Success! With caution, of course...

The surgery appears to have been a success, at least so far. The catheter (drain tube) is in, and draining urine (which is initially bloody, as expected). The surgeon tried to push the catheter all the way into the ureter (urine output tube from kidney) but it would not go, confirming the theory of a blocked ureter at the ureteropelvic junction (UPJ).

Loki is waking from his general anesthetic, and has given a shot of morphine to control any pain. He is on a ventilator, which was needed to assure breathing while he was anesthetized. If his breathing is strong, then he will be removed from that in a few hours. Mom sits by his bed.

One big change is that the nephrologist and urologists (one here, one at the University of California, San Francisco [UCSF] hospital) are now leaning towards performing the real surgery - to truly fix the kidney - sooner rather than later. I have not heard why they changed their minds, as they originally planned to wait weeks, but perhaps the surgeon saw that his kidney was large enough to work on.

The advantage of this is that it may result in him coming home less late. As long as he has his drainage tube, Loki won't leave the hospital. Of course, this may make us worry even more! Also, he would be transferred to UCSF for this, and I suspect that he would then remain there until he's ready to come home. Although that is another top-flight hospital, it takes about an hour to get there by transit and 40 minutes by car.

For now, the electrolytes (sodium, potassium, etc.) and other chemicals in both his urine and blood must be monitored closely. The sudden removal of this blockage can cause the concentration of them to swing rather dramatically. However, the staff did not seem too concerned about this. And fortunately, the doctors planned to give him an arterial catheter - a process that had been difficult - while he was unconscious, allowing easy blood samples without any more pokes.

This mess is not over, but it seems that one hurdle has been crossed. We send our kudos to the hospital staff, and to Loki, the strongest baby imaginable.