Backflow
February 20, 2009 
As I begin to write I can't help but notice how use of that word -- backflow -- almost never has good implications...
"Ma'am, what you've got here is backflow from your septic system into your toilet."
"There was significant backflow from the river into the flooded area."
"My cookies backflowed from my stomach into the trash can."
O.k., that last one may not be the most accurate usage of the word. But you get what I mean... In general, things are supposed to flow one direction. And when they flow in the opposite direction, for whatever reason, it's usually not good.
Unfortunately, that's the case with Miss Peaches. It started a few weeks back when she had her six-month check up. As expected, she developed a fever after getting her immunizations. However, after three days and a continued fever, I was worried, so I called the doctor and they had me bring her back in. All signs of a respiratory infection were absent, and they didn't think that the shots were what was causing the problem, so they suspected a urinary tract infection.
A what? A urinary tract infection? In my baby? No! She's too little for that kind of problem! Isn't she? Turned out not.
I don't know why, but the thought of that was traumatic enough for me as it was. Unfortunately (I may use that word a lot throughout this post) that was not the entire problem. Turned out that, at this age, when a baby has a u.t.i. they also suspect a reflux of urine from the bladder to the kidneys when they pee.
Did I offend anyone by saying 'pee'? I hope not. I'm just too familiar a person to be saying 'urinate' or 'void' or any other of that technical jargon. I mean, we're all friends here, not medical colleagues, right?
So, this morning we had to take her back for an x-ray procedure, called a VCUG, in which they put a dye in the bladder that shows up on the x-ray and shows if the urine is backflowing (I'm really starting to hate that word) or not. She was brave. Braver than me. While I was praying to God that the test would just come back negative and having flashbacks of being in the hospital with my dad as he was dying a few months ago, she was gurgling and playing with the blown up latex glove they gave her like a little champ.
Unfortunately, the test did come back positive. She does have backflow, or more accurately, vesicoureteral reflux. But that was really hard to spell, and I'm pretty sure I couldn't pronounce it if I tried to say it out loud, so let's just call it backflow. The good news is that it's not as bad as it could be. The bad news is that it's not as good as it could be (i.e. absent from her precious, innocent little anatomy). Out of grades 1-5, 1 being the best and 5 being the worst, she has grade 2/3.
We have to meet with a urologist for a final opinion, but our doctor thinks that we will likely put her on a low grade antibiotic to prevent any u.t.i.'s from reoccurring (this is the whole problem with this problem... u.t.i.'s can develop into a kidney infection, resulting in kidney damage) for six months to a year and then repeat the test to see if it has resolved itself. And I guess that's more good news... It's likely that she will grow out of this. And the other good news is that we caught it early, hopefully before any kidney damage can occur.
I'm never opposed to prayer, for me or others, so if you've got a spare minute to put a little whisper in God's ear on Miss Peaches' behalf, I'd be ever so appreciative.
Reader Comments (2)
Have you looked up any herbal remedies for help in repairing kidney damage? I bet there's something out there to help her little system heal...
Looking into it.