VUR Update

Gianna had a follow up appt. last week with the pediatric urologist. We actually got to see the doctor this time, not a nurse or P.A. I felt like we got some good answers and we have an action plan. She was diagnosed by the doctor with Dysfunctional Elimination Syndrome (DES). Which means she doesn't go "poo" efficiently. He did a sonogram on her that day and said that she was about 2 days backed up. The sad part was that she had just gone poo right before we left to see him. He said that this is her normal, this is what she has gotten used to. She's not in any pain or discomfort. But it's not normal. A lot of times this condition goes hand in hand with the kidney reflux. The poo and pee have to share the same pelvic space and in her case, she is always full of poo so her bladder does not empty efficiently either. The DES also increases her risk for a UTI. Thankfully she is doing great on her daily antibiotic & we haven't had any more UTI's. She is now on Benefiber once every day. And we've made some small changes to her diet, more green vegetables, high fiber cereal, high fiber granola bars, etc. He wants her to poo 2 to 3 times a day. And we have a cool weekly sticker chart that we are tracking her poo on. If we can get the DES under control, the doctor seems to think that the reflux will automatically get better. We are having the VCUG test done again in December to see how her reflux is doing. As long as we see an improvement, then we are in the clear. If there's no improvement by December, we will be discussing surgery options. Our main short term goals are to go poo A LOT and steer clear of UTI's.