Testing testing 123

On Monday I had to take Owen up to Primary Children's for some tests on his kidneys, not sure what the names of them are in medical terms though. The first test was to check the function of his kidneys, they shot some radioactive dye into his system and then put him in this special machine that could see the dye. He had to be in the machine for 45 minutes, and even worse had to have his arms, and legs held down with sand bags. He had to have an IV also which they had to put in 3 times, since the first two times the fluid was not running into his veins. The third time they finally got a small light and held it under his arm to make it glow so they could see his veins. They were successful in getting the IV in the right place this time. And to top things off he had to have a catheter, which was more for the second test than the first.
While the test was happening, I was able to give Owen a bottle and watch what was happening inside his body on a small screen above the machine he was in. We were only able to see his right kidney, which is ok since we knew his left kidney was bad. We just didn't know how bad. The guys doing the test said they couldn't even see a left kidney.
The second test they were able to take out his IV, and then they shot some high contrast dye through the catheter into his bladder, while they watched on an x-ray machine. Owen then had to pee the dye out while they watched for back flow into his kidneys. They got the dye into his bladder and then were just waiting for him to pee, he wasn't quick enough so they started pouring warm glasses of water onto him to hopefully help him out. Five glasses of water, and a baby floating on the table were unsuccessful. The radiology tech administering the test finally called a doctor in to help her out. He tried a few things and was unsuccessful, so he suggested that they just take the catheter out and watch what was happening. This was a success and the doctor told me right then that his kidney wasn't back flowing. Yay! what a relief.
After getting home from the tests on Monday, I noticed a small "bubble" in Owens groin. I was concerned so I talked to my mom and sister about it. Come to find out that hernias are not only common on my dads side of the family, but they are also hereditary, so I made an appointment with the pediatrician for the next morning. Yep it's a hernia, and will need to be surgically fixed in about six months, unless it gets worse. I still need to call the surgeon that the pediatrician referred us to. We will meet with them to find out what they would like us to do, and probably plan surgery for a few months down the road, since they don't like to put such small babies under anesthesia.
We also met with the Urologist on Tuesday to get the test results. Owen does in fact have a Multi-cystic dysplastic kidney, that is non functioning. The urologist said that for now they won't do anything. Usually the bad kidney will shrink away, while the functioning good kidney will grow in size to about 1 1/2 times what it usually is and will take over the function of the bad non-existent kidney. He doesn't want to see us again for 6 months, when they will do a renal ultrasound to check the size of both kidneys, if the left is shrinking and right is growing like it should then they won't want to see us again for another year when they will check the size again. If everything looks good then we don't have to see them again.

All of these photos are from Owens first test, I didn't want to take any during the second test since they were doing it with an x-ray.

Before getting his catheter and IV, I thought he looked so cute in the little hospital gown

My sweet baby after getting his catheter

Using the light to show his veins for his IV

Super tired from screaming so much, and producing his first real tears

Having a bottle, you can see his little hand poking out from under under the sand bag

The monitor of the test. his right kidney is the yellow spot on the right hand of the screen. There should be two spots but his left kidney is non-functioning and this proved it

Still enjoying his bottle, and the huge machine

Different angle of the machine

Poor arm before taking off the splint, and taking out the IV

Adorable boy in his hospital gown (The tech let us bring this home as a memento)