The Next Step

Today we had a full day at TCH. Mitch started his morning with a blood draw, isotope injection and DMSA renal scan. Finally, we got an idea of what the division of labor is between his kidneys. Not too surprisingly, the left kidney is doing most of the work (91%) and the right is only doing 9%. He then had another VCUG to check to see if the Posterior Urethral Valves were gone. The VCUG also shows us the reflux of urine back into his right kidney. After having our tests, we met with Dr. G. He is pleased with how well the left kidney is doing, and believes it can sustain Mitch. (You only need one good kidney, after all). The problem, however, is the reflux of urine that shoots back up into his right kidney everytime he "voids" (that's urologist-speak for "going pee"). In essence, his bladder is never fully emptying. This is bad for a few reasons. First, full bladders that don't fully empty are prone to UTIs and bladder infections. Second, his bladder is having to work extra hard to empty,which can have long term negative consequences (like losing the urge to go). We'll meet with the urologist and nephrologist together to discuss, but, right now it looks like Mitchell will have surgery to remove the right kidney. We don't know when--not until he's 6 months at least--but likely soon after. We'd rather just get it over with. Because his problem developed as a result of an issue that began in utero, his bladder and right kidney are sort of "trained" this way. He had never had reflux on the left side.

Obviously, the thought of facing a surgery that involves something as invasive as removing an organ is overwhelming. But, we know that the risk of it is outweighed by the long term reward for his overall urinary tract health. If all goes well, we should only be in the hospital overnight.
We meet with the nephrologist in two weeks, so we'll know more then. Thank you for all of your prayers.