To clear some things up, I wanted to address a question that we get a lot. A lot of very well meaning friends and family have asked us things like, "The surgery went well, so Jett's all better now?" or "After these surgeries, everything will be over, right?" The answer to that is no. Jett has a chronic disease. He has renal disease (failure). He has 7 identified diagnoses, some treatable, some not. He has duplex kidneys (on both sides) and he has hydronephrosis, among other things. Jett has both anatomical problems and functioning problems. The anatomical problems can be corrected with surgery. However, the function of his kidneys will probably never improve. Like diabetes, his renal disease will last a lifetime. It may not always be visible and may be regulated with medicine, but over time, the disease will show it's face. How badly it will impact his life and when he needs a kidney transplant (because mostly like he will need it) is the great unknown.
Right now, urology is working on the anatomical problems--such as the last surgery to incise his ureterocele (a physical obstruction) in his bladder. Our urologist is a surgeon. When it is time, he will go in and surgically correct Jett's reflux and when/if needed, perform the kidney transplant. Our nephrologist is a highly trained doctor who collects blood samples to analyze how well the kidneys are functioning. They look at bi-carbs, creatinine, vitamin D, sodium/potassium levels, red and white blood cell count, and about 40 other things that the kidneys are responsible for. They also monitor his blood pressure which has been borderline high since birth.
In the past few weeks, we have been in to see both doctors. From the nephrology standpoint, Jett is doing great. They said that looking at his imaging, it is a miracle that his kidneys are performing as well as they are right now. He is borderline in a lot of different areas, but nothing to be too concerned about. He is being supplemented with both Vitamin D and iron (which is nasty), but a lot of regularly functioning kids are, too. While he has diminished kidney function, he is doing well for the time being. Our next appointment is in July.
From the urology (think anatomical standpoint), Jett is ready for his next surgery. On top of everything else that is going on in his body, one of his testicles didn't descend. I won't go into a lot of detail because out of everything, I still kind of feel like I might be embarrassing him, even though he is still a baby. The doctor gave him 6 months to let it drop on its own, but now he has to go in to help him. It is a two surgery process. The first surgery will be June 12 and the next will be 6-9 months following that.
From my standpoint, I don't care if he has one or two testicles, but there are a couple of risks of not finding it and helping it down: 1) Decreased fertility and 2) Testicular cancer. Better to find it now.
The surgery will involve 3 little incisions and take 45 min to 1 1/2 hours. After Jett spends a few hours in recovery, he will be able to go home with us that day, so it will be an outpatient procedure.
I am really not excited about another surgery, but I am a little more comfortable going into this one, having done one before. And I am really glad that Jett will be coming home with us right away. Now that he is a little older, there is a lot less risk with the anesthesia. And I have total confidence in our urologist. He was trained to help babies like Jett.
