Ro . says...

“Ember got her first kidney infection when she was six weeks old. She was hospitalized for three days. After that first infection when we discovered a problem, we started taking her for daily adjustments at Country Chiropractic Clinic. At 11 weeks old, they discovered grade 5 vesicoureteral reflux and a duplicated renal system on the right. The week after her Children’s appointment she got another kidney infection and was again hospitalized. It wasn’t working and we were told that the nonfunctioning kidney would need to be removed before it developed renal cancer. I was so discouraged. Having only one kidney would affect her so much; there would be restrictions on what activities she could do or what sports she could play. It was a difficult time. We continued with daily adjustments. She went back two months later for an ultrasound and a lasix renogram. After the tests we had our consult with the surgeon. He put up her ultrasound films to take a look. He shook his head and said, “These aren’t her films.” He took them down and left the room. He came back a few minutes later and said, “These ARE her films.” He looked at them for a long time, comparing them to the ultrasound films from November. He was very quiet. He finally said, “Wow.” He finally turned around to talk to us and said that that was the most remarkable recovery he had ever seen. And that was coming from the Head of Urology at Children’s; the premier pediatric urologist in the country. Her improvement was more dramatic than he could have possibly expected. The kidney WAS functioning. No surgery was needed. He told us to just leave her alone and see what she can do. If she has another infection, call us. If she doesn’t get sick, we’ll see you in two years. We continued with daily chiropractic adjustments for a while and then gradually went to weekly. She never got another infection. She started gaining weight. In fact she was totally thriving! Bright eyes, rosy cheeks, tons or energy, and talking up a storm. We went back to Children’s after she turned three. She was improving, with no medical treatment at all. The surgeon said that her kidney will probably never be normal, but she’s not sick and she’s obviously doing great in spite of it all, so we’re not going to mess with her any further. As long as she doesn’t get sick, bring her back in two years. She just had another checkup at Children’s in November, after she turned five. And they said her kidney is almost normal. The hydronephrosis is almost gone, which they did not expect to see. She has another checkup in two years, but they said that at the rate she is going, it will probably be her last visit! The urologist called her results “exciting”. I’d say exciting is an apt description, considering we were told at one point that she would have lifelong renal issues. Very exciting indeed!”