sam and Daddy were going to go swimming today, but it just started raining. Hopefully tomorrow. Woo-hoo!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Update on Sam's medical condition
I have so much that I want to update you all on since we got home with Sam--including posting many more pictures. But by the time he's asleep for the night, I barely have enough energy to get to bed myself! Hopefully I'll be able to get more pics up during his nap one of these days.
I know many of you have been praying for Sam's medical condition, and so I wanted to give you an update so you could join us in prayer for his little body. We saw a pediatrician here in Gainesville the Monday after we got home (last week). She was wonderful and so encouraging and helpful as we were trying to figure things out. She agreed that we needed to see a urologist, as well as a kidney doc and a cardiologist (He has a small heart murmur--no big deal at all, but we just want to be sure it's OK. We see that doc this Friday.).
So, I called the pediatric urologist at the clinic in Jacksonville (there are none in Gainesville) and was told their first available appointment was July 29. What?! I explained that this poor child has been catheterized for almost a year and desperately needs surgery. We could not wait that long. She was, unfortunately, not helpful. I called our pediatrician back, and she agreed to call the clinic. Friday night, I got a phone call from the triage nurse in Jax (That's short for Jacksonville for you non-Floridians :-)). She was so understanding and empathetic and said she had personally asked the doc for a favor and he was going to squeeze us between appointments on Monday! Praise God for such a quick answer to prayer.
So, we drove to Jax yesterday and found the doctor to be so kind, understanding, and helpful. He's the head of the pediatric urology department, which was wonderful. We gave him the translations of the medical info from Russia, as well as the x-rays they'd given us. He said based on this info, he agreed with their diagnosis. The short explanation is that he has a reflux of urine going back up from his bladder into his kidneys. He has something called VUR, which you can read more about here if you'd like to. He is still able to urinate, but some of the urine goes back up into the kidneys, then eventually comes back down into the bladder, and so on. I can understand how he had so many kidney and bladder infections now.
He said the info from Russia was helpful, but he'd like more recent test results. Because Sam was already catheterized, he thought he could pull a favor and get him in that same afternoon for one of the tests, called a VCUG. So amazing! I was with Sam during the test, and it was so hard. He was crying and screaming the WHOLE time. :-( They injected dye into his bladder through the catheter and then took x-rays of it as it got full. Then they removed the catheter and took pictures once he started to urinate. That was a great sight for this mommy! There are five grades of VUR, and the test showed that he appears to be grade four and/or five on both sides. So, this will require surgery to fix. (We were expecting that, but I think he was worried about how we'd react to the news.)
The doctor told us that they never catheterize infants for this condition at their clinic. They use other methods to control the symptoms, and then eventually do surgery if needed (which we know we will). So, he warned us that since the catheter had been removed, there was a good chance some bacteria would be "stirred up" and he'd get a fever. He wasn't kidding. It was up to 103 last night, and was just at 104 before I put him to bed tonight. Please pray that God will heal him and break this fever tonight. Otherwise, we're heading to the pediatrician tomorrow. He is sleeping fine and still happy, but obviously a little more chill and quiet than usual. He's a trooper. The doc said this is probably why they kept the catheter in in Russia--to avoid these continual infections. Makes sense to me--I'd love to be avoiding this one right now!
There are two more tests he needs that can be done here in Gainesville. One is similar to the VCUG he already had, but a different fluid is used. It's called an RNC. The other one is a renal (kidney) ultrasound. We were expecting to have to drive to Jax for all of the tests, so this is a huge blessing. Once we have those results (hopefully within a week), we'll bring them with us to Jax and meet with the doc there to discuss them and talk about surgery. We're hopeful that will be relatively soon.
So, that's the update. A summary of prayer requests: for this current fever to break, for the other two tests to be scheduled quickly, for clear steps to take next when discussing with the urologist, and for a quick surgery date. Thank you for walking beside us on behalf of our precious son!
I know many of you have been praying for Sam's medical condition, and so I wanted to give you an update so you could join us in prayer for his little body. We saw a pediatrician here in Gainesville the Monday after we got home (last week). She was wonderful and so encouraging and helpful as we were trying to figure things out. She agreed that we needed to see a urologist, as well as a kidney doc and a cardiologist (He has a small heart murmur--no big deal at all, but we just want to be sure it's OK. We see that doc this Friday.).
So, I called the pediatric urologist at the clinic in Jacksonville (there are none in Gainesville) and was told their first available appointment was July 29. What?! I explained that this poor child has been catheterized for almost a year and desperately needs surgery. We could not wait that long. She was, unfortunately, not helpful. I called our pediatrician back, and she agreed to call the clinic. Friday night, I got a phone call from the triage nurse in Jax (That's short for Jacksonville for you non-Floridians :-)). She was so understanding and empathetic and said she had personally asked the doc for a favor and he was going to squeeze us between appointments on Monday! Praise God for such a quick answer to prayer.
So, we drove to Jax yesterday and found the doctor to be so kind, understanding, and helpful. He's the head of the pediatric urology department, which was wonderful. We gave him the translations of the medical info from Russia, as well as the x-rays they'd given us. He said based on this info, he agreed with their diagnosis. The short explanation is that he has a reflux of urine going back up from his bladder into his kidneys. He has something called VUR, which you can read more about here if you'd like to. He is still able to urinate, but some of the urine goes back up into the kidneys, then eventually comes back down into the bladder, and so on. I can understand how he had so many kidney and bladder infections now.
He said the info from Russia was helpful, but he'd like more recent test results. Because Sam was already catheterized, he thought he could pull a favor and get him in that same afternoon for one of the tests, called a VCUG. So amazing! I was with Sam during the test, and it was so hard. He was crying and screaming the WHOLE time. :-( They injected dye into his bladder through the catheter and then took x-rays of it as it got full. Then they removed the catheter and took pictures once he started to urinate. That was a great sight for this mommy! There are five grades of VUR, and the test showed that he appears to be grade four and/or five on both sides. So, this will require surgery to fix. (We were expecting that, but I think he was worried about how we'd react to the news.)
The doctor told us that they never catheterize infants for this condition at their clinic. They use other methods to control the symptoms, and then eventually do surgery if needed (which we know we will). So, he warned us that since the catheter had been removed, there was a good chance some bacteria would be "stirred up" and he'd get a fever. He wasn't kidding. It was up to 103 last night, and was just at 104 before I put him to bed tonight. Please pray that God will heal him and break this fever tonight. Otherwise, we're heading to the pediatrician tomorrow. He is sleeping fine and still happy, but obviously a little more chill and quiet than usual. He's a trooper. The doc said this is probably why they kept the catheter in in Russia--to avoid these continual infections. Makes sense to me--I'd love to be avoiding this one right now!
There are two more tests he needs that can be done here in Gainesville. One is similar to the VCUG he already had, but a different fluid is used. It's called an RNC. The other one is a renal (kidney) ultrasound. We were expecting to have to drive to Jax for all of the tests, so this is a huge blessing. Once we have those results (hopefully within a week), we'll bring them with us to Jax and meet with the doc there to discuss them and talk about surgery. We're hopeful that will be relatively soon.
So, that's the update. A summary of prayer requests: for this current fever to break, for the other two tests to be scheduled quickly, for clear steps to take next when discussing with the urologist, and for a quick surgery date. Thank you for walking beside us on behalf of our precious son!
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