I just wanted to say to you I am sorry you and your child are having to go through this. My son was diagnosed before birth with Grade 4 Reflux of the left kidney. (He is 2 now) So from the day he was born he has been on antibiotics daily. I was concerned about this but the docs have reassured me several times that it is for his benefit and things will be fine. So I am trusting them...they are the ones with the degrees. Now as far as when you should worry with fever and when should you request a cath be done...well you need to get specific with your urologist on what they expect. My urologist told me that anytime my son gets a fever of 100.5 (which technically isn't a fever according to pediatricians) I am to get him cath'd. Even if he is diagnosed with an "ear infection" he is to be cath'd to be on the safe side. You have to be forcefull with the docs but thank goodness my pediatrician is very understanding of this problem my son has and understands the importance of catching a UTI before it does damage. Bit of advice, don't let them (peds or hospital) do a bag (another way of catching urine without cathing the child)...this normally will show that you have a uti because of bacteria on the outside of the body getting mixed in with the sample of urine. It is a waste of time, I have had in done 2x's and still had to cath so don't bother.

As for surgery, we have talked with the urologist, he wants to wait...at some point we will take "holidays" from the antibiotic and see what happens, then if that goes well we will get off of it and see what happens. If things don't work out then surgery or meds will be a decision we will make. My poor son has been to the ER several times not to mention the doctors office with lots of illnesses, getting cathed everytime there was a fever involved. I hate that he has to go through this and wish that it would just go away. Unfortunately I don't believe that will happen...so we will just have to be patient and wait and see. I hope that this has helped you in some way. Just remember, get your info from the urologist on what they want done when your daughter is sick and pass this info on to the pediatrician or other docs involved with her care. Let them know you are serious about the care she receives and expect them to follow the urologist's instructions when needed. Take care.