I was twelve years old, and it was a little bit before Thanksgiving. I was really sick, so they brought me into the hospital, because my mother would always have to wait weeks for an appointment. And the doctors recommended that I start catheterizing to drain my bladder, because my kidney had hydronephrosis, the buildup of urine.
Matthew, age 19
It’s kind of weird!
At first every time I came here they had to do the ultrasound to see how much urine was in my bladder, and it’s kind of weird! They put this goo on your stomach or near the bladder, and sometimes it will be ice cold and sometimes be really hot. And it’s like this huge remote and they’re just going back and forth.
Gabriella, age 10
Bladder Ruptures
I thought I just had cramps, but then I was uncomfortable lying down and vomiting a lot – I wasn’t really keeping water down or anything. And a bladder rupture isn’t something people really think off right off the top of their head in the ER, so it took a while at the ER to figure things out, but once they did, I was immediately into surgery.
I was less scared that I didn’t know what was going on and more scared because I just didn’t want it to be a big deal. I was hoping it was a stomach bug, that they could just put me on some antibiotics and send me home. The second time I actually thought it might be the swine flu. I mean, I really didn’t know what it was! So I was hoping it wasn’t serious, but by the time they rushed me into surgery I guess I had been in pain long enough that I didn’t worry about it anymore. It was just like, do it, do what you need to do. They did some test to just figure out how much the bladder muscles were working, and they found it was like three times the normal amount. So that’s what they felt was the problem, that it was just putting too much pressure on the bladder…
Johanna, age 22
Urodynamics
I just had to sit back. I was watching a movie. I had to go, and they said, “You can pee on the table!” I said, “Okay…I’ll just do it this once!” And it was all right, trust me, it was all right. If I had the choice, every test I have to have, I would want to do it here. It doesn’t hurt at all!
Meghan, age 8
Alexa, age 16
It doesn’t empty fully
The first test, I forgot what it was called, but it took about a half an hour or more. They inserted a catheter along with a rectal cath or whatever you call it, and then they would gradually fill my bladder to see how much I could tolerate. They ended up filling me with 700 cc’s before I finally went! And when I could feel that, I still wasn’t able to go to the bathroom. And it still, to this day, doesn’t empty fully. I’ll have like an ounce left over and then fifteen minutes later I’ll have to go to the bathroom. Like today, I’ve already been twice since I had my uroflow test done. It’s just because I can’t empty all the way.
Val, age 19
Tests and procedures
Some of it’s tough to do. I didn’t like what they did and stuff, wasn’t comfortable with it.
I just kind of got it done and over with.
Ethan, age 13
A bunch of crazy tests
All I remember is they didn’t have any kidney specialist at the hospital, so I remember getting put on an ambulance. They sent me out here to Children’s, and then I don’t remember too much after that. They did a ton of tests when I first got here, like a bunch of different crazy tests. They did those and they kind of figured out what was wrong. I guess my bladder was real big and it was backing up into my kidneys and that was a major problem.
Dylan, age 17