Kidney Day

Warning: This post contains some mild potty talk. ;)

Today we ran some tests to see how Marissa's kidneys are functioning. Not all of you may know that Marissa has some kidney issues. Her left kidney is low (nearly lying on the pelvic floor) and underdeveloped and her right kidney has reflux.

She had a kidney ultrasound which is not invasive but, of course, sends Marissa over the edge. We did have a little help calming her down in the form of her I-Pod pillow. A couple of weeks ago Auntie Chelle gave her a little blue pillow with a speaker in it and a connection for our I-Pod so she can hear her songs. We now bring it to most of her appointments and it seems to help calm her. She also had a VCUG today. In this test a catheter is placed into her that goes into her bladder (OUCH!) and some dye is squirted in. The dye is then followed to see the path her urine takes.

Back in March we ran these same tests and it was determined that Marissa has reflux in her right kidney. Once her urine makes it to her bladder, some of it travels back to her kidney. This obviously can cause serious health problems such as kidney infection, scarring and possible long term damage. She has been on a low-dose antibiotic since the diagnosis to prevent infection. Sometimes this condition can resolve itself and sometimes it requires surgery.

Today's test showed no improvement of the reflux. We have an appointment with her urologist on Thursday to go over the results and discuss our course of action. Of course we will do what it takes to make our daughter as healthy as possible but we are dreading the looming possibility of another surgery. Please pray with us that she won't require surgery. I will let you all know how our appointment on Thursday goes.

On a lighter note, I thought I would finish this post with a few recent pictures. Enjoy!

Thanks for checking in. :)

Marissa and her friend Faith

"Yeah, I'm having a bad hair day. Who cares?!?!"

Playing in the grass with Ms. Adrienne