One Kidney, Twice as Special

Our sweet Salie has had a urine leaking problem since she became potty trained. I just thought it was probably due to age since she was so young. It appeared to improve but over the last month has become more of a problem. Salie's daycare began saying that she was having accidents but after investigating, we realized that it was just her standard leaking issue. After a whole day, her panties were wet and sometimes it soaked through her pants too. So I decided to call the doctor for suggestions.

 

They immediately wanted us to come in to check for an infection. She did not have an infection so they gave me some tips to try to see if I could tell if I felt like it was typical 2 year old behavioral issues or out of her control. After a weekend of diligence, I strongly felt it was out of her control. The doctor then decided to order an ultrasound to determine if everything "looked' right.

 

We went for the first ultrasound last week and they had difficulty finding her left kidney. Finally, they determined that she has a slightly rotated left kidney and she needed further testing. We went in yesterday for an IV pyelogram (an xray with dye to check the drainage capabilities). They were unable to visualize the left kidney so they ordered another type of xray with the Radiologist now present with us in the examine room. Still unable to locate the kidney with 3 radiologists reviewing the pictures, our doctor determined that we should go back and redo our ultrasound to find the exact location of this hiding kidney. We even got the same ultrasound tech that had performed the first but were still unable to locate this mysterious kidney. They believe the small bowel mimicked the looks of a kidney on the first ultrasound.

 

The radiologist preceded to call our pediatrician immediately and ordered a CT which was successful in getting the pictures we needed but we had to wait until today to get the results. By the way, Salie had to have her first IV for the first test and was extremely well behaved. So proud of her! I can't begin to explain how amazing the whole staff at NEA Hospital was throughout this whole experience. You would never know that this was not a children's hospital by the way we were treated. Salie felt like a special little girl throughout the process because of amazing people that God put in the right occupations!

 

The morale of this story is that Salie's left kidney is very small and in her pelvis/abdomen rather than the correct location. It probably did not fully develop in utero and ascend to the correct location. We are being referred to a pediatric urologist & possible kidney specialist because this does not explain the leakage and we need to be educated on how to protect her right kidney. The pediatrician does not expect any problems with this, seeing that she is not prone to urinary tract infections, but wanted us to see the specialists to answer all our questions.

 

God is good all the time! We thank him for taking care of us through this whole discovery and ask that you continue to pray for Salie as we get more information.