Kidney Update

As you may remember, Jacob was diagnosed with hydronephrosis (a dilation of the kidneys) in utero and the doctor was concerned about him having urinary reflux. When he had the VCUG & ultrasound in August, things seemed to be getting better but Dr. Peters still wanted to see us six months later. Our appointment was scheduled for last Wednesday morning and Jacob needed to have another ultrasound and then a meeting with Dr. Peters. Unfortunately, that morning, Keith had a meeting he couldn't miss so I was on my own.

Unfortunately, the Urology clinic is in a building next to the main UVA hospital. So the worst part is parking in the awful parking deck (it was so crowded that it took about 15 minutes to drive all the way to the top level to find a space), waiting for the slower-than-ever elevator, and then walking through the twists and turns of the hospital to get to the West building. Even though we pulled into the parking deck 30 minutes before his appointment was scheduled, we were still running about 5 minutes late when we finally arrived in the clinic. AND, I have never been to that clinic when they were actually running on time! So, even though his appointment was scheduled for 10:40am, we didn't get called back to the ultrasound room until 11:15am! Jacob did very well in the waiting room - I put a blanket down and he sat and played with some toys (and my car keys, which he loves) while I talked to a nice guy who was also waiting.

Once we were back in the room, the nurse took Jacob's temperature and placed a urine collection bag over his penis and scrotum so that they could try to collect a urine sample (which they were never able to do, but they wanted to try). That thing just looked very uncomfortable to me, but Jacob didn't seem to mind it. He was even OK when Dr. Peters took it off after he examined him - I thought for sure he was going to fuss or cry since it was stuck to his sensitive parts with adhesive (similar to a band-aid or tape). My boy is tough! :)

Once the ultrasound tech came in, he took a look at his bladder and his kidneys. Once again, Jacob did VERY well with all of this and he didn't fuss or cry at all. He was happily distracted by the "crunching" noise of the disposable paper he was laying on and my cell phone (which is one of his most favorite things to play with these days!). The tech was also great at talking to Jake and keeping him distracted. After he was finished, he said that his kidneys looked good, except that there was still some dilation in the left one. He said he would show the results to Dr. Peters and he would discuss them with me.

Unfortunately (like I mentioned previously about them always running behind), this clinic is VERY busy. So, we had to wait another 30 minutes before we were able to see the doctor. This normally wouldn't be anything more than a nuisance, but when you have a very squirmy (and overtired and hungry) eight month old, it can prove to be quite exhausting. Thankfully, Jacob was awesome during this whole thing! He never cried or even got fussy. I, on the other hand, was trying to keep my patience while carrying him around, singing to him, feeding him cheerios while he sat on the examination table, and distracting him with any safe object I could find! In the end, Dr. Peters came in and told me that he thought Jacob's kidneys look much better than they did six months ago and that he didn't think there was any cause for concern. He thinks that Jacob will probably just grow out of the dilation in his left kidney, but he does want to see him back in a year to be sure that the problem has resolved itself.

We are very thankful for this good news and are sure that in a year there won't be any reason for us to return!