For those that may read this that don't know us, Ella is our daughter soon to be 9 years old.
We discovered 4 years ago that Ella has got a duplex kidney on her left side (basically this means that her kidney is split into two, with two tubes leading to the bladder instead on one!)
In 2006, Ella went into Pendlebury Hospital to undergo tests to ensure that the kidneys were functioning properly, and that they were not causing any reflux, which can cause scarring.
The results were that the kidneys were working fine despite the duplex system. however she was to remain on daily antibiotics to avoid any infections, of which she is susceptible to. After a few allergic reactions to the antibiotics, we finally found some that she agreed with!
A routine scan at the end of 2007 showed that Ella also had a duplex system on the rights side as well as the left which left us really baffled...why wasn't this diagnosed earlier?
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I took Ella off the antibiotics about 12 months ago, and to our knowledge she's only had one water infection - all be it it was a bad one, but she's done well to only have had one. Luckily the Consultant agreed to keep her off the antibiotics unless she gats any recurring infections however he also said he had not ruled out any further investigation.
Ella was back at the hospital this morning for another scan, to check that all is well. I'm pleased to say that the lady doing the scan said that all seemed well, and the duplex didn't seem to be causing any problem. We go back to see the Consultant in July, and we're hoping that it will be our last appointment there as we hope to be in Oz in August!
I doubt they will discharge Ella, but we'll have to take copies of all her medical notes to Australia with us, and I need to find out if she will need to continue with the scans etc once we're in Oz.
This could cause problems in the future so I need to be sure she has regular checks if necessary.
For now though, really good news and hopefully she won't have any problems as she gets older.
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