102 degrees remembered and VUR

The scariest moment thus far as a mom. When Noella was 3 and half months my babysitter called me at work because she had a low grade temperature. Noella had not been sick at all to this point, so like the paraniod crazy mom, I rushed over to pick her up. I took her home and took her temperature for myself. It was 100.8, a little high but not too bad. I preceded to call the Dr.'s office where I was greeted with an understanding nurse, assuring me that it was OK and to just give her some Tylenol, it could just be some teeth coming in. At 8:00 pm that night her low grade temperature turned into the real deal, hitting 102.2 degrees. I called the on-call Dr. who instructed me to give her a little more Tylenol and keep her cool and to call and make an appointment first thing in the morning. I still felt OK. She didn't have any other symptoms and her temp went down soon after giving her the Tylenol.

The next morning was definitely not what I was expecting! After a couple of test were run, it was determined that Noella had a hard core UTI. We were sent to the hospital for three nights to get intravenous antibiotics. Yikes! Imagine caring for a three month old baby while they are getting a catheter to test their urine and having an IV put in their arm all while spiking a fever. It was.........frightening! I will never forget her little body flailling in every direction while three nurses and myself held her down to put in the IV. Such a little baby and so strong. Even her head was jerking around. She was screaming at the top of her lungs and turned a nice shade of tomato red. The nurses tried to reassure me that if she wasn't putting up a fight, that is when I should worry. Then, inevitablly, the comments about her red hair and temper to match.

After this ordeal, they sent her for an ultrasound, took blood and what seemed like test after test after test. The worse part was the waiting. Waiting to hear the results. Waiting to talk to the Dr. and waiting for it all to sink in. I think we had the Dr.'s explain everything to us at least five times. Not knowing what to ask or what else there was to know, we just asked for it all over and over again. The Dr.'s tried to reassure us that sometimes it just happens, while telling us six weeks from now she will have another, horrible test, to determine if there is something anatomically wrong. Maybe she will just grow out of it, maybe surgery, maybe it just happened.

Oh, and while at the hospital Noella caught a cold that turned into wheezing causing her to need a nebulizer breathing treatment every four hours and puts her at risk of developing asthma.

So, Noella had this horrible test yesterday, and let me tell you she was a trooper! Let me explain what she went through. She had a voiding cystourethrogram to determine if she has Vesicoureteral reflux (VUR). OK, so they strapped her down to a two by six board with thick Velcro belts, inserted a catheter, injected die into her bladder and took pictures of it while she was peeing. Expecting my constantly moving, stubborn baby to scream throughout this whole procedure, I was pleasantly surprised. She did sooo much better than I would have. She cried for a few minutes after the catheter was inserted, but that was it! She looked around at everyone and everything and stayed calm throughout the procedure. She lifted her head up to see what the nurse and Dr.'s were up to and was fine.

So, the test is to determine if she has VUR, reflux of her pee. This is when your pee travels backward and makes it more likely for you to get UTI's and can cause more serious consequences with your kidneys....yeah kidneys! Our Dr. told us that most babies just grow out of it. If she did have it, she would more than likely just be on a low dose antibiotic to prevent future UTI's and would get tested every year to monitor it. It all depends on how severe the reflux is. 1 to 2 grade = grow out/ antibiotics; 3 to 5 grade = surgery to correct the problem. So, what were the results? She does have VUR, I guess she is refluxing from everywhere. How bad? I am not really sure and am back to the waiting game. The Dr. that performed the test seemed to think it was a grade two which means she will grow out of it. But when we called our Dr. she indicated that she needed to wait for the written report and she might refer us to a specialist in Pittsburgh. So, I am not really sure what to think but am waiting......till the end of the week, hopefully. I hate waiting!

Weird fact: VUR is more common in girls and in children with red hair