Oliver's Hospital Adventure

3/24/2009
Sorry for the delay between posts...

So we had the “MAG 3 diuretic renogram” test on 3/13 (Friday the thirteenth). The test took about 4 hours to complete. As you can imagine, it was horrible for all of us.

Then we saw the urologist on 3/17 to discuss the results. We did like him, which is good. Basically he has Hydronephrosis and enlarged ureters. They think he will outgrow it as he gets bigger. We will have a sonogram in 3 months to check the size of his kidneys to determine if it is getting better, worse or the same. He will remain on antibiotics until then. If at any time he develops a fever for no obvious reason, then we will have to take him straight to All Children’s Hospital (do not pass go) so he can be under the care of his urologist. It’s not like babies get fevers for no apparent reason or anything. Yes I am being sarcastic. So that’s it. Just wait and see. We are very optimistic though.

And for fun here is a picture of Oliver and a giant microbe of the Ecoli bacteria.

2/27/2009
We went to see the pediatrician today and got a better explanation. Basically Oliver has 3 issues...

1. He has a level 1 (mild) case of kidney reflux. There is a very good chance this will just resolve itself over time or it could be caused by item 3.
2. His kidneys are swollen. They are not sure why and it could be caused by numerous factors. We have another kidney sonogram in 6 months to see if they are still swollen. He will be taking the one a day antibiotics until this test.
3. The tube between his kidney and bladder is “enlarged”. This could be caused by an obstruction or he could have just been born with the enlarged tube. The test below will check for an obstruction or if the tube has a kink. This could be causing his kidney reflux.

2/25/2009
Oliver is now home. He will be taking antibiotics twice a day for 3 days and then once a day for an indefinite amount of time. We see the pediatrician in 2-3 days to discuss the past week of events. They want to do a “MAG 3 diuretic renogram” on Oliver soon to be sure there is no obstruction. We will see a urologist in a few weeks to discuss this test in more detail. They wanted us to do it right away, but given he has to be sedated we want to better understand it first. Thanks again for everyone’s help.

2/25/2009
The tube is out of Oliver’s head and he is coming home today. Not sure when though. They have to watch him for a while to be sure nothing crazy happens. Headed up to hospital soon to hopefully start the checkout process.

2/24/2009
It’s not official yet, but it looks like Oliver and Sara will be able to come home from the hospital tomorrow morning. We are still waiting to find out the next steps for the kidney reflux. I am sure they will be doing more tests soon.

2/23/2009
Oliver had his kidney tests today and the unofficial result is that he has a mild case of kidney reflux. We are waiting to talk to the doctor and pediatrician to get the official results and to find out what the next steps will be. I imagine it will involve more tests down the road and worst case scenario would be surgery. But I think/hope it will heal on its own as this does sometimes. They also did another blood test today and the results will take 24-48 hours. I believe they are just making sure the E Coli did not get into the blood. We think Sara and Oliver will be able to come home as early as Wednesday with a 3 day supply of oral antibiotics. We should know for sure soon.
Thanks again to everyone who helped out. It is GREATLY appreciated.

2/22/2009
It has been a pretty quiet weekend compared to the past week. Sara asked the Doctors to wait until Monday to continue testing so they can rest up. Sara, Maya and myself and all very sick and still trying to recover which just adds another wrinkle to this mess.
As of now the blood and spinal fluid are still negative. The urine test was positive for E Coli. So now they know what antibiotic to use. Now he is off of the hardcore antibiotics and you can see a difference in the way he acts. Oliver is now only connected to 2 lines which is good compared to the 6 lines he had this week. As you could imagine it’s very hard to hold a baby with 6 lines coming out of them. He stills has a pretty bad cough. They are giving him Tylenol for the pain.
So on Monday they will continue the testing the kidney area. They are going to get a fresh urine sample to test. Also they will do a test where they wait for him to pee, immediately inject dye and see if the urine is going back into the kidney. This is called kidney reflux. Google at your own risk.
That's it for now. Thank you for everything everyone has done for us.
I will try to take and post more pictures soon.

2/20/2009
Oliver’s urine culture came back positive. His blood culture is negative so far, but that needs 48 hours. He had a spinal tap today and no bad cells were found in the fluid. It takes 24 hours for the spinal fluid culture to come back. He had a sonogram of his kidneys today and they were swollen. Not clear on exactly what that means. He is still on the IV of antibiotics. Once again we should know more tomorrow.

2/19/2009
Wanted to let everyone know that Oliver is in the hospital. This started last night when around 9pm Sara took him to a afterhours clinic. He was vomiting badly and spiking a fever. He also has a cold (as does Sara, Maya and myself). They got him a room at the hospital (Mease Countryside) and sent Sara off to it around 1 or 2 am. The hospital has done blood and urine tests. We should get some results back tomorrow. Oliver is hooked up to a IV (in his head of all places) of antibiotics and some Tylenol for the fever. As of 4pm his fever was down and he slept for a few hours, but that is sort of common for fevers. He will be on antibiotics for at least 5 days in the hospital. Once we know the results of the tests we will have a better idea when he can come home. Just wanted to give everyone an update.