*Whew*

A major sigh of relief. Clara had her yearly Pedatric Urology appointment yesterday which included a trip to pediatric radiology for a renal ultrasound and VCUG. I was really hoping for good news since my week had been pretty crappy.

My mom came down from NY to be with us since I was fairly certain that I could not be with Clara for the VCUG. If you recall the last time she had to have this done it was like a living nightmare. Now granted we were going to Hopkins Pediatric Radiology and not the peds unit at St Joe's followed by a trip to the regular radiologist. Everything, including the cath was done by an actual doctor too. But I still couldn't watch so I sent my mom in with Ray (since they are both calm and handle stuff very well).

She screamed during the ultrasound which I was present for but the technician was wonderful with her. Then we had about a 5 minute break before she had to have the VCUG done. I heard her crying through the door and of course I was upset but it would have been 10 times worse had I actually been in there. When my mom and Ray came out with Clara she was all smiles and so was Ray. I said "what happened I heard her" and my mom said "she's strong willed and did not want to be lying down, that's the reason she was screaming- the cath went in fine she didn't even cry for that" and then Ray said "good news is that the VUR is resolving"- I was so happy.

Our appointment with the pediatric urologist confirmed that her right kidney is slightly smaller than the left and both are without 'hydronephrosis' (scarring. Additionally they downgraded her VUR from 1/2 in the right to 1 (requiring no further treatment) and from 3/4 in the left to 2/3 which still requires treatment for at least another year possibly a few more years depending. Overall the urologist was very pleased with the result. He said a lot of it has to do with making sure she takes her antibiotics daily (which we of course do) and the fact that our Pediatrician had her tested so early. I told him another year or more of antibiotics was okay by us. He said "it's better than surgery" and I said "absolutely" and he said "I certainly don't need the business" and I said "or want it" and he said "exactly."

The Ped Uro said he would chat with our pedatrician about the results but that he thought that Dr DeVoe would be as please as he was. He also mentioned that if necessary Dr DeVoe would adjust her medication level for her height and weight.

So overall really great news. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that this resolves to 1 next year so there will be no need for antibiotics at all once she hits age 2.5.