Poor Graysen

Graysen was admitted to Spartanburg Regional Hospital today. He has had a fever since Thursday, but no other symptoms. The pediatrician said that it was time to start investigating further, and sent us to the ER around noon. He was admitted this afternoon. They are pretty sure that he has a urinary tract infection. They took two urine samples and both contained high amounts of white blood cells. The confirming test is a urine culture. They started the culture today. However, they decided to start antibiotics since he is fragile and since they are pretty sure that he has the infection. They also took two blood samples for cultures today which will tell them if the infection has entered the blood stream, and possibly the heart. We will not have those results for three days. They will do a kidney ultrasound tomorrow. They need to make sure that damage has not been done to the kidneys since the infection is caused by urine reflux back up into the bladder and kidneys. An infection like this is very rare in baby boys. They were surprised when the urine indicated a problem. They said that there is a good possibility that it is caused by a structural defect in his urinary system.

The plan is to give him IV antibiotics through Tuesday. If his kidneys and blood look good, he should be discharged on Tuesday and will remain on oral antibiotics at least through the end of the month. Once healed, he will be scheduled for a urinary tract cath which will occur in the next several weeks. This cath will look for a structural defect and determine what needs to be done long term to prevent further infections.

By the way, if you notice the diaper on Graysen's arm, it was our invention to prevent him from eating his IV. That is what happens when your parents have engineering degrees.