Nathan UTI update

It has been a hectic week. With everything that happened on Friday, I didn't get to mention about Nathan's doctor appointment. Last December, the week before Christmas, Nathan got his second Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). This condition is quite common in girls over-all, but not so in boys over the age of a year old. Apparently the percentage of boys that get one after the age of 5 is two hundredths of a percent...so for him to get a second one is even more rare. So they put him on antibiotics for three weeks. We went back for the check up to find that he still had the infection. So we had to take a second dose of antibiotics, but this time it was every 6 hours. We worked out a schedule that would least conflict with daily life: 7 AM, 1 PM, 7 PM, 1 AM. The most difficult one was the 1 AM simply because it was too late to stay up and too early to get up to for me. I usually am up by 5:30 every morning. Half the time, Nathan wouldn't remember getting the middle of the night dose and argue with Randy that he didn't get it. The worst part was that he had to eat or drink milk with it...so by all sense and purpose he should have awakened during that, but he didn't.

After three weeks, he was clear again. But now we were on to other stuff: the doctor wanted some tests run. Week one we went to the children's hospital to have blood drawn for all kinds of tests. Week two we went to have a renal ultrasound to check for visual defects in the kidneys and bladder. Week three we went to have a VCUG where they checked the function of the urinary tract with camera. Let's just say that January into February were hectic! They found that he had a few markers on the blood tests that might indicate some issues. The ultrasound was neat because Nathan got to see what his kidneys looked like along with his bladder. The technician was really cool because she also showed him his liver and his stomach while she was doing it. A real-live anatomy lesson! She told me that everything looked normal. Hallelujah! The VCUG was not a lot of fun. It involved a catheter, lots of liquid, and a traumatized 9 year old. The ureter was fine along with the valves. They did remark that the child had the biggest bladder they had seen in a long time...it took a whole bottle and a quarter of the solution to get the auto valve to finally open. This probably means that the child holds it too long on a daily basis. Which could be part of his problem.

Right now we are on a one year watch. He has to go back every three months for a UTI check with a urine test. He passed this time! Yahoo! If he comes up another UTI we will have to do the last test which is not one the doctor wants to do unless she has to do it and that is one where they check the function of the kidneys by using a contrast dye. She does not want to have to put him through that unless absolutely necessary. Nathan appreciates that I am sure. So for now we are thankful he is doing fine.