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Am I in the right place?

13 replies

SemperUbiSubUbi · 10/02/2012 11:05

Am I in the right place for a bit of advice about my DS who currently has a super pubic catheter (amongst other renal/urology problems)?

If not tell me where to go, if I am Ill post more.

OP posts:
SemperUbiSubUbi · 10/02/2012 11:06

If its at all relevant hes on the highest rate disability and has been for 19 months. Hes 26 months.

OP posts:
StarlightDicKenzie · 10/02/2012 11:37

Yes, this is the right place. It might be more helpful for people who know about these things to find you if you put something about the difficulty/disability in the thread title iyswim.

However, welcome! Smile

Voidka · 10/02/2012 11:39

Of course you are - we dont have any entry requirements :)

Its not something I can help with, but I bet there are those that can

SemperUbiSubUbi · 10/02/2012 11:59

Ok, thanks.

Well brief medical history for my DS is:

Constant urine infections from 3 months old, local hospital ignored us and fobbed us off with antibiotics, never took blood tests or did any scans. May 2010 he was very ill, we begged to take him in they kept saying no he doesnt need to come in, he had a cardiac arrest on the way there. Good job we took him in anyway as if he wasnt already on the way he wouldnt have made it to be resuscitated.

He spent some time in royal manchester childrens hospital PICU and then went on to spend 6 months on the renal ward and another few months in and out of hospital.

During his stay he was found to have bilateral hydronephrosis and bilateral hydroureters. The cause of his CA was massive infection, septicaemia and high levels of potassium. He went on to have the following operations: A nephrosotomy to drain his right kidney, stents put in to his ureters which didnt wrok and he continued to get infections so as a last resort he had both his ureters brought out through his tummy, a ureterostomy. This was the only thing that stopped hsi infections. Baring in mind he would literally have infection on top of infection, he would be put on the right antibiotics after 48 hours of cultures then the sample taken the next day would show a different bug and hed need to go on different antibiotics. He built up a resistance to most of them in the end. He was once discharged all clear and fell ill again and was back within 8 hours!

He has just lived with his stomas for 19 months now. We never had any problems with them, they never got infected or sore, always worked and as much as it was a pain that he would constantly be wet and could go through 10 sets of clothes a day and countless bedding they kept him infection free and well so thats all that mattered.

Last Friday he had the operation to put his ureters back, he was in theatre for about 7 hours and the operation went really well, he had an epidural so was pain free for two days after and managed on oramorph and oxybutynin for the rest of the week.

They said he would be in 2 weeks but we managed to get him home on day 6 (hospitals + toddlers = no sleep = slower recovery) so he has now had his drains and dressings removed, the urethral catheter is gone and he just has a super pubic catheter in and he is managing on 6 hourly paracetamol and oxybutynin (muscle (bladder) relaxant) .

Today was the day we started clamping it. One hour on, one hour off.

This morning he has done his first wee in 19 months and Im very excited for him. If he continues to tolerate the hourly clamping he can go up to 2 hours on and 2 hours off on Monday then he goes back to have the catheter removed on Friday and he will be using his bladder again.

Then in a month or so he goes back to have the stents in his ureters removed and its a awaiting game ot see if his little body copes and we cross our fingers that he doesnt develop a reflux of get any dilation and more scarring to his kidneys.

At the minute his kidneys are doing well, they recovered really well, his creatinine level was 28 last week.

The next few years will show whether they can keep up with his growing body and if he will need a transplant or not.

When I fist saw his no stomas I cried, I hadnt realised how much I must have got used to them because now he looks so wrong.

Oh dear sorry for the waffle, I just realised I havent actually needed advice, I think I just needed to get some things down.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation?

OP posts:
SemperUbiSubUbi · 10/02/2012 12:00

Oh god sorry theres not much "brief" about that is there? Blush

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Becaroooo · 10/02/2012 12:06

Gosh your ds and you have been though so much!!! He sounds like a little trooper Smile Have no experiences personally but someone will be along soon who has I'm sure.

Welcome to the MN SN board!

SemperUbiSubUbi · 10/02/2012 12:10

My Ds is nails! Grin Bless his little heart, today hes obviously in quite a bit of pain from the bladder spasms as he has a balloon in there as he keeps stopping in his tracks, clinging on to something and doubling over for a few moments then goes straight back to playing.

I would still be curled up in a hospital bed feeling sorry for myself. Blush

OP posts:
silverfrog · 10/02/2012 12:16

gosh, that does sound like a lot to have gone through. glad things seem to be looking up for your ds Smile

I have absolutely no experince of anythign like that, sorry. but welcome to MNSN.

StarlightDicKenzie · 10/02/2012 13:25

Wow, what a journey! The difficulties that your poor ds has had to deal with are thankfully low incidence so you might not find anyone with direct or exact experience, but there are certainly a number if us that have been though early years appointment after appointment and hospital stays etc.

My ds has ASD so I don't know what it is like from a parental point of view but my brother had renal failure as a child for undiagnosed reasons and so I recognise much of your terminology. He was also under Manchester, the best in the country for that type of thing. One thing I DO know is that research is storming ahead in this field at an insane pace and you have every reason to be hopeful. My brother's prognosis improves every year with what becomes available and your ds sounds similar to him in that he still grabbed life.

Because of my brothers attitude, and the fact that he had a lot going on in his life, when he had to go on dialysis he was always prioritised. When he was 18 he would book a 5:00am slot on a Sunday morning, go out on a Sat night with friends and drink silly quantities of alcohol. The hospital transport would pick him up at a silly time in the morning and he'd sleep whilst a machine cleaned his blood Grin of all traces of alcohol.

He got a transplant fairly quickly being a young fit lad and now runs 3 businesses, is getting married in a couple if months and planning to spend his honeymoon travelling the world for a year.

My poor parents went through hell at the beginning and I don't suppose they'll ever stop worrying, but you have every reason to have high expectations.

pinkorkid · 10/02/2012 13:42

Just wanted to say welcome to the board. Again no first hand experience of your ds' problems but I know a mum from school whose son had similar renal problems who is now thriving - still very regular hospital appointments but no recent major crises.

Ineedalife · 10/02/2012 13:53

Hi semper, welcome to the board, again sorry i have no experience of this kind of problem but your little boy sounds amazing.

This is a great board and we all do our best to support each other. [Smile]

zzzzz · 10/02/2012 13:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SemperUbiSubUbi · 16/02/2012 10:17

So sorry Ive only just come back, I didnt mean to be so rude but as Im sure you will all know life gets ahead of you sometimes and you find your brain has turned to mush and you cant sit down and type coherently.

Thankyou so much for all the lovely welcomes. Smile

The poor thing hasnt had the best of weeks. He had a bad reaction to the Oxybutynin (bladder spasm medication) it completely changed his usually chilled out personality and it was if he were possessed, he spent hours and hours screaming and raging. so we took him off it obviously.

I fully expected him to be really unsettled for a few weeks as its a lot to handle for a 2 year old but this week his sleep has been awful, Im only getting a few hours a night and of course its a vicious circle, bad nights sleep means a grumpy and over tired boy who wont sleep well the next night either. Oh well, Im sure he will get there.

Also the other day I noticed under the C-view looked a bit gunky TMI but I wasnt sure if it was a bit of poo leaked under as he has really bad loose stools from the antibiotics. SO I thought I did the right thing by taking it off, cleaning it with sterile water being careful not to get the actual hole wet, dried it all with sterile gauze and redressed it but today it looks a bit crusty again and the hole looks really red and sore so I think it might be on the way to getting infected. Im just waiting for them to ring me back and see if I should bring him in today to get it removed before it gets infected or if its OK to wait until tomorrow when its due to come out anyway.

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