Cassandra's Urodynamics Test - 8 May 2014

At the Urodynamics Suite of the hospital yesterday, I met a Malay lady who was accompanying her grand daughter to do the Urodynamics test.  Her grand-daughter was to do the test right after Cass.  We chit-chatted and exchanged stories on why my daughter and her grand-daughter needed to do the test. 

I guess her grand-daughter, S is in a much more pitiful situation.  S was born at only 26 weeks old (6.5 months) but her other twin sibling did not make it.  The doctor did tell the family that the baby will have a host of health problems.  At 6YO, S had one of her kidneys removed (nephrectomy).  With just 1 kidney now, I can see that S' grand-mother is very protective of her.  The loving grand-mother used to wait in school for S to change her diapers, right until she was in Primary 2.  S is now in Primary 3 and still wears diapers to school and she knows how to change diapers herself.   This lady would accompany S to all her appointments in the hospital.  What an awesome grand-mother she is and S is so blessed to have her as her grand-mother.

S hangs a tumbler holder over her shoulder, which holds a very huge tumbler of water.  Her grand-mother told me that S has to drink water like a fish every 1 hour and has to pee and drain her urine out every 4 hours.

In school, S' parents have written a letter to the school principal to exempt S from doing any form of sports. Reason is that with only 1 kidney, they do not want any accident to happen to her, which could rob the other kidney away :(

At home, S can pee on her own but after peeing, she has to insert a small catheter into her urethra to drain out excess pee from her bladder.  Initially, the old lady would help S drain out the urine.  Now that S is 9YO, she knows how to do it herself all the time.  S told me "dah tak sakit lar" (not painful anymore).  S is another tough and brave girl, just like Cass!

However, S still has dirty urine (which is not a good sign) and is on daily meds.  She is scheduled to undergo a surgery to 'enlarge the bladder' - that was what her father told me.   I really sympathize with S and her family members.  S is such a bubbly and pretty girl (albeit very chubby from lack of exercise). 


This was Cass during the Urodynamics test yesterday.  She was fully conscious throughout the 40-minutes procedure.  Not a tear was shed.  Not a scream was let out.  I held on tight to her hands and hugged her most of the time, except for leaving her side for a few minutes to steal a few snapshots of her :D





Doesn't Cass deserve a 'Bravery' award for little girls?  I think she so deserves one for her bravery and composure in handling painful situations.  She was as cool as a cucumber yesterday and I was shivering in the freezer room, though I had a 'heavy armor coat' on for protection against radiation from the X-Ray.