MATTIE'S HOSPITAL VISIT

A couple of weeks ago we took Mattie into the Sacred Heart Pediatric Surgery Unit in order to have a few procedures done to figure out what was causing her urinary tract infection. The poor girl couldn't eat after midnight the night before, and even though she was starving, she did such a great job with all of the people and procedures. We got there shortly before 7:30 AM and the first procedure was an ultrasound to look at her kidneys. Everything seemed to check out well and the sonographer loved Mattie and thought she was such a cutie.

Then came the dreaded catheter for the VCUG (no idea what that stands for). Mattie had already had a catheter in the pediatrician's office in order to get a urine sample, and that was a horrible experience. So her pediatrician ordered the nurses to use sedation on Mattie, which they usually don't do for kids under one. At first we thought she was going to be totally out, but the sedation just relaxed her and took away her anxiety, but it didn't put her to sleep. The best part of the sedation was that it supposedly had an amnesia affect, so Mattie won't remember this experience. This is Mattie after the sedation kicked in...poor girl (excuse the picture quality...they're all from Paige's cell phone):

The nurses gave Mattie this adorable bear named Smooch. Mattie loved it! And the nurses loved Mattie and thought she was such a doll, even while she was sedated!

After getting numbed a little, the catheter was inserted and Mattie didn't even flinch! Then we waited for awhile for the x-ray machine to become available, and we started to get nervous that the sedation was going to wear off. Thank goodness they got us in after about half an hour. This is Mattie waiting to go to the x-ray room:

In the x-ray room, Mattie was strapped to a board - our nurse insisted that the techs only strap her torso, and wouldn't let them strap her head and arms, thank goodness - and then she was placed under the x-ray machine. Then they filled Mattie's bladder with a contrast fluid that showed up on the x-rays, and as her bladder empitied, they rotated her from side to side and took pictures. Paige had to hold Mattie's arms up during this process so they wouldn't get in the way of the x-rays, and Mattie didn't like that very much (her sedation had really worn off by that point). It took awhile because they filled her bladder and watched it empty two different times, and apparently, Mattie has a large bladder (that explains the super heavy diapers every morning :), so it took a little longer than usual. The VCUG is done to check to see if Mattie's bladder is refluxing back up into her kidneys, causing an infection. The PA couldn't tell us anything - our doctor had to do that - but she did say that Mattie's two x-rays were different so she'd need to look at them and write up a report.

After the VCUG was finished, they took us back to the recovery area and gave Mattie a snack. They just wanted to check her and make sure she was coming out of the sedation well, even though it would take a full 12 hours before it was completely out of her system.

  

The whole ordeal took about 3 hours and once we got in the car to head home, Mattie crashed!

  

The next day we heard back from Mattie's pediatrician. He said that they rate reflux on a scale of 0-5, 0 being absolutely no reflux and 5 being kidney dialysis. Mattie is at a 2, which Dr. Lee said is practically the most mild form of reflux there is, meaning she will most likely outgrow the condition all on her own and won't need any surgery. Until then, she'll be on prophylaxis for the next 18 months, at which time she'll have another VCUG - bummer - in order to make sure she has outgrown the condition.

We're so grateful for modern medicine and competent doctors who were able to find the problem and that we are able to treat Mattie and prevent future infections so that she can live a normal, healthy life. And we're grateful that her condition is the most mild form there is, so hopefully we won't be seeing any more UTI's in our little sweetheart!