Operation: Save the Kidney!

Well. We had an unexpected surprise of the worst kind last week.  Emma had a renal scan on Tuesday to take a look at her swollen left kidney and ureter, and find out if the swelling and/or blockage was affecting her kidney function.   We spent the majority of the day in the hospital because she had to go under general anesthesia for the test. Emma did great and didn't complain about not getting to eat or drink. I think she's so used to the hospital routine now that she just rolls with it. She woke up happy and silly from the anesthesia and did fine for the rest of the day. We were supposed to have an appointment with her urologist, Dr. Upadhyay, in two weeks to go over the results.

Fast forward to the next morning - I was in the parking lot at work, ready to go inside and got a phone call from Dr. Upadhyay Uh oh, no bueno.  She said that the renal scan showed no drainage of urine from Emma's kidney to her bladder. The ureter had become completely blocked, and there was extreme loss of function in the left kidney.  She told us to drop everything, check Emma in at the hospital (no more food or drinks again) and be ready for emergency surgery that evening!  There was a real risk that Emma's kidney was being damaged severely, and she wanted to save as much of its function as she could. She was going to redo the ureter re-implantation surgery on Emma's left side.

I had to step into the office, sobbing, to let someone know what was happening and that I would be out of the office for a while. Dan had to pull Emma from camp and tell her that she had to have surgery that day while they drove home.  She was angry and cried about it, but became resigned pretty quickly.  We were all so sad.  We had prayed and prayed that God would spare Emma from having to ever have this kind of surgery again.  When she had ureter re-implantion surgery in December, it took almost a month before she began to act like "Emma" again.  She had severe pain for a week and it was a really tough recovery for her.  We were absolutely dreading her having to go through it again, but knew it was the best chance of correcting the problem and saving her kidney function. The weirdest thing was that Emma felt perfectly fine. No pain, infections, or other problems that we could see at all. It made the emergency situation even more shocking and surreal.

Emma made it through her 3.5 hour surgery fine and Dr. Upadhyay believes it was successful.  In the December surgery, she had to cut Emma's bladder open to re-implant the ureters, which resulted in terrible, painful bladder spasms afterward.  This time, she didn't have to open the bladder, but was able to work on the ureter outside the bladder wall.  It has made a world of difference in Emma's recovery!

Praise God, she has not had a single bladder spasm and the pain from her incision only slowed her down for a few days. Even having a catheter hasn't phased her much this time, which is amazing!  She has grown up a lot in the past 6 months and is able to verbalize what she is afraid of and what hurts her, instead of screaming and panicking.  We are so grateful, and are praying that God will allow this surgery to be free of any complications.  Time will tell if the surgery will hold and if her kidney will be fully functional again.  We are asking God for that, too, and would appreciate you praying with us.

The day of Emma's renal scan. They put in an IV, and then for some reason wrapped her arm in a diaper.  We giggled about that later on, when the trauma of getting the IV was past.

Our parents came to sit in the waiting room with us. After her scan was done, we ate lunch together and celebrated how well she did in her test!

Then, we were suddenly back in the hospital the next morning, waiting for Emma's emergency surgery. Her doctor already had a full schedule, but decided to add Emma to the end of her day as soon as she saw the test results.

We are blessed with a skilled and knowledgeable surgeon, Dr. Upadhyay, and a wonderful children's hospital, CHKD. They have taken great care of Emma for the past two years.

 Emma waking up from surgery. Almost from the beginning, we could tell that she wasn't struggling as much as the last time.

Day One in the hospital. Emma stayed in bed all day and refused to eat anything, but wanted to play with toys, so we borrowed some from the play room. Dan stayed the night with Emma for two nights so I could get enough rest to work the next day.  I have proposals due in a week, so this is a terrible time for me to be out of the office.  Dan's school is closed for the summer, so he has more flexibility. We are thankful for that, too!

Day Two in the hospital. I convinced (bullied) Emma into eating a little food and wheeled her in a wagon to the play room for a while.  She wasn't allowed to go home until she ate and moved her bowels, so I was on a mission!

Emma got lots of love from her grandparents.  They also took care of Hallie for us every day so we could go to the hospital or work.  We are so grateful for their help through this! What would we do without them?

 Day Three at the hospital. They were ready to discharge Emma! But Dan remembered that the doctor wanted an ultrasound, so they waited around an extra two hours before they got word from the doctor that she would schedule the ultrasound later. They went to the play room to pass time before they finally were cleared to come home!

Emma back at home! She was comfortable sitting in her car seat on the ride home, so she asked if she could stay there for a while. It was too hot outside to leave her in the garage, so Dan carried her, still sitting in the car seat, into the house. He's the best. :)

 Now we are back to bathing Emma three times a day to keep her catheter and scar clean. She'll get the catheter out in another week, and until then, one of us will stay home every day to care for her.  She is much more comfortable than she's ever been post-surgery, and we were able to take her off the heavy medications within a couple of days and just give her Children's Tylenol instead.  She's getting to watch way too much TV, and loving every minute of it!  We are grateful for the thoughts and prayers everyone has sent her way. We know that God is using these trials to shape Emma and make her a strong and compassionate girl. It's certainly changed us, too, and I hope God is using all of us to show how he carries us through circumstances we could never handle on our own.