Emma Update ~

I'm back!
Aside from being extremely, insanely busy lately... I honestly have been avoiding my blog because it's been neglected and I have so much to catch up on that it just makes me not really want to.
So, let's see.... First things first - Emma Update.
Emma had to have a VCUG, which is a radiology test done at the hospital. They pumped her bladder full of a liquid that had dye in it and the machine that sits over her as she is strapped onto this table (AWFUL, by the way, I'll get back to that.) Allows them to watch the flow and direction that everything moves to and from the kidneys, bladder, etc... Unfortunately this test did confirm that she does have reflux in both kidneys, and a slight blockage in one. We were aware of these things but they weren't able to perform this test on her until now because they needed her kidneys to completely heal (or restore as much as possible) in order to handle the test. The reflux was what the doctors had presumed, in at least one side but the test did confirm in both. What this means is basically as fluid flows normally from the kidneys and into the bladder, hers then refluxes and for lack of a better explanation, backwashes back into her kidneys. That's a problem. This is actually fairly common in little girls, and they usually do just grow out of it as they get taller, there's much less of a chance of this occurring. Emma has been on antibiotics since September, which is preventing this from resulting in kidney infections which is how she was hospitalized. However, they did detect a little bit of a blockage in one of her kidneys, so that's our next step. Now her specialist has ordered a Mag3 Scan which is a somewhat similar nuclear radiology test, but instead of flushing the dye up into her bladder, they are going to put it in through an IV and watch it in the opposite direction. What this will do is monitor that rate at which her kidneys are draining. They suspect at this point that her kidneys may drain at a slower rate that usual (potentially because of the blockage.) That would not allow her to consume a large volume of liquid, because her body wouldn't be able to process it. Which does explain why Drew drinks ten times the amount of water/juice as she does, and always has. That however can be surgically corrected if necessary.
The tests are definitely NOT fun. It's heartbreaking, actually. She already knows what to expect as she's been through it all, so she is a wreck the second they even come near her. Then, to top it off, for the VCUG they had to strap her to a board (more or less), Velcro her head into this halo thing, tied her feet together, hands by her side.. I was able to have my head right next to hers and hold her hand, but she was terrified and screaming - and even though the test itself was not painful and nothing really touched her, she was just scared. And I can't say I blame her. This was the contraption:

Can't really say I'm looking forward to the next one.

These pictures are from that day actually... We had snow the night before.

It was the really neat consistency that sticks to everything and coats every branch of every tree.

Aside from that, Emma is doing really well... she's happy and 'healthy,' the antibiotics are keeping her well and we're close to getting to the final answers/decisions.