Cured!

I have some exciting news, everyone!

Many of you have been following our journey dealing with Jay's hydronephrosis (aka enlarged kidney problem) that he's had since pre-birth.

It was first noticed in utero, confirmed it via ultrasound soon after he was born, we visited the local urologist in town with some pediatric experience who ordered some (not so fun) testing at the children's hospital in Madison, and due to the nature of the blockage being abnormal (it was at the ureter tube end that's connected to Jay's bladder instead of the common blockage being up at the top near the kidney) we were referred to a pediatric urology specialist at the children's hospital up in Madison and were told that due to the blockage Jay would most likely need to have surgery around his 2nd birthday where they pull out the ureter tube at the bladder, snip it and then reattach it. After several visits in Madison, we learned the specialist was taking a position at the children's hospital in Milwaukee. Fortunately our insurance covered him at Milwaukee so we followed him there.

Eating some celebratory pizza
after his check-up!

You may remember me reporting last February, at Jay's last urology check-up 6 months ago , that there was a significant improvement with the dilation in his kidney and that it was possible that the blockage was opening up on its own.

Well this past Thursday we had Jay's regular 6 month check-up again - an ultrasound on his kidneys and bladder and then meeting with the specialist right after to go over it.

He said that as far as Jay's urology issues go - we can consider him cured!

He said the left kidney continues to look healthy with hardly any dilation and the ureter tube doesn't look engorged at all anymore! He said to consider it a temporary plumbing problem that has been resolved!

Guys, this is AMAZING news!

The specialist did tell us at the beginning that while there was the slim chance the blockage could open up on its own, it is rare and we shouldn't get our hopes up as we would most likely be facing the reality of Jay needing surgery to correct it.

Honestly, I had started to prepare myself for the reality of that, pushing it to the back of my mind until the time got closer. It helped that the specialist assured me that he had done the procedure himself (as he would be the one doing it) many many times and so far he has been successful with no complications - he had put me at ease.

But now, no surgery at all, no further testing either (which is GREAT because I have no idea how you get a 2 year old to cooperate when it comes to attaching a catheter to them, not to mention getting them to leave an IV alone or lay still for a 45-60min thorough ultrasound scan with using some kinda of sedative!). He wants us to come back in a year for a follow-up ultrasound just to confirm that everything still looks good but he said that unless anything comes back abnormal we'll most likely be meeting with the nurse practitioner so we can have a quick in and out visit.

I would like to thank ALL of you for your thoughts and prayers as we have been dealing with this these past 18 months or so - I know many, many people have been praying for Jay and specifically that the blockage would open up on its own so he wouldn't need to have the surgery  - it has been GREATLY appreciated!

For all of you out there who have been following us on this tough journey or if you stumbled across this post while trying to find answers to your own questions about hydronephrosis or other kidney/ureter problems your little one might have... let me just say that there is hope! While surgery may seem inevitable to correct it, I pray you have a great pediatric urology specialist like we did (Dr. John Kryger, based out of the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee) who recommends waiting a few years to see if the problem corrects itself first. It is a rough journey, especially with some of the testing your little one has to go through (please feel free to click the "hydronephrosis" label at the bottom of this post to read back through some of what we've gone through these past 18 months in regards to this), but I hope that if anything, I have given you hope and comfort in knowing you're not alone when it comes to this.