Iowa City One Month Check

About a week and a half ago we were scheduled for Blake's one month check-up in Iowa City. We had to see the nephrologist (kidney doc/staff in dialysis unit) and urologist that worked with us while Blake was in the NICU.

The dialysis check-up went well. They put you in one big room and there's a lot of people in there (doctor, nurses, dietician, etc.) and they do vitals, look at his growth, ask us a ton of questions about how things are going and anything remotely related to him. Bowen went with us and they were so happy that the boys are about the same height/weight.

After we got home, the nurse contacted us and said Dr. Jetton (our main doctor for dialysis) wanted to change Blake's prescription for the dialysis stuff because his blood pressure was a little high. So, we had to increase his fills from 220mL to 240mL and he's now on it for 10.5 hours instead of just 10. He seems to be handling it just fine.

We had to meet with urology. As you remember, they didn't think Blake was going to be able to pee on his own because of all the damage sustained in utero. He does, which is great! Now, they aren't sure how he'll do when he get to potty-training time, if his muscles will be shot or what. We won't worry about that for now.

Here's what we did learn, courtesy of a really horrible test where they stuck tubes/hoses in every possible spot "down there." I had to hold him down and I wanted to cry for him... Anyway, his bladder can't hold a lot. The urologist, Dr. Kiernan, compared it to a hard suitcase. Once it's full, it's full and it isn't going to hold anymore, whereas Bowen's is like a soft suitcase, the more he gets in there, the more it expands.

Dr. Kiernan showed us pics they took of Blake's bladder/ureters when he first got to Iowa City. What a mess! It looked like a tornado and the doctor said she has never seen a case of posterior urethral valves so bad (that's what caused the kidney/bladder mess). Today, his bladder looks so much better. Dr. Kiernan said she couldn't ask for it to look any better! We will meet with her again in October for a check-up. She did say when Blake gets his transplant, she will use part of his ureter and make his bladder larger with that so he can hold more.

Blake continues to impress the doctors (and us!) with his fighting spirit and we hope he continues to do well!