Urodynamics and Ultrasounds

This week is a busy week for Mason!  Today he spent almost 6 hours out of the house for doctor’s appointments.  Friday he’ll do it again for about the same length of time or a bit longer.  The other six children stayed home with daddy today, so I got some fun time just with Mason.  He is such a trooper!

First up today Mason had a urodynamics study done on his bladder.  It involved a catheter in his bladder, a sensor in his rectum, and more sensors taped to his bottom.  Other than this face - he did just fine.  After emptying his bladder (and collecting urine to test for a urinary tract infection) they slowly filled his bladder back up using the special catheter.  The sensors kept track of pressure and muscle tension.  They kept filling him up until he leaked around the catheter.  When he was done peeing they used the catheter to empty his bladder again and measure what was left.  It was a long, boring test in all. Results:  Mason’s bladder holds a decent amount for his age.  He does pee on his own some (which we knew already) but his bladder is inefficient.  It doesn’t squeeze all the urine out.  We had been cathing him twice a day to empty that out and hopefully avoid bladder/kidney infections.  Based on his urodynamics study we’re supposed to start cathing Mason 3 times during the day (none at night).  We’ll see how he does with that as we go along.

Next up he had two ultrasounds.  First a brain ultrasound to check the fluid levels in his ventricles.  From what I could see they look just fine.  I’ll talk to neurosurgery about it this Friday.  The gel flattened his spiky hair…LOL. The second ultrasound was a renal ultrasound to take a look at Mason’s kidneys.  They started with him on his back and checking through his abdomen, then they turned him onto his tummy to get another angle. It was a great way to sneak in extra tummy time for Mason! (See the gel in the hair?) Everything looked pretty good so we’ll talk with a urologist about the specifics of the renal ultrasound this Friday as well.

The only other change is we’re switching Mason to an 8 French catheter from a 6.  We’ve got about a box of the 6’s left to finish using and then he’ll move up.  The only thing that will really do is empty his bladder faster (the tube is a bit bigger).   Cathing 3 times a day will have us going through 90 catheters a month.