This past Sunday we drove over to Portland because Oliver had some doctors appointments on Monday at OHSU.  The drive is gorgeous with the Columbia River, lush green mountains & bright fall colored trees.  Once we arrived in Portland, our first stop was Ikea.  I wish I could buy so many items from that store!  We did buy one thing: a plain white bowl.  We bought our dish set from Ikea a couple years ago & just recently I accidentally chipped one of our white bowls so we finally got to replace it!  Then we headed to Matt's cousin's house to spend the night.  We felt so bad because they had just gotten back from Florida yet still made us dinner & hosted us!  Thank you so much Dan, Mary & Isabella!

The next day we woke up early & got ready for a long day.  Oliver had a 9:30am kidney ultrasound & then a VCUG at 10am.  He did so well for both & was so brave when they had to put a catheter in :(  Then they told us that we could see the doctor, that would review all the results with us, right away (instead of waiting till 3:45pm which was the original appointment).  It was 10:30am & we waited... waited for 45minutes in the lobby when they called our name.  Then they put us in a room where we waited again for an hour!  Matt & I hadn't eaten or drank anything that whole day & it was starting to show.  Finally the doctor came in & told us that Oliver had level 5 kidney reflux.  There are 5 levels, 5 being the worst with only 20% chance of it going away on its own.  He told us that Oliver would have to be on antibiotics for a year & then for us to come back in 1 year to do the kidney ultrasound & VCUG again, except this time they would have to put him under :(   The doctor told us that he probably would have to have surgery, but wait until they see him again in 1 year and then decide.  What happens in our bodies is that urine will normally flow from the kidneys through a tube to the bladder then empty out.  Kidney reflux is when the direction of urine flow is reversed & never totally empties out.   Kidney reflux can cause UTI's which can lead to a kidney infection, hence the antibiotics which help prevent UTI's.  Usually, with little kids or levels 1 through 4, the reflux can go away, but with level 5 it has a low chance of going away without surgery.  My heart breaks for this little guy but we know he is in God's hands which is the perfect place to be!  We pray daily that God can heal his kidney & that no surgery would be needed!