More on Emily's kidney

In the past nine months Emily has had several ultrasounds, a renal scan, and two VCUGs (x-rays.) Her pediatric urologist believes she has two urethrae (plural for urethra) attached to her left kidney and that the top 1/5 of her kidney is not functioning. She also has a little bit of reflux which means a little bit of urine is going back up the urethra from the bladder which can cause Urinary Tract Infections. The pediatric urologist wants to do surgery to remove the second urethra and the top portion of Emily's kidney to prevent her from getting recurring UTIs which can cause damage to the kidneys.

Emily was scheduled for surgery today. It was a two-part procedure which involved a cystoscopy. Cystoscopy allows the doctor to look at areas of your bladder and urethra that usually do not show up well on X-rays. After the cystoscopy was done then the doctor was going to take out the top portion of the kidney that was not functioning and the second urethra that was attached to the kidney. It is a three hour procedure followed by a two or three day recovery in the hospital.

As we were on our way to the hospital Alan asked me if I was scared. I was actually pretty calm this morning. I was fine during registration. Waiting in the Pre-Op was no big deal. When the nurses came and took my baby from me and walked away with her I cried. Then we had to wait in the waiting room. Those chairs are not that comfortable to sit in for 2-3 hours at a time. To kill time Alan and I went to the cafeteria. We ordered breakfast and about three bites into my breakfast burrito I started bawling. Alan gently reminded me that we don't know anything yet so we have nothing to worry about.

After about two hours the doctor came out to talk to us about what he had found during the cystoscopy. Emily did NOT have the double ureter as they suspected therefore there was NO need to do the surgery. I was so shocked to hear him say that and I had to ask him to repeat it to make sure I was hearing the right thing. I was so relieved! I can't even express with words how I felt like this huge weight had been lifted! The doctors wanted to do one more ultrasound before she woke up and then they would take her to recovery. The entire time the doctor is talking to us I kept thinking, "My baby is just lying on an operating table with anesthesia being pumped into her body and you're out here talking to us and waiting on an ultrasound machine?? Can you do that???? This is my baby - HURRY UP!" We got to bring Emily home within about an hour after that.

Emily getting prepped for surgery.

Emily was so fascinated with the heart monitor thingy on her toe. She kept wiggling her toe.

A nurse gave Emily a little duck named Gracie. Emily instantly fell in love with it. I was a bit surprised that the nurse gave my child a toy with a tag STILL attached to it. Emily instantly put the tag in her mouth. HELLO! Choking hazard! I guess if she were to start choking she was in the right place.

What can I say? My daughter is a happy child.
"Hey Doc! Let's get this over with already."

I had to wake Emily up at 3:00 a.m. to feed her because she couldn't eat due to the surgery. About 45 minutes prior to the surgery she decided she was going to starve to death. It was so hard to hold her or even be in the same room with her and not be able to nurse her. She couldn't understand it either.

"I'm SO hungry. I'm just going to have to eat this rail."
Party! My crib! Be there!

This is Emily as she was waking up from anesthesia. One of the nurses said that she was the most laid-back baby he had ever seen. She did so well waking up.