Monday, November 3, 2008

Doctor Visit

Today I took Grace to her pediatrician to try to figure out why she has been sick over the weekend. I really have not been able to tell if she has a sinus infection or a urinary tract infection. Unfortunately, she turned out to have a urinary tract infection.

Many of my readers know that Grace has had many urinary tract infections in her short life. She's even been in the emergency room and hospital a few times for high fevers and dehydration associated with UTIs. Thankfully, she has a great urologist who suggested a new procedure called Deflux. When Grace was two years old, this urologist surgically placed Deflux inside her ureters. Since then, she has been infection-free. Until now.

Because Deflux is a sugar-based molecule that is able to be absorbed by the body, there is a chance that it can "disappear" inside the body within a few months or years of surgical placement. We're hoping that is not the case, because we would not enjoy going through the whole procedure again. Even though the procedure is quite simple and pain-free, we don't relish the idea of general anaesthesia again.

But, hopefully I'm getting ahead of myself and this is just a small UTI that will not happen again. At least that's what we're praying. She's already feeling better, and for that we are thankful.

3 comments:

Mrs. Sprinkles said...

I'm so sorry to hear this--we're praying for her.

Joe and Martha said...

JoAnnna, I'm so sorry to hear your little Grace suffers from UTI's. How awful for such a little girl. I'm curious, did anyone ever talk to you about how much water she drinks? I know it is different obviously with her; but I had UTI for the first 6 months of our marriage. The key to me getting rid of them is the amount of water I drink. I talked with a nutritionist after being on antibiotics for what seemed continually. I was so glad to find a solution that was preventative! I still can get them easily now if I'm not drinking enough water but I have not had one since. A couple times I thought I might and increase my water, Vit C, and Cranberry supplements and was able to avoid it. I was so surprised that the doctor did not question me on this. He was sending me to my GYN to get a referral for a Urologist and all I needed to do was increase my water. I have been very careful since UTI can cause preterm labor but it has been a year since I had a UTI! I hope she is doing much better and you can avoid a repeat procedure.

Joanna J. said...

Thanks, Martha. This is good advice. Thankfully, Grace has always been good about drinking a lot of water and juice. Unfortunately, in Grace's case, she was born with an extra ureter that was causing her to have reflux and getting infections. The Deflux surgical procedure corrected this problem (we hope). I'll pray that you stay healthy until your delivery and thereafter!