Lily continues to get better with antibiotics. She acts like nothing was ever wrong! Her Grandma arrived today and immediately came to the hospital to get her hands on Miss Lily!
We found out today that she had a urinary tract infection that likely started all this. In infants as young as she is, a UTI is often caused by an unusually-shaped urinary tract, so they did an ultrasound on her abdomen to make sure there were no physical defects in her bladder, kidneys, etc.
Well...our daughter is already an overachiever. It was discovered that she has not one, but TWO ureters extending from her right kidney. She's packing a spare. The ureter is the tube that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder. Each kidney should have only one. Lily has two on her right side. That right kidney also has a condition called hydronephrosis, which is a swelling of the kidney, usually caused by inadeqate, or reversed, drainage. The antibiotics she is receiving will cure the UTI, but because of the dual ureters, she will need to visit a pediatric urologist upon release from the hospital to treat the hydronephrosis and prevent it from recurring.
The pediatrician, after consulting with the urologist, has ordered an X-ray procedure called a VCUG, which will show the doctors if the dual ureter shape and attachment points are causing her to have kidney reflux, where urine in her ureter is being passed back into her kidneys. This is probably the case, and is the likely source of her Enterococcus infection.
While getting this infection has been very hard on all of us, our doctor says it may have been a good thing, because without it, we may not have discovered the dual ureters or the kidney condition. Often, kids with this problem have UTI after UTI, and the scarring that can occur with it, for a very long time before doctors discover the true cause. We found out when she was three weeks old and I guess that is one of the silver linings of this whole process.
We found out today that she had a urinary tract infection that likely started all this. In infants as young as she is, a UTI is often caused by an unusually-shaped urinary tract, so they did an ultrasound on her abdomen to make sure there were no physical defects in her bladder, kidneys, etc.
Well...our daughter is already an overachiever. It was discovered that she has not one, but TWO ureters extending from her right kidney. She's packing a spare. The ureter is the tube that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder. Each kidney should have only one. Lily has two on her right side. That right kidney also has a condition called hydronephrosis, which is a swelling of the kidney, usually caused by inadeqate, or reversed, drainage. The antibiotics she is receiving will cure the UTI, but because of the dual ureters, she will need to visit a pediatric urologist upon release from the hospital to treat the hydronephrosis and prevent it from recurring.
The pediatrician, after consulting with the urologist, has ordered an X-ray procedure called a VCUG, which will show the doctors if the dual ureter shape and attachment points are causing her to have kidney reflux, where urine in her ureter is being passed back into her kidneys. This is probably the case, and is the likely source of her Enterococcus infection.
While getting this infection has been very hard on all of us, our doctor says it may have been a good thing, because without it, we may not have discovered the dual ureters or the kidney condition. Often, kids with this problem have UTI after UTI, and the scarring that can occur with it, for a very long time before doctors discover the true cause. We found out when she was three weeks old and I guess that is one of the silver linings of this whole process.
Wow, that's super crazy! I love the detailed medical description. As a frequent UTI sufferer at various points in my life, I wonder if I could also be a ureter overachiever... ;)
ReplyDeleteGlad Lily is doing well and ready to come home soon!