Christina Update: Bladder Stones

Our sweet little Christina had a bit of a medical whirlwind this summer and fall. Amid our moving, selling and remodeling, Christina had some excitement of her own! Back in August I posted about her being in the hospital with a kidney infection and a series of UTIs that we could not get rid of. She would get sick and then she would go on antibiotics and feel better and once the course had finished, the infection would be right back but worse. This went on for several months. And she was seemingly miserable, as you could imagine the poor little girl! So to further investigate the cause we tested her kidneys and had x-rays done. It turned out that one of her kidneys had reflux which often can cause infection. This is what her doctors suspected they would find. What they did not expect was what was in her bladder!

This x-ray was what they took when they were looking at her kidneys. On the very bottom is a rounded out triangle which is he bladder. The bladder is supposed to be empty most of the time unless you have to pee. But Christina's was FULL of stones. From what the doctors have told me, this is very uncommon in someone that doesn't eat anything orally and especially since her diet is only baby formula in a g-tube. Just a few days after discovering the stones, Christina had surgery to have them removed and she did wonderfully and was home within 24 hours!

For those that like medical stuff, these are the stones. All 27 of them! They were the size of corn kernels up to the size of marbles!

These stones likely carried lots of bacteria and we do not know what the stones are made of yet. They must be made of a mineral (or something) from her formula that her body does not metabolize. We knew her metabolic rate and functions had issues, since she isn't really growing (She's still under 20 pounds. Well, she's probably even lighter now that those stones are out!) The next goal is to figure out what the stones are and if we can prevent them from developing again. 

Since the stones have been removed she has been so much happier and seems to play and sit up more. We imagine she was in quite a bit of discomfort and pain from them. But she is a happy girl again! (She still hates the light, so she's happy if she's in the dark!)