Sean Update

The kids and I had a great time in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids this week - big THANK YOU to all our friends who housed and fed us! It was nice to see some of you again and we had a really nice time. Grace did really well in the van and the boys didn't fight TOO much this time. :)

Sean's visit with the urologist went well. Actually we didn't see the urologist but a Nurse Practitioner who's been helping us with all the bladder issues. She was greatly dismayed by the results of Sean's urodynamics test (where he pees in a special container and then they do an ultrasound of his bladder) so she's going to talk to the urologist and it looks like we'll be going back in a few weeks.

Remember last time when I said Sean had voided the most he's ever voided before? Apparently this time he went even more than that AND he still retained another 3 ounces in his bladder - obviously not good, since the point is to empty the entire thing! The NP walked in the room and said "Sean, you have the bladder of a grown man!" (Seriously, he shouldn't be able to hold anywhere near that much urine.) She said she would ask the urologist about maybe cutting his Ditropan in half, because it might be that it's working too well and making his bladder TOO relaxed, but she said she's also going to recommend a VCUG to double-check that the extra pressure in his bladder isn't going backwards up into his kidney and damaging it.

Unfortunately, that's an extremely invasive and uncomfortable test and it's one we've been trying to avoid for a quite a while. I don't think he's done it since before the transplant but I can't remember for sure. So I'm definitely not looking forward to that! I'm sure Sean doesn't remember it but he's old enough now that it's going to be kind of difficult to convince him to hold still. It's one that he has to be awake for, since anesthesia would put the bladder to sleep, so he's not going to like that.

Anyway, the NP said she would get back to me about scheduling that test. I know he has an appointment with nephrology (the transplant/kidney people) on August 1st, but I don't know if we'll come up a day early for that or not. It kind of depends on whether they try to squeeze this test in the same day or make us come back another time.

So I will let you know! Thanks for checking up on us! :)

Laurie