urinary reflux surgery

[amy2girls]

Sorry, not disney related but thought I would ask any way... My daughter age 6 is scheduled to have surgery next week to fix her Urinary Reflux. Anyone have any experience with this with your own children? Thanks for reading!! I am starting to get nevous.

 

[KJMAX1]

No advice except a hug! My son had reflux into his kidney from birth until about a year old. He had UIs often. My friends son is only 2 but was on antibiotic for a year preventing infection from this reflux as well. She is still hanging in there to see what the jury says in a few months!

 

[Scutapipig]

My daughter was born with multiple kidney issues, including urinary reflux. After four surgeries, she is down to one kidney, but at age 8 1/2, she is happy and healthy and doing extremely well with no reflux.

She had her reflux surgery at age 3 1/2 and had a 24 hour hospital stay. She was up and moving around promptly with no issues, and had it not been for her other kidney issues, she would have been removed from taking her prophylactic antibiotics after the surgery.

 

[mrsmom]

My dd now 12yrs old had her surgery when she was 6yrs old and she was in the hospital for 4 days and did well she did have bladder spasms for awhile after the surgery. But has been doing great since. I would not think twice to have it done.
Kim

 

[disneymom3]

Hi there, We have gone through a lot of kidney/reflux issues with all three of our kids. I had reflux when I was little and found out from my OB that it is hereditary when I was preg with #2. NEWS to me! We discovered before he was born (via ultrasound) that he had a solitary kidney and that it was enlarged and he most probably had reflux. He did and had his first surgery at 10 days old to have a vesicostomy put in. When he was 9 months we had it reversed and as his kidney was pretty messed up, he had to have pretty extensive reconstructive surgery. I will spare you the details but it was much more involved than expected and involved a longer hospital stay than we had been told to expect.

I tell you this because if things don't go perfectly I encourage you not to panic. He had all the tests redone at 15 months and everything was great. He is 6 now and at his last appt with the urologist the Dr was astounded and said if you had never seen the previous ultrasounds you would never know that he had any kidney issues. (Aside from their only being one anyway.)

I had surgery at 10 but in my case they basically just had to clear out the uretor from some blockage. One thing I can tell you for sure is that it was such a HUGE relief not to deal with all of those UTIs all the time. Back then, they didn't do preventative antibiotics. My oldest was on prev. meds for three years, the middle one from the day he was born until he was 15 months and the youngest we put on them at about 4 months but took him off after 8 months of age because of yeast issues.

 

[kokotg]

my middle ds had kidney reflux and wound up having surgery just before he was 5 months old. I know how scary it is to send your child in for surgery, but it really was a breeze. Everything went beautifully; we went back for tests a couple of months after the surgery and haven't had to think about it since. Looking back, I'm really glad we did the surgery when we did instead of waiting, keeping him on the antibiotics and repeating the testing every few months (and panicking about UTIs every time he had a fever). I'm sure she's going to be fine!

 

[Maybelle]

Just sending along some hugs and well wishes. Don't have anything to add about the surgery or anything. My DD was checked for reflux when she was 9 mos. old and got a UTI, and I had never heard of urinary reflux. I wish I had known about these boards then to gain some encouragement. Take heart that everyone wishes your family well as your DD goes through the surgery!

 

[amy2girls]

Thank you all for your well whishes, I am sure all will be well.

 

[shaylahc1]

My 2nd DD had this surgery at 15 mos (she is almost 7 now). She, too, was born with a solitary kidney and had grade 5 reflux, neither problem was discovered until she was 8 mos old Her recovery from the surgery was hard---she developed severe anemia from the blood loss, and was in quite a bit of pain for several weeks afterwards. She kept holding her urine until we had to take her to the ER to be cathed several times It was a very difficult time. The good news is, her follow up VCUG showed the reflux was gone. For us, NOT having the surgery simply wasn't an option. If I had it to do all over again I wouldn't change a thing---DD is alive and healthy with a functioning kidney, what more could I ask for?

On the downside, DD still suffers from recurrent UTIs not related to her reflux history. She has been on prophylactic antibiotics for 5 years and will continue indefinitely. Not sure why she is so prone to them, but for now preserving her kidney function is very important so she will continue to take them to prevent future UTIs.

((((HUGS))))) Parentsplace.com used to have a great Kidney Reflux board, I am not sure if they still have one.

 

[Ellester]

Good friends of ours have 3 daughters who all had urinary reflux. They each had the surgery this winter (ages 6, 4, and 20 months). Each one was outpatient, they were home by 2pm the same day (the 6yo and baby had their's done on the same day!). The 4 year old had spasms for a week or so but they are now all fine. The amount they are saving each month by not having to keep the girls on antibiotics all the time is substantial! Best of luck, I'm sure your daughter's surgery will go smoothly!

 

[plutoNme]

I am a pediatric nurse at Hopkins and take care of kids post surgery all the time. If you have any specific questions, I can try and answer them for you.
Best of luck with everything.

 

[kkaisu]

My neice had this surgery last Christmas (she was 1.5). The day she came home from the hospital she was up and around like nothing ever happened. Could be a little rougher since you girl is older - but you have nothing to worry about.

 

[amy2girls]

Thank you all, surgery is in the morning, she had her preop visit today and did well. Send some prayers to Boston tommorrow.

 

[Jacksmom99]

DS now 7 had surgery at Children's Hosp in Boston in 2002 when he was 3. He didn't have reflux, but a blocked ureter. I can't say enough good things about the care that he/we had there!! Good Luck and lots of hugs sent your way. I know that surgery on your child is far more tramatizing to the parents than to the kid.

BTW, if you or your child suffers any post trauma from the surgery, they have a fabulous coping clinic at Children's. DS suffered a great deal from all the pre-surgery procedures and we hooked up with a therapist there to help him (and us) prepare for the surgery. DS had a follow up ultra sound last year with our new urologist (old one left to head up urology at Wake Forest U...go figure ) and DS has a clean bill of health and got a two year break until the next visit!!

I'll send up a little prayer for you and your family tomorrow.

Kim

 

[disneymom3]

Thank you all, surgery is in the morning, she had her preop visit today and did well. Send some prayers to Boston tommorrow.

Consider them said. Let us know how everything goes. I just find it amazing all of the medical knowledge we have these days and all of the wonderful results we end up with.

 

[beattyfamily]

Good luck and best wishes this morning!

My younger DD was diagnosed with this at birth. She was on antibiotics till we decided what to do (hoping it would fix itself). We ended up having the surgery at 8 months old.

Everything went well. No issues or problems since.

She was also born with one kidney.

She had her surgery at Children's in Boston and they were GREAT!

Let us know how it goes.

 

[momimouse27]

I hope your dd's surgery goes welll. My dd(now almost 13) had her kidney reflux surgery when she was 8. Although it wasn't an easy recovery, once she was over it, it was nice not to have to do antibiotics anymore and constantly worry about infections. I am sure she will do well, but my prayers are with you during her surgery. Hope all goes well...

 

[uhtimex]

Hey, my DD had reflux procedure at Texas Childrens Hospital, who I must say were the greatest, It was about an hour and a half and she was able to come home when she woke up. I think she has had 1 ut infection since then, and of course every time she has a fever for more than a day it is back to the Dr. but we have had ultrasounds and a vug or some other name for the "pee test" as my DD calls it and still no reflux. I am sure that I don't need to tell you this but don't let your DD on to your nerveousness. I was scared to death about the whole thing but Emily DD was such a trooper. Good luck and God bless

 

[amy2girls]

Thank you all,
Just came home tonight, she was inpatient for about 48 hrs after having bilat. ureter reimplantations. The surgery went well but the recovery has been rough. She is still having a lot of pain and worst of all, terrible bladder spasms and bloody urine. We are greatfull and hopefull this is a cure and the reflux is gone. Thanks again.

 

[ZachsMommy6]

Glad to hear that your DD is doing well. We will keep you all in our prayers and hope for a speedy recovery.

My DS was born with reflux and hydronephrosis on both sides. We didn't find this out till he was 18 days old, he had a bad fever and was very sick. Come to find out that he had a UTI and E-Coli in his blood. This caused sever scaring to his left kidney. He recovered from that and was put on antibiotics. At age 2 he grew out of the hydronephrosis on both sides and the reflux on the rt. He still has grade 4 on the left and it only functions at 16%. He is now 3 and we just talked to the dr and the plan is to wait till he is 4 to make sure the rt kidney continues to grow with his age so that when they take the lt he will be ok. So far though, he hasn't had any breakthru UTI's.