Kidney Day Part II

The bad news : Marissa will need surgery to correct her kidney reflux.

The good news : It is not urgent.

The question : When will she have it done?

We found out quite a lot today, some stuff we already knew but had forgotten. She actually has reflux into both kidneys, but we knew that already and forgot. We feel silly that we forgot and thought she only had reflux into her right kidney. Oops! Maybe mommy and daddy denial?

Anyway, kidney reflux is graded 1 - 5 (1 being best, 5 being worst). In March both kidneys were grade 4. Today her left kidney is still 4 and her right kidney is 3.5, so no real improvement. The chance that a grade 4 will resolve itself in five years is about 10%. Not good odds. She is on prophylactic antibiotics to prevent infection and damage, but this presents its own problem. It is widely known that the overuse of antibiotics can cause viruses and bacteria to build up resistance to drugs. So obviously we should get this procedure done sooner rather than later.

The surgery would take between 2 1/2 and 3 hours, so it is pretty intense and invasive. She would be in the hospital for 2-3 days after the procedure. The good news is that it has a 99% success rate in clearing up the reflux. So, at this point, we are going to talk to her pediatrician and then we will be scheduling the surgery. The urologist is actually from Denver and holds a clinic once a month here in the Springs. He said with enough notice he would be able to do it down here. He said he is already scheduling surgery down here into the new year, so it will be a few months before we do this.

Not what we were hoping and praying for, but we all know that God answers our prayers in His own way, in His own time.


After thought: The more I let this sink in, the more it saddens me that our little girl has to have another major surgery. I am sad that she is now old enough to fully understand the pain that will come in recovery. I am sad that she will have one more scar on her beautiful little body. I am sad that recovery from the surgery will set her back in things like therapy and development. I get upset when she gets sick and it takes a couple of weeks to get her back to her pre-sickie level with her therapies. Please pray that we will find peace in light of these latest developments. Thanks.

O.K. , this is too heavy. Time for some fun! Here are a few videos we shot recently of our sweet Rissa Roo. Enjoy!!