The Hospital (Take Two)

We haven't really posted much about this, but Jordan was born with a "pelvic kidney." Her right kidney is normal, her left kidney is very small and located down in her pelvis. This was first detected during the ultrasounds I had while pregnant with Jordan (hence the reason why I had so many ultrasounds and why I got to have the cool 4-D pictures up in Spokane on their higher resolution machines). What we don't know yet is whether the pelvic kidney is functional or if it could become a problem in the future.

A short anatomy lesson in reference to this issue: The kidneys are organs in the body that filter wastes from the bloodstream and that also play a key role in converting these wastes into urine. Urine leaves the kidneys and enters the bladder via the ureters. Where you may run into problems is if the wastes are allowed to reflux back into the ureters from the bladder, and potentially cause kidney infections. Normal kidney function prevents this reflux, and when the kidneys are located higher up in the torso (as they should be) the physical distance between the bladder and kidneys is also enough such that kidney infections are pretty rare.

In Jordan's case, her left kidney is so close in proximity to her bladder that the potential for reflux (and subsequent infection) is very high. Therefore, if it can be determined that her little kidney is able to prevent reflux sufficiently then there is no need to worry or do anything about it. However, if the kidney is dysfunctional and isn't able to prevent the reflux, it will probably need to come out.

The reason we were at the hospital was to try and determine how well, if at all, her kidneys are functioning. She had 2 different tests done, a renal flow and function test and a VCUG. We were originally scheduled to do these tests several months ago, but had to reschedule twice because of the risk of using sedation while a child has a runny nose. (The rescheduling nightmare is probably worthy of its own post, but let's just say it has been quite a process).

In the first test, she had a radioactive marker injected into her bloodstream via an IV, and then had to lie still under a special camera for an hour. In that time, the camera was taking "pictures" of how well the marker was being filtered out of her blood by her kidneys and how efficiently it was being cleared from her body. She sat quietly through most of this test until the sedative started to wear off.

The VCUG was much quicker. Jordan had more of the marker injected into her bladder through a catheter so that it could be determined whether or not there seems to be any reflux occurring. Since the sedation had mostly worn off by this point, Jordan was distracted with lollipops and stickers...it seemed to do the trick.
Jordan's pediatrician called today and gave us an overview of the test results. As expected, her normal kidney is performing a larger percentage of the work than her pelvic kidney (70% compared to 30%). More importantly, the VCUG showed that there was not a significant amount of reflux occurring, yay! We haven't been consulted by the specialist yet (no surprise there) so we don't know what actions we need to take from this point. Perhaps just periodic monitoring, who knows?

The Hospital Gown Walk

I am sure mom will post more on why we were there but for now here is Bitsy in her little gown:

Dancing to Cash

Riverfront Park

Jordan's daycare was closed for the 2nd half of the week so that the teachers could prepare the classrooms for transitions (Jordan will now be a "Toddler 2"). Since Josh was still in Boise for work that meant I was taking a 5-day weekend to stay home with Jordan!

Yesterday we made a quick trip up to Spokane so that Jordan could become the 4th generation in our family to ride the carousel at Riverfront Park. But before heading to the park we made a couple of pit stops to pick up great grandma Jeunette and cousin Katey who accompanied us for the day. We surprised grandma and crashed lunch at her retirement home, and also had the good fortune of catching Katey while she was actually in Spokane!

I wasn't sure if Jordan would be interested in riding the horses on the carousel, or if the trip would become an epic failure. (Especially since Jordan didn't nap in the car on the way there, as I hoped she would). Anyhow, we got to the park and watched the other people ride the horses for a few turns to see how Jordan would react. No screaming, no crying. This was a good start. Then we got our ride tokens (thanks, grandma!) and waited in line. Still no screaming or crying. When it was finally our turn to get on the horses, we wanted to find one on the outside so that we could wave "hi" to grandma, but the only one left was not even a horse...it was a giraffe. It would have to do. Unlike the horses, the giraffe was stationary and didn't bob up and down while the carousel turned. This was probably for the best. After fastening the safety belt we were ready to ride. The starting bell went "ding" and we were off. Jordan loved it!

Both Katey and I were remarking about how dizzy we felt after the carousel stopped. Neither one of us remember feeling dizzy from the carousel when we rode it in our youth. I guess that means we're getting older.

After the carousel we had to say hi to the garbage goat. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the garbage goat, it is a metal sculpture of a billy goat with a working vacuum within it, that, when activated, will literally eat litter from your hand. It is also easily the most debris-free area in downtown Spokane, since there are always folks eager to "feed" the garbage goat. Jordan was a bit timid around the garbage goat and was willing to go near only if it wasn't turned on. Katey had some paper in her purse and explained to Jordan that the goat was hungry and would gladly eat the paper from her hand. Jordan, however, thought it better that she give the paper back to Katey and have her then feed the goat. It was worth a shot anyway.

It was a fun afternoon topped off with a nice nap in the car on the ride home!

Llama Llama

Before bedtime, but after bath time and pajama time, Jordan enjoys story time with her mommy every night. We usually rotate the story books periodically so that Jordan doesn't get bored, and at the moment her favorite story is "Llama Llama, Red Pajama." ***SPOILER ALERT*** at the end of the story mama llama gives baby llama a lesson in patience and then she gives baby llama an extra kiss goodnight. Every time the book gets turned to exactly this page, Jordan looks back at her mommy and expects to get her kisses too. Next, Jordan clutches the book and gives baby llama his goodnight kiss. Then, and only then, will the bedtime ritual be complete and sleep-mode can be engaged with minimal complaint.