Reflux Help! Men with Urethra Reimplantation as a child…

Dear Everyone,
Glad you saw my posting and that I can help. Please note that I am not a doctor but I can share with you my experience based on my son and his condition only. My son just underwent bilateral urethra re-implantation surgery last week. He was in the hospital for three days and is doing great now. He has not had to have his pain medicine at all and is back to being a wonderful, joyful 3 1/2 year old. God has been good in taking care of him for he has never had an infection with his grade.

Based on all my research and the responses I got from people, THANKS TO THIS SITE (THANKS LYNN!!!!) I found that there were three different ways to fix this problem: Inside method or outside method of urethra re-implantation or Deflux. Deflux is the non-surgical method that shoots a material up to block the urine from going back up. A doctor in Atlanta is the best know for doing this procedure. Urethra re-implantation success rate is 98% I am told by doctors at Wake Forest, Duke and Chapel Hill so we decided to go that route.

My son did not have reflux on the left but at one point it did show overflow from the right going to the left when he was a little over a year old. So we decided to do bilateral as a precaution and the best means to prevent another possible surgery.

My research and responses I got back led me to a beautiful 16 year old girl who had the procedure done at his age. Thank God for her cause she was the answer to my prayers in determining the best cause of action for my son. She had re-implantation at a young age and is now 16 and she said she had no problems and plays sports all she wants. The only thing she had for about three years she said was bladder spasms. She said the spasms never hurt her but did get a bit annoying at times when she played sports. Bladder spasms is a natural after effect of this procedure.

I can tell you that that grace of God and the daily dose of Bactrim is what kept my son from infection. At age two we thought we would do the procedure but 2 out of three doctors said to wait since he never had an infection to see if possibly he would outgrow it.

The surgery is tough to see your child have to go through but it is a simple procedure I am told with a high success rate for fixing the problem. I was fortunate to have one of the best doctors perform the bilateral re-implantation (inside) method on my son. He is doing great now and in 12 weeks we go back for a VCUG to confirm the surgery was a full success.

My best to you and yours
Nicole
(finetune8@yahoo.com)

I'll post this in other places on this site too so people won't miss it and I can help bless them with the knowledge the good Lord has given me through my experience. A-lot of concerned parents are e-mailing me personal messages to my yahoo account and I encourage you to do so if I can be of further assistance. My address is: finetune8@yahoo.com.

Here is the update.....Please know I am not a doctor and what I am telling you is solely based on my experience with my son. Your child's condition might be totally different. Grade 4 chances for automatic self-cure, there are none really that children with grade four or higher will outgrow it. So yes surgery is ultimately the option that I knew we would face. I must give glory to God for watching out for my son for he did start with the worst grade (born with grade 5) then went down to a four at age two and has not had an infection ever and had the kidney reflux up until age four almost! Thanks to God and bactrim which I believed helped keep my son from infections. My son did off and on have temps of 103 and everytime I went to get his urine tested it came back negative for a UTI. So I think his body was about to get a UTI and that was when God and bactrim kicked in. For almost four years he has had grade 4 reflux and NOT one UTI. God should get all that glory!!!!! To those who are reading this, I know how tough it is and the decisions you have to make for your child that will affect them for the rest of their life. But there are answers and prayers to guide you!

My son has been on bactrim since the day he was born and on October 20, 2007 we finally took him off of it! My son is four years old this past Dec. 2007. I had surgery for him on August 5th of 2007 and he was healed thru God's grace from a surgeons hands.

The procedure was called bilateral urethra reimplementation "inside" method where they go in through the belly make an incision on his bladder to move up both sides of the urethra tubes to block the urine from going back up into the kidneys. Success rate for this procedure is close to 97%. Having reflux on the left side is normal for my son HAD it as overflow from the right (not evident at birth like the right side reflux was and left was only a grade 1 or 2) so I decided that moving both urethra tubes was his best option to ensure no problems ever again.

I got four doctors opinions on what to do and can tell you that there are three different ways to do this procedure and another procedure called "Deflux." (As many of you well know.) Deflux was not an option for me I felt safe in giving my son since he had the worst grade and the material they inject into his penis to stop the reflux had a 60% chance of dislodging as he got older. (ASK LOTS of QUESTIONS about DEFLUX.) For bilateral urethra reimplementation there is the "inside" method, the "outside" method and I encourage you to look into both and make sure you know what method your doctor is suggesting. I chose "inside method" for my son because I found based on statistics and doctors suggestions, based on MY son's case, it would be better.

God answered my prayers through a 16 year old girl who answered my thread HERE on New Homemaker site,(THANK YOU LYNN!)who had the procedure at my sons age and is now older living life to the fullest and playing sports. She said the re-implantation surgery gave her bladder spasms for many years and then one day they just stopped. She said she has had no problems ever since and when she had the procedure she was in the hospital for a week. Bladder spasms are normal from this procedure and kind of resembles a girls PMS pains when they strike. My son was in the hospital for four days and the hardest part was keeping him for a MONTH NOT playing, running, jumping etc. due to the incision on his belly and making sure no infection resulted from it and tearing etc.

Why did we wait so long when he was almost four years old for the surgery? Two out of three doctors and my gut instinct said to wait to give him the surgery until he was older so his body would adjust to it better due to the biggest reason that he has never had an infection! The bactrim works with faith in God and prayer! Of course it is nerve-wracking everytime your child has a fever and you have to get his urine tested to ensure there is no infection. I don't know what your doctors are telling you to those reading this. If your child is healthy and eating right they will do fine I am told in the surgery. I made sure I did not give my son sugared juices or sweet/sugared foods, or candies for the sugar makes it harder for the kidneys to break these sugars down, especially when reflux is involved.

My son has some bladder spasms but lately in the past couple of months (today is Jan. 24, 2008) I haven't seen his face cringe from them.

I encourage you to look into the bilateral urethra re -implantation surgery and find the best urologist where you are. If you can afford out of state, I would highly recommend my son's who works at one of the best Hospitals in North Carolina and has already made national headline news with stem cell research he has been doing. (Dr. Atala)

I hope I have helped you and I am more then happy to answer many more questions. Again my story is soley based on my experience based on my son's condition so please use your gut instinct and that which your own doctors tell you for I am not a doctor or expert by any means. I know it is scary to put your child under surgery, but bilateral urethra reimplementation procedure is very well known and it's success rate better than any other option I had looked into. Know that with faith, God will get you through it. I just pray that I have helped you and your child in some way through my story. I know how taxing this is on you and how the decision you make affects your child for the rest of their life.

My Best, Nicole

Sincerely with Blessings,
Nicole (Finetune8@yahoo.com)

My daughter just turned 5 in June and had bilateral grade 4 reflux. We have had deflux surgery twice and as of monday had bilateral urethral reimplantation surgery. If you would like to ask any questions about either procedure or experience, please feel free to email me at bhancock@inspirecommunications.com
Brooke