Category Archive: Kidney Reflux

This morning, I collected Baby C’s urine to have it tested again.  Though it wasn’t at the advise of our doctor, I just knew that I had to have her urine tested again…. first in the hope that the test today will show that the WBC (white blood cells) has dropped and second for other antibiotics to be tested in the sensitivity test, so that there is a suitable antibiotics to treat Baby C. 

I prayed hard that first, it would be quick and fuss-free to collect her urine as we were in a hurry to reach the hospital.  Prayer number one was answered – her pee was collected in under 15 minutes (which was quite rare – we normally require half an hour at least), yay!  

I also prayed hard that the pesky E.Coli bacteria would be flushed out from Baby C’s body through her pee and my prayer was answered again.  The minute I walked into our doctor’s office, she said in a lively mood : “her urine is ok…. look, everything is ok!!”   I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw negative in the WBC and RBC columns! This is indeed wonderful. In just less than 5 days, the WBC of 20-30 went down to 0! I even had doubts that the urine results were hers.

After chatting with our doctor, she advised that it’s not necessary to feed Baby C antibiotics every night anymore.   Whether she eats the antibiotics or not, she would still be getting a UTI every month… and the pesky bacteria are so smart that they have all become resistant to all the antibiotics!  So we have agreed to stop her on antibiotics.  Anyway we will be seeing her again next week after we have received news from the surgeons in London (hopefully by this week).   In the meantime, I will enjoy my 1 week of not having to feed her antibiotics.  I also have to feed her with lots of fluid to flush out all the bacteria from her body.

Baby C’s pee in specimen bottles. As the distance from our house to the hospital takes approximately 25 minutes, we were advised to put ice cubes in a plastic bag holding the specimen bottles.

Since we were in a hurry to reach the hospital this morning, I had to multi-task to save time. I fed my sweetie-pie breakfast in front of the TV, with her favorite Baby Bright VCD turned on (to distract her)…. with her legs opened up…. and  my maid collecting her pee!  Thank God, we had more than enough pee collected in under 15 minutes, phew!

Thank you Lord for answering my prayers!  I hope the surgery can take place soonest possible…. before another UTI attacks my poor baby…. and that the surgery will be a 100% success in fixing Cassandra’s urinary problem, once and for all, amen!

The sensitivity report for the urine culture done on Friday last week is out today.  I was shocked when I saw the report.  The E.Coli bacteria is resistant to all 9 of the antibiotics tested in the sensitivity test.  I have always been told by our doctor that E.Coli is the ‘friendliest’ of all bacteria as it’s easy to treat the bacteria with antibiotics.  Bacteria like Klabsiella and Proteus – which sometimes attack Baby C are harder to eliminate and if my sweetie-pie is attacked by such bacteria, she would require antibiotics jabs or drips. 

When I called our doctor this afternoon, she told me she doesn’t really know how to treat my baby…. coz those pesky and stubborn bacteria are resistant to all the most commonly used and save-to-be-used-on-human antibiotics.   She sounded a tad pissed off that we did not listen to her earlier advice and that of the surgeon’s, to get Baby C operated on immediately.  Because Baby C is still not operated on yet, she keeps getting UTIs to no end…. and this time round, she got it again though she just had 9 doses of antibiotics jabs less than 2 weeks ago.  I understand what our doctor was thinking about but on the other hand, this is our child. The surgery involved is about removing 20% of her right kidney.  We as parents are just trying our best to salvage that 20% of her right kidney coz if removed, it can never ever be re-attached.  

We’re really in a fix now.  We will bring Baby C to see our doctor tomorrow and hopefully she will be able to think of another antibiotics to treat my poor sweetie-pie.  I’m also hoping that the bacteria can be flushed out completely from Baby C’s pee without the need for any antibiotics.  This had happened once.   In the meantime, I really hope there will be an answer from the surgeons from London by tomorrow.  I really hope the surgery can take place ASAP.

The MAG3 scan report showed that Baby C’s left kidney is perfectly normal and the right kidney is also funtioning pretty good.  However, our nephrologist is still of the opinion that the upper pole of baby’s right kidney be removed since there is obstruction in the ureter connecting to the right upper kidney.  FYI, Baby C has a duplex kidney.  It means she has double ureters on the right kidney, making the right kidney separate into 2 poles.   Our doctor told us that if the surgeon tries to reconstruct the ureters and bladder, complications like infection may occur and there will be a huge scar on the body.  If infection occurs, another surgery may be required.  Each surgery costs over RM10k!  Removing the upper pole of the right kidney (which makes up to about 15-20% of the entire right kidney) is still the best option. 

The hubs had couriered the MAG3 films and report to his uncle who is a cardiac surgeon in London.  His uncle will then pass the films and report to 3 pediatric surgeons who will study them.  We can expect an answer from them by next week hopefully. 

My guess was right. Baby C needed 3 doses of sedation meds to knock her out completely. The moment we arrived at the hospital, my maid and I fed her with 2 types of sedation meds. One was for 3ml and the other was for 7ml!   After fussing and struggling for about half an hour when we fed her the sedation meds, she knocked out and went into a deep sleep.  Thank God when I placed her on the bed for our doctor to insert the brandula (IV line) on her hand, she was still asleep but she woke up and cried when she felt pain. Thank God again that she only needed to be poked once and not between 3-7 times like in the past.

When my sweetiepie was jolted up from her sleep after the insertion of the IV line, she kept fussing though she was still groggy. Since Baby C is to remain absolutely still during the entire scan, I was worried that she would wake up.  If that happens, the scan would have to be cancelled and repeated all over again!  So we gave her another dose of sedation meds. This time, it was a struggle to feed her the sedation meds as she was sleepy and crabby. Thank God she did not puke, though she coughed and choked a few times and almost puked. After the 3rd dose of sedation meds, she was totally konked out. She slept like sleeping beauty throughout the half an hour scan. I was with her in the Gamma Picture Room at the Radiosurgery and Cancer Center of the hospital and witnessed the entire procedure. Also saw many cancer patients at the Chemotherapy Daycare Center. My heart really goes out to all those patients who have to undergo radiation and chemotherapy.

My little sleeping beauty.

The intimidating looking machine dwarfing my little sleeping beauty from above.  Baby C was wrapped up in a thick blanket and a special plastic sheet with velcro.  The sight of her lying so still and motionless and wrapped with a plastic sheet on the metal bed with the ginormous machine hovering above her sent shivers down my spine. 
Notice the double screen on the left?  Images of the kidneys and bladder are shown on the screen.

Permission was granted to me before I snapped the pix.

Total bill came up to over RM1,600! And all the medical bills related to Baby C’s medical condition will NOT be covered by our insurance 🙁

Baby C has been feeling groggy and sleepy since she took the sedation meds this morning.  As I am typing this post, she’s still sleeping.  I have expected my sleeping beauty to sleep for days since she took 3 doses of sedation meds!   We will see our pediatric nephrologist again tomorrow for her to explain the MAG 3 scan report to us.

Tomorrow  is our scheduled day to bring Baby C to the hospital for the MAG 3 Scan.  The scan will be carried out at the Radiosurgery and Cancer Center of the hospital.  In layman’s terms, a radioactive chemical will be injected through the IV catheter and the radiologist will begin imaging the kidneys. As told by our doctor to us, the radiation used is very, very minimal. It is even lesser than the radiation used in the MCUG and IVP scans, of which Baby C did about 3 weeks ago.

I am hoping and praying hard that this time, Baby C will be completely knocked out during the procedure coz for this particular scan, the child has to remain still so that the best quality images can be obtained. If there is too much motion during the procedure, the study may need to be repeated. I just have a strong feeling that Baby C will require 2-3 doses of sedation meds to knock her out completely.

Click here, for more information on the MAG 3 scan.

We will be bringing Baby C to see our pediatric nephrologist again tomorrow morning.  The urine culture test done on Tuesday shows that there are still 2 types of bacteria in her urine, namely E.Coli and Klabseilla.  Though Baby C is quite asymptomatic, the colony count is quite high at >100,000.   I think the single antibiotics jab given to her 2 weeks ago wasn’t sufficient to eliminate all the lurking bacteria. I just have a feeling that our doctor will give her another antibiotics jab tomorrow.  Poor poor baby….

I anticipate that it will take another 3-4 weeks before my sweetiepie goes for a surgery. By the time the surgery date is fixed, my sweetiepie would have already celebrated her first birthday.

First we need to find a surgeon in KL who will agree to the MAG 3 scan to be performed on Baby C, then Baby C has to go for the MAG 3 scan afterwhich the MAG 3 scan films have to be couriered to London. Then the surgeons in London have to review the films and come up with a diagnosis / appropriate surgery. I am hoping and praying that from now until the surgery date, Baby C will not get another UTI attack coz if she does, the surgery will have to be postponed further. While I am glad that my baby doesn’t have to be operated on so soon, my anxiousness is more intense now and prolonged.