This past Monday Gideon had an appointment at the Children’s Hospital at the University of Virginia (UVA). Let me back up a little bit…when we moved back to Virginia in January I had an ultrasound at around 35 weeks. During the ultrasound we found two somewhat alarming things.
The first was that we were having a BOY and not a girl, like we had been preparing for. Second, the ultrasound tech could only find one kidney. So the day Gideon was born he had an ultrasound and they did end up finding his right kidney, however, it was small and covered with cysts. The pediatrician referred us to UVA so that Gideon could be looked at by a specialist.
As you know, we were in NC for pretty much the whole month of April doing Partnership Development. So on Sunday we made the drive from NC to Charlottesville where we stayed in a hotel. I was dreading the night ahead of us.
I could only imagine what sleeping would look like with a 3 year old, a 1 year old and a newborn who still wakes up at 11pm and 3am to eat. I was picturing all of us up (and possibly all of us crying) at 3am, but praise the Lord everyone slept through the night…except me and Gideon and Chandler (because he is AWESOME and helps with some of the nighttime feedings!!!).
So on Monday morning we all got up, got dressed and headed down to the continental breakfast at the hotel. Breakfast was good, except they didn’t have any high chairs, so Chandler and I ate in shifts! Chandler and the girls dropped me and Gideon off at the hospital and they headed back to the hotel room to hang out, as it would have been crazy had we all been at the appointments.
Sweet Gideon was a champ!!! First he had an ultrasound. He did so GREAT through the whole thing. He just laid there and sucked on his little passy. He even fell asleep towards the end of it…maybe it felt like a little tummy massage! They took over 80 pictures of his right kidney, his left kidney, and his bladder.
After his ultrasound they took us over for the fluoroscopy. This is like a moving x-ray. It was really interesting to watch this procedure. Poor Gideon had to be strapped down in this box-like contraption with towels all around him to keep him nice and snug. He fussed a little, but overall did really well.
They have this sugar water that we dipped his passy in that helped to distract him a little. He seemed to like that a lot! The worst part was they had to insert a catheter. They then filled up his bladder and watched how he went to the bathroom. It was sad to see him like this, but it helped that he did so well.
After that we met with the doctor. He was able to go through all the findings with me. He first explained that in the first ultrasound (at birth) it did not look as though his right kidney was functioning at all, however in this ultrasound it showed that there was some functionality (not much though). He wants to keep an eye on this to see what happens over the next few months.
Next he talked about an issue with his bladder. So the bladder normally has muscle all the way around it, however, on the right side of Gideon’s bladder there is a small area that balloons out whenever he goes to the bathroom. The problem with this is his bladder never completely empties. This could put him at risk for infection and also the bladder will not be able to continue developing correctly.
So what the doctor would like to do is make a small incision in the balloon area which should basically deflate it. Once that happens the muscle should be able to develop. This will be the first course of action. In the meantime Gideon will be on a preventative daily dose (very small) of an antibiotic so that he is not at risk for infection.
I then went on to tell the doctor that we will be moving next year. He asked where and I told him Tanzania. I guess its not everyday that he hears that for an answer!
After hearing this he said that he would recommend completely removing the right kidney. If he didn’t, Gideon would be at risk for hypertension and the doctor doesn’t want him to have potential issues overseas if he can just go ahead and remove the kidney. This procedure will most likely happen when he is between 6-9 months. It is a blessing we still have time to have all of this done before we are ready to leave for Tanzania.
We will be making another trip up to UVA at the beginning of June and from there we will have more information about when all of these procedures will take place. It is interesting having a child with some health concerns, as we haven’t had to cross this bridge before.
As I looked around the waiting room I realized that the road we are walking down with Gideon is far smoother than some of the roads others beside me were walking down! I am thankful for 3 healthy little children.
After the appointment I walked out to the waiting room and found Chandler, Selah and Miriam playing and coloring. I was so impressed with the set-up they have for kids there. Each of our kids walked away from the hospital with a brand new book, too!
We headed out to find some lunch and decided to stop at Trader Joe’s (a real treat!) to just get some munchy stuff to have in the car. Selah had a blast pushing a cart just her size. It was so funny to watch her. She thought that because she had a cart she could pick up any item she wanted. Silly girl! The highlight for Miriam was the free sample of pizza!
Overall it was a good, yet tiring, day! We made it back to Lynchburg in the afternoon and are currently staying with some friends who house missionaries short-term.
It is a blessing to be here for the week as we apartment hunt! Please be praying that the Lord would make it ever so clear where we are supposed to be over the next year as we finish raising our support.
Thanks for reading and for praying!
Making Him Known,
Jamie
Aunt Angie says
Wow, what a day! Glad to hear it went well. You received lots of answers and probably had lots of questions. We will continue to pray for your little guy and your whole crew! Love you