BrynLee's First Surgery



Headed to surgery

 BrynLee's first surgery (July, 1 2011, 2 days old) was a very long, invasive surgery! There were several procedures that needed done.. They had to close the bladder, pull the pubic symphisis bones together and suture, fix the ureters, put stints in the ureters that lead to tubes coming through the abdominal wall into bags, place a suprapubic catheter in her bladder, also coming through the abdominal wall, make her a new belly button, and close the hole in her belly! That is ALOT to do to a brand new baby.. It was a 5 hour surgery!
Dr. Wallis said when he got in there her bladder was smaller than he'd expected and her ureters had to be re-routed, but other than that, everything else went as expected! Because her bladder is so small, he isn't sure if it will ever grow with the rest of her body. If it doesn't, she will have to have multiple surgeries as she grows so they can go in a resize her bladder. They will take tissue from her small intestine to make a bigger bladder every couple of years. (This is only if her bladder doesn't grow with her, but we won't know if it's growing or not for at least 12-18 months) Most children with this condition suffer from incontinence. The lower sphincter muscle at the bottom of the bladder doesn't work correctly and they aren't able to acctually HOLD any urine, so rather than her bladder filling and her releasing it, like normal people do, she will leak constantly.
She had two braces around her legs, one around her calves and one around her thighs, that held her legs closed. This was to allow her pelvis and pubic bone to heal. They said that her pubic bone was so spread out that they couldn't get it closed all the way. Most of the time when they can't get it closed like that it will spread back open, so BrynLee will probably walk with a little bit of a waddle.
Overall her first surgery was a huge success! She had to have bilateral hernias repaired 2 months later and Dr. Wallis went in and scoped everything and said it's all looking good! The urethra is healed up and her bladder is holding small amounts of urine! (which is very good news!)


Our precious BrynLee right out of recovery