Sadly, No Miracles Happened Around Here

Sadly, there was not a miraculous healing with M's kidneys.

We've had a long day. None of us ate until after 4:00 p.m. M was a complete trooper the entire day and did not cry one time. She constantly amazes me with her ability to handle the stresses of being at the hospital. Every time we've had to be there, she's incredible. She marched in, smiling and greeting anyone who looked at her. She was so polite to her nurses and the child life specialist. She even played with a little boy next to us while we waited (for 4 hours) to have the VCUG done. On a side note, several of the employees said, "Haven't you been here before?" I wasn't sure if that was because we were so terrible or so delightful!!! One lady even specifically remembered doing the VCUG with us last year!!

The ranking scale for kidney reflux is 1 (being least severe) and 5 (most severe). M's right kidney is a 2 and her left kidney is a 3. The pediatric radiologist (I love, love, LOVE him. More on that later) seemed more concerned about her condition than I've felt from the pediatric urologist last year (see post to remember my opinion of him) or her pediatrician. He encouraged us to see a highly recommended pediatric urologist, the best in the state, in his opinion. He noticed, or she developed, a kidney diverticulum. That means a pouch or sac has developed attached to her left kidney. I'm not sure if this is what raised his concern or just the fact that she has not improved since last year. He, unfortunately, does not feel that M will outgrow this condition. TOTAL BUMMER.

I'm so thankful that the Lord arranged for us to have this particular radiologist. He was so wonderful with M. She was put under just enough to be totally unaware of what was happening to her, thanks to another wonderful person in the room, the pediatric anesthesiologist, who explained everything to M before he did it. When the radiologist wanted M shifted or moved, he would give the directions, then say, "Mom, tell her we're shifting her to the left, putting her on her back, taking pictures of her." "Isn't she so beautiful?" "Oh, she's doing such a wonderful job." So even though M was in la-la land, I was whispering to her everything that was happening. I have no idea if that made a difference to her, but it was extremely comforting to me! When he was done and she was "relaxing" for a moment, he went back over some of the images with me, explaining them so I could understand. I don't remember everything he said, even though I tried to repeat it so I would. I wish he was a regular doctor so he could see him all the time! We adore M's pediatrician, but this doctor comes in a very, very close second! When we went to a different part of the hospital to have a renal ultrasound, I mentioned his name to the ultrasound technician (who has been down the road of infertility with his wife! You can find out a lot of information in a darken room while someone is ultrasound-ing your kid!), he said, "Oh, you're so lucky! He's the best!"

So, no miracles for us today. But we had wonderful care for our sweet girl. And I'm so thankful for that. I'm very thankful that we had a doctor who could explain things to me in a simple, straightfoward way without alarming me. I'm thankful that the nurses and other caretakers were so kind to us and we witnessed them being so kind to several other patients.