Just found out my oldest daughter has Vesicoureteral Reflux. This is due to a birth defect of her kidney’s, where on the left side, she has two tubes which drain through the bladder, on the right side she is fine. What is happening, is when she urinates, the urine goes back up into the kidney, which causes infection and irritation to the tube, which swells and starts the whole process all over again. This can cause all sorts of problems. She will most likely have to take a form of an anti-biotic every day for the rest of her life to protect against the bacteria and infection, which causes a UTI. If it gets severe, it could damage the kidney and other parts of the body, or even become fatal if left untreated.
Scary stuff. Her left kidney is swollen, and my fear is that at some point, she may need a kidney transplant or surgery to remove the extra tube. Problem is, her other kidney, although not nearly as problematic as the left one, would probably not be enough to do the job by itself if she lost the left kidney, due to the fact that she also has the reflux in this kidney as well, just not as severe.
She will have to continue getting VCUG’s the rest of her life, and if needed, surgery to correct the problem if things get progressively worse.