Note: this is NOT a model of Sara’s bladder.  It is a clay model she made of the layers of the earth during Physical Geography Month, but the resemblance is uncanny, after viewing her cystoscopy pictures!

After many, many hours spent at Riley Hospital, and with a laundry list of “findings”, we’ve now discovered that of all the things found in and around Sara’s bladder, none are causing her incontinence, some simply need to be watched, and most she will grow out of.  Back to Square 1: Sara has the world’s worst case of Busy Little Girl Syndrome.  That makes all of the findings….”incidental” on our journey, to quote our Urologist.  If you are not sighing with relief, take a moment and feel it wash over you.  No surgery, no abnormal growths, no masses, and while there are “extras”, they are where they should be and not causing problems.

Believe it not, peeing does not come naturally to all children.  Making her pee every 2 hours and begging her to relax has resulted in no improvement.  What I didn’t know is that there are very formal and successful training programs for children just like Sara.  Not every child can relax enough to void, thereby leaving a constant leaky reservoir of urine in the bladder.  The Nurse Practitioner who specializes in this sort of thing has every confidence that Sara will be “tuned up” by Kindergarten.  My hope springs eternal today.

I have recorded this journey here just in case someday Sara gives birth to a 3-ureter, floppy ureterocele, extraordinarily daytime incontinent child…she will know that some apples don’t fall far from trees.  And that a Mother Warrior is born with every child.  You say to yourself, “I cannot do it…urodynamic testing will harm us to our core….I dread it with all my might.” And then you must do it, and you do do it, and everyone survives it, and if you pick the best of healthcare providers, none of it is as nearly bad as you imagined.

In the meantime, I am “incidentally” itching from my ears to my stomach, but attempting to get this family closer to fine.  We’re digging in our new dirt.  Hunting for new flowers.  Planning a new garden.  Knowing that with the change of seasons will surely come a change of luck and health for us all.  As miserable as I’ve been this week, I feel like praising God today.  He has been so good to us.