Daniel Update #7

"Helping" Mommy make cookies - licking the spoon is the best part, right?!

It has been quite awhile since our last "Daniel Update," and many of you have asked how he is doing. In our last update we mentioned that we would be taking Daniel to a gastroenterologist to see if he had any further thoughts. It was a few weeks before we were able to get in to the gastroenterologist, but we finally saw him at the beginning of September. He looked at Daniel and asked us a bunch of questions, and determined that Daniel does not have a "gastro" problem.

Once again, that is good news and bad news. We are glad that Daniel does not appear to have a gastro problem; however that now rules out EVERY possibility we can think of as to why he could be having this back pain. At this point we are wondering if it is just something that he will grow out of. He has hardly complained about his back hurting at all in the past two months, so perhaps it is simply going away. That is our prayer. Thank you for praying with us!

Daniel Update #6

In our last Daniel update, we mentioned that he had been diagnosed with reflux from his bladder, but that the doctors had indicated that the reflux was not the cause of his back pain. We did not really consider that to be good news, because it meant that we still did not know what the problem was.

(For previous blog updates about Daniel's ongoing health problems, click here.)

We decided to wait it out for a little while to see if he would continue to complain, and talk with our pediatrician here in India about the possibility of a food intolerance. With everything going on in the last 3 weeks since we returned to India (seminary moving, house hunting, class preparations, and many other responsibilities), we had not yet made the time the look into things further. Until....Both Thursday and Friday nights Daniel woke up crying during the night because his back hurt. He was squirming and crying, and it took quite awhile to get him calmed down and back to sleep. Friday night (early Saturday morning) he threw up, and then his back felt fine and he went right to sleep. We have also found that sometimes when his back is hurting badly, he will have diarrhea and then feel fine.

After the events of the last two nights, we took him to the pediatrician this morning, and she referred us to a pediatric gastroenterologist. That is one "ologist" that we haven't been to yet, so we are praying that he will have some further insight into Daniel's problems.

Thank you so much for praying with us!

Daniel update #5

Yesterday (Friday, June 3rd) was our final visit to the urologist (Stateside at least) to discuss the results of the tests Daniel had done Wednesday. Daniel was afraid that he was going to be having tests done again, but we assured him that we were only going to be talking to the doctor this time. The urologist confirmed what they had said at the hospital - that Daniel's kidneys look perfectly fine, but he does have minor vesicoureteral reflux.

One thing we were wondering was what caused the reflux. Sometimes there are underlying problems that can cause this sort of reflux. The urologist said that in Daniel's case, the left ureter (the tube from the kidney to the bladder) enters the bladder at sort of a right angle (instead of the normal acute angle), and that can cause reflux. In this type of case, about 75% of children grow out the problem by age 5-6. Meanwhile, they want to put Daniel on a low-dose antibiotic (to keep him from getting UTIs so the kidneys don't become infected) and have a VCUG done every year until he grows out of it. If he doesn't grow out of it, surgery would probably be necessary.So the good news is that there is nothing seriously wrong as far as they can tell. The bad news is that we still don't know what is causing Daniel's back pain. The reflux does not cause back pain, so we are back to square one in that area. After having all of the tests that he's had so far, it does not seem to be anything very serious, but we still want to somehow discover the cause. We are beginning to suspect some sort of food intolerance - perhaps gluten or wheat. When we return to India we will start doing some experimenting with foods, and may also have him tested for celiac disease. We will keep you updated when/if we figure out anything further.

We have heard from so many of you telling us of your concern and prayers. THANK YOU! We could especially feel the prayers Wednesday during Daniel's tests. The Lord gave us all a great deal of strength and peace, and we know it was the result of prayer. Thank you so much for supporting our family in that way.

P.S. If you are reading about the ongoing saga of Daniel's health issues for the first time, you can find the earlier updates here:
Update #1
Update #2
Update #3
Update #4

Daniel's Latest Tests (update #4)

Daniel had his tests done today, and did wonderfully. They did the renal ultrasound first, and he was briefly amused by the screen. When the novelty of that wore off, he laid quietly on the table and listened to a story. The ultrasound was the easy part. Next was the VCUG. We had tried to prepare him for it as much as we could without making him afraid of what was going to happen, but of course he still didn't have a very clear picture of what he was about to face.

When we went into the room for the VCUG, the nurse gave Nathan and I those big radiation aprons. She gave me a leopard print one, thinking that it would amuse Daniel. It didn't. I think it sort of scared him for some reason! He wasn't at all impressed by the catheter either, but he was very brave, and only cried a little when it hurt.
To those of you who were praying for Daniel (and for his parents), THANK YOU! He handled things very well all considered. The ultrasound came up clear, but the VCUG showed that he has vesicoureteral reflux. This is where the urine in the bladder sometimes flows back up the ureters toward the kidneys. It's not a very major thing at this point, as it is something that many children grow out of. This does seem to explain his recent urinary tract infection (which is very uncommon in males, especially young ones), but it does not explain his back pain. We meet with the urologist again on Friday to discuss treatment for the reflux, etc., so we'll see if he has any thoughts in that regard. If not, we may begin to think more seriously about the possibility of some sort of food intolerance. Again, thank you for your prayers!

Daniel update #3

Yesterday and today were the two specialist appointments that Daniel's pediatrician referred him to. It looks like we're starting to narrow things down a bit, which is good.If you missed the first two updates on Daniel and his back, here are the links:
Daniel Update #1
Daniel Update #2

Yesterday afternoon we went to the Urologist. It was a one-hour wait for a five-minute exam, but Daniel was just happy that he didn't have to get a shot. =) The urologist wants to have some more testing done, so Daniel is scheduled for a renal (kidney) ultrasound and a VCUG (Voiding Cystourethrogram) on June 1st. Then on June 3rd we meet with the Urologist again to discuss the results.

We are certainly cutting it close considering that our flight back to India is June 7th. Even so all of the specialists we are seeing and tests we are having done usually have to be scheduled much farther in advance. But since we don't have the luxury of time (unless we are going to change our plane tickets, which we really don't want to do unless absolutely necessary), it has been very nice that the doctors have been willing to work with us and fit us in so we can get things done while we're here.

Daniel taking good care of his little sister

This morning we went to the Orthopedist and he looked at the x-rays and MRI that we had done in India. He said everything looks good in that department. That's what the orthopedist in India had said as well, so it is nice to have them both saying the same thing.

It is also nice that we have pretty much ruled out some sort of orthopedic problem. At this point a urological (if that's the correct word) problem seems the most likely. We are praying that the tests on June 1st will show exactly what the problem is and that there will be an uncomplicated solution to the problem.

Helping Mommy make a peanut butter pie - notice his chin!

Many of you have expressed your concern and let us know that you are praying, and we appreciate that so much! Please be praying especially for Daniel as he goes through the tests on June 1st. Under normal circumstances the ultrasound would not scare him so much as intrigue him. But after the MRI (which was very scary for him), he's pretty leery of large medical machines. The VCUG will be another story. We plan to prepare him well for it, and hopefully that will help him stay calm. Even so, it will probably be at least slightly painful, and certainly unnerving for a 2.5 year old. The ultrasound is at 8am, and the VCUG at 8:45am (that's 5:30pm and 6:15pm June 1st for our friends in India!). I will post another update sometime after those tests are done. Meanwhile, thank you again for your prayers!

Update on Daniel

After Daniel was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection last month, we gave him the prescribed antibiotics, and he recovered from the UTI before we flew out to the States (thankfully).

Since then, however, he has continued to complain of back pain. It seemed worse than ever this past weekend when he and Rebekah got a stomach bug. We had been planning to wait until we got back to India before investigating his situation further, but finally decided it might be wiser to go ahead and see someone here since it's not getting any better - if anything, it's getting worse.

So today was back to the pediatrician. He recommended another urine test and a blood test. Both of those came back normal, which is good except that means we still don't know what the problem is. The pediatrician has him scheduled to see another orthopedist and another urologist next week.

Poor Daniel is becoming vary wary of doctors. He used to love going to the doctor, but I think he's changed his mind after so many tests. He gets this look in his eye like "Uh, oh, what are they going to do to me now?" We are praying that this next set of doctors visits will help us find out what the problem is so we can get it taken care of.

Our Little Old Man

For over two months now, Daniel has been complaining of back pain. We didn't think much of it at first. After all, he is a busy, reckless little boy who is always hurting himself in some way or another! But as the weeks went on, we started to get a bit concerned. We thought that maybe he was constantly banging his back on the little riding toy that he rides ALL over the house, so we took it away for a couple of weeks. He kept complaining about his back hurting though, and always in the same place (his lower middle back).

So a couple of weeks ago we took him to the pediatrician to get him checked out. She referred us to an orthopedist that we were able to go to that same day (gotta love the way the medical world works in India!). He took a couple of x-rays of Daniel's back and found everything to be normal. He put Daniel on a calcium supplement, and told us to wait a week and see if the pain went away.

This past Sunday was just over a week later. That night he was up several times during the night needing to use the bathroom. The next day he had to go constantly and had several accidents. That made us suspicious because he rarely has accidents these days. After a phone call to the pediatrician, Daniel had both a urine test and a urine culture Monday evening. We got the urine test back that same day, and found that he had a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI).

Monday was also Daniel's follow-up visit with the orthopedist, who said Daniel should get an MRI.

Monday night Daniel was up most of the night with the UTI, so we all began Tuesday feeling like zombies. We had originally planned for Tuesday to be dedicated to grading and packing so we could move on Wednesday, but Tuesday ended up being a day of one doctor's visit after another!

Tuesday morning we saw the pediatrician about Daniel's UTI. She put him on some antibiotics, and referred him to a urologist. ALL of these doctors and tests were in completely different locations.

The MRI was scheduled for early afternoon, so we had lunch with our co-workers and left Rebekah with them while we went for the MRI. Since Daniel is only two and wouldn't be able to lie still for half an hour, they gave him something to put him to sleep. It was already his nap time, so it didn't take too long for him to fall asleep on Nathan. Since we had Hannah with us, I had to stay in the waiting room with her while Nathan took Daniel in for the MRI. Well whatever they gave him to help him sleep must not have been very strong because as soon as they turned the MRI machine on, Daniel woke up and started crying. We had assumed that he would be asleep for the entire process and would never even know what had happened, so we figured that explaining things to him ahead of time would just scare him needlessly. Turns out that we should have prepared him, because he was awake (and scared) for the entire MRI. Nathan was with him and sang to him all through the MRI. Poor little guy. He was really scared, but he was very brave all considered. And thankfully the MRI showed up completely normal.

Shortly after the MRI, we had the Urologist appointment. He didn't think there was anything to worry about unless he gets another infection sometime in the near future, and to just let the antibiotic do it's work. He also didn't think that the UTI was related to the back pain.

So in less than 24 hours, we went to 5 different medical locations, and Daniel was seen by 4 different doctors!

As of today (Wednesday the 20th), Daniel is beginning to get over his infection, but we still don't know why he's been having the back pain. However, the tests that have been done so far have ruled out most of the more serious causes. We are very thankful for that!

We are also very thankful that we have been able to get all of this done in India where medical care is MUCH less expensive than it is in the States. In the last two weeks, Daniel has had:

2 Pediatrician appointments
2 Orthopedic doctor visits
Urine test
Urine culture
2 x-rays
MRI
Urologist visit

ALL of that has cost....get ready for it....


Right about $200!

We are still praying that we will be able to discover the cause of Daniel's back pain, but we are thankful that it does not seem to be anything serious. It has certainly made for quite the stressful adventure in the midst of finishing up the seminary semester and preparing to move! Even so, we are thankful for God's grace and peace in our lives, even in the midst of life's chaos.