Sounds awful doesn't it? But it isn't at this stage. What it is basically is red blood cells showing up in the urine. This is something that Alex, my middle boy has.
How did we discover this? About 10 years ago, we noticed that his drinking was getting heavier
and more frequent. He would always be in the fridge looking for something to drink. Food was not a big issue, he would rather have a drink than eat. My first thought was Diabetes. So off we went to the Doctor.
Of course we had to go and do the special glucose test etc. You know fast, have a blood test, drink that god-awful tasting drink, wait around for an hour, have another blood test, wait for another hour and have another test. The vampires really like those tests. For a 5 yr old boy who hadn't had much exposure to needles this was not good. He has hated having needles ever since. We had to have 4 adults holding him down to get the needle near him.
Anyway, results came back with Diabetes cleared, BUT there was blood cells showing up in the urine. So it was off to the CHildren's Hospital to see the Renal Specialist. He got in with one of the top Renal Specialists in Qld. After some questions and looks at the results of the tests, and urine tests that he had to have when we got to the hospital, it turned out he had BMH.
Basically explained, the filters of his kidneys were leaking red blood cells. Nothing major to worry about at this stage. The only time we have to worry is if he ever has blood actually show up in his urine, being either red or brown urine when he goes to the toilet.
The doctor said that we had a few options. We could leave it go and just monitor it. If he got any other symptoms, like pain, presence of blood, kidney stones, then he was to go straight into the hospital and have it looked at.
We could have a kidney biopsy done to have a look at what could be causing the leak. We felt at the time, that this was a bit too invasive for something that could show nothing up.
We decided to go with the monitoring. Every year he has to go back to the hospital for them to check the urine and the amount of blood cells. If this ever increases, he will have to have the biopsy. This August marks the last time he will go to the Childrens Hospital for this as he is too old now for there.
What are the possible outcomes or causes? It can cause serious damage to the kidney filtration system. If damage occurs and is serious enough, it can lead to kidney failure. Kidney stones, kidney cancer, bladder infection, kidney infection.
Microscopic blood is usually associated with upper kidney problems, whereas visible blood is usually lower. The probability of cancer is very low with microscopic, only about 1%.
So if your child is suddenly very interested in drinking more than normal over a period of time, get them checked out. You never know what might be the outcome.
Hope this helps someone. Leisa
(July 2007) (
Lexi xxx
