Moderated Hydronephrosis

[juju's mom]

I know this is the circ board but I wasn't sure where else to ask. It still has to do with the penis right?

My 4 wk old has mild hydronephrosis and we are going to see a pediatric urologist on the 14th of May. Has anybody been there done that yet? Anybody have any advise, stories, happy endings, horrible endings..... I want to be prepared. Am I going to be told to mutilate my little boy? I know the foreskin doesn't have anything to do with the hydronephrosis so if anybody has any links so I can arm myself with info send it my way!

Mods, please move if you need to

Tia

Jenn
dd 04
dd and ds 07

[polka123]

yes, our DS has some hydro in 1 kidney & YES : every Ped Urol Spec says he'll get "less infections" if he's circ'd.
Stand your ground & tell them the study numbers are skewed in favor of US Dr.s.
My DS is 3.5 YO & has 1 UTI EVER & that was @ 1 mo old - that might have been from birth.

millions of intact Euro men have never had a UTI. Tell him/her you've read the studies - he'll never know. Tell the Doc you're NOT circ'ing NO MATTER WHAT.

also, if your DS is not UTI prone - they'll want to put him on antibiotics as "precaution" : . We weaned DS off them after a few mos.
you can PM me & I'll help with whatever I can
((( HUGS )))

[Claire and Boys]

I don't understand why they recommend circ for frequent UTI. I am prone to them, because I have a larger than normal bladder. If I was a man in the USA, would they say I should be circ because of it? I don't get the link.

[polka123]

because the Drs & the godd ol' AMA seem to think that "a circ'd penis in a cleaner penis"

I was told by 3 diff Ped Urol specialists junk like this:

PEDIATRICS Vol. 105 No. 3 March 2000, pp. 620-623

SPECIAL ARTICLE:
New Policy on CircumcisionCause for Concern

Considerable published data from the past 10 years (much of it cited in the current report) confirm and reinforce previous evidence on the medical benefits of newborn circumcision, particularly in protecting against urinary tract infection (UTI) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Paina major disadvantage of the procedurehas been shown to be safely and effectively controlled by local anesthesia. With more proven advantages and fewer disadvantages, how could the Task Force issue a statement that could only be interpreted as reversing previous policy and discouraging newborn circumcision?

http://pediatrics.aappublications.or...full/105/3/620

they all quote studies like this:

[Yulia_R]

So sorry you are dealing with that.
I don't have an advice, sorry. Just wanted to mention what you probably already know MAKE SURE THE UROLOGIST (or any other doctor for that matter) DOES NOT RETRACT YOUR BABY. Warn them BEFORE you even take his diaper of; tell them YOUR definition of retraction (any pulling back, even a little bit). Maybe you can actually show your son's penis to the doctor yourself, so he doesn't have to touch it at all (that would be the best).
Good luck!
Yulia

.

[angie3096]

Yes! Totally been there done that. BUT-with a girl. I am happy to report that we got no pressure to circ her because of it (LOL).
My daughter had severe hydronephrosis on the right and grade 5 vesicoureteral reflux.
We found out because she got a raging UTI at 6 weeks old, and then they did a renal ultrasound at our local hospital and saw the hydronephrosis. We were referred to the head of urology at Children's in Seattle. They did a VCUG and discovered the reflux.
She has had surgery to correct the reflux (she was 13 months old then). That helped the hydronephrosis somewhat. And she has just grown out of some if it. Kids do that, according to her urologist. AND she gets weekly chiropractic and reflexology treatments, which have helped a LOT. We have been repeatedly told that they have never seen a child in her situation make *such* dramatic improvement. She now has mild hydronephrosis on the right. She is four and a half. No more UTIs, no more antibiotics. She has a renal ultrasound once a year. She is very active, she does dance, she does gymnastics, she runs around like a terror. It doesn't bother her in the least.

Angie

[mamaverdi]

So, no, hydro has nothing to do with a penis, except that boys are more prone to urinary tract anomalies than girls.

I'm in contact with many parents who deal with urologists frequently. Not all have as bad of lucky as polka123. In fact, when I hear "ped uro specialist" and then really inane things coupled with that, I tend to think "resident."

The key is to get a good reference from someone else who has seen them, AND to assume the attitude of a surgeon when speaking with them.

Surgeon attitude can be summed up by saying: You don't have to convince anyone of anything. You just tell them what they can and cannot do regarding your child.

This is what my ped uro told me regarding my son and situation I had with another doctor.

So...that said.

Usually what a good ped uro will want to do is find out what is causing the hydro. They will usually recommend blood work, urine analysis, u/s, and VCUG. Be sure to talk with them about the cost/benefit analysis of doing these tests.

[hummingbear]

I wonder if there is a support group for this.

My sister's son is now 4 1/2 and was diagnosed with this at 2 months. He is intact, doctors recommended circumcision, they refused, they did urinalysis by nursing and peeing into a sterile cup (no cath) which by the way he had to do many times over a few years, he did have one UTI which was most likely introduced to him at an previous hospital stay involving surgery for something else, he was forcibly retreacted in the blink of an eye when they took him into the ER, was on IV antibiotic for 10 days, they started elimination communication and avoided any further incident

there are many different levels of this

I am sure she would talk with you if you would like

pm me if you want her number

[polka123]

My DS has no reflux - ggod but his urinary tract U/S's are not getting better so a renal scan is next to find out what's swelling the kidney but they will not sedate for that horrible test @ my closest hospitals... they will sedate for an kids' MRI but not his so we will travel to a hospital that will sedate.

Hydro varies greatly... just google it - there are so many different issues.

[Daisyuk]

Originally Posted by polka123

because the Drs & the godd ol' AMA seem to think that "a circ'd penis in a cleaner penis"

I was told by 3 diff Ped Urol specialists junk like this:




http://pediatrics.aappublications.or...full/105/3/620

they all quote studies like this:

That's not even a "study", that's an opinion piece written by the authors of the original flawed studies that the Task Force repudiated. Those particular authors would say or do absolutely anything to get universal circumcision, they are obsessed with little boys' penises. Given that obsession, I'm surprised that at least one of them, given his position of power and trust, was allowed anywhere near little boys.

[kokotg]

My middle ds had hydronephrosis that showed up on my 20 week ultrasound. We did the rounds of testing after he was born, and it turned out he had kidney reflux in his right kidney. He was on prophylactic antibiotics for a few months, got a UTI anyway, and we ultimately opted for surgery when he was not quite 5 months old. Of course it was very scary sending my baby in for surgery, but everything went very, very smoothly and he's been completely fine ever since (he's almost 4 now).

I'm always surprised to hear when people are advised to circ because of reflux because, although I kept worrying someone would, no one ever said a word to us about it. And we had, at that time, perfectly mainstream pediatricians. But, honestly, it absolutely never came up. The perinatologist didn't ask what our plans were, he saw two or three peds who didn't mention it even when he got the UTI, the pediatric urologist didn't say a word. So maybe you'll get lucky! But you definitely want to be on top of things and make sure people you're dealing with know what they're doing; I can't even count how many catheters poor Milo had to have before he was 6 months old.

[mamaverdi]

How did your appointment go?

[juju's mom]

Thanks for asking. Right now we are at the wait and see stage. We will do another ultrasound in 3 months and if it is still bad, we will do the next thing which is check for reflux. Dr will not retract and will put of all invasive procedures until absolutely necessary. I really liked the doctor.

Thanks again everybody