Re: I'd like to chat with some adults who have had bladder augmentat

[Guest guest]

Hello--

My son (19) had a bladder augment last summer at Boston Children's Hospital. The

purpose was to control the escalating high bladder pressures that undoubtedly

contributed to the development of his chronic kidney disease. Prior to the

operation I looked at the BCH website and discovered this procedure can be done

robotically, so I asked if it could be done this way and they said yes. Upside:

instead of a 12-14 inch incision, he had only four slits, each less than an inch

long. It helped tremendously with recovery. (Plus, his back is already very

scarred from the de-tethering surgery and consequent cosmetic work to remove an

associated disfigurement, and his front had scars from ureter re-implantation;

all done before he was a year old.) His urologist is Dr. Bauer and the surgeon

was Dr. Nguyen.

He came home after seven nights (they wanted to toss us out after six but had

not even instructed him on how to do the bladder flushing) with a subrapubic

catheter that remained for a month. He had to continue with overnight bladder

irrigation for another two weeks, then intensive cathing after that. He was

finished with the process in time to leave to college (!!!), and was instructed

to do daily/nightly bladder flushings. [Does he does this faithfully? NO.

Aaargh. I hear teenagers believe they're infallible.]

There are times I wish he'd had this done much sooner, as his kidneys were

eventually damaged, and this has put a whole new spin on everything. It's hard

to remain upbeat, but six months after the surgery his creatinine levels are the

lowest they've ever been. And kidney levels being the markers that we live and

breathe by these days, we could not be more grateful. I highly recommend the

procedure being done robotically. If you'd like more details, feel free to

contact me off-line. Yleana

[Guest guest]

Soooo Happy for you all!! That is just awesome news! 

Subject: Re: I'd like to chat with some adults who have had bladder

augmentat

To: tetheredspinalcord

Date: Thursday, January 27, 2011, 8:30 AM

 

Hello--

My son (19) had a bladder augment last summer at Boston Children's Hospital. The

purpose was to control the escalating high bladder pressures that undoubtedly

contributed to the development of his chronic kidney disease. Prior to the

operation I looked at the BCH website and discovered this procedure can be done

robotically, so I asked if it could be done this way and they said yes. Upside:

instead of a 12-14 inch incision, he had only four slits, each less than an inch

long. It helped tremendously with recovery. (Plus, his back is already very

scarred from the de-tethering surgery and consequent cosmetic work to remove an

associated disfigurement, and his front had scars from ureter re-implantation;

all done before he was a year old.) His urologist is Dr. Bauer and the surgeon

was Dr. Nguyen.

He came home after seven nights (they wanted to toss us out after six but had

not even instructed him on how to do the bladder flushing) with a subrapubic

catheter that remained for a month. He had to continue with overnight bladder

irrigation for another two weeks, then intensive cathing after that. He was

finished with the process in time to leave to college (!!!), and was instructed

to do daily/nightly bladder flushings. [Does he does this faithfully? NO.

Aaargh. I hear teenagers believe they're infallible.]

There are times I wish he'd had this done much sooner, as his kidneys were

eventually damaged, and this has put a whole new spin on everything. It's hard

to remain upbeat, but six months after the surgery his creatinine levels are the

lowest they've ever been. And kidney levels being the markers that we live and

breathe by these days, we could not be more grateful. I highly recommend the

procedure being done robotically. If you'd like more details, feel free to

contact me off-line. Yleana