Catherine is in Surgery Now

The surgeons took her back for the operation at 9 a.m. The surgery should take 4 hours. We are in the waiting room trying not to worry.

UPDATE: It is noon. The nurses just called and said they will take another two hours. They had to remove some "specimens" for testing. We have no idea what they are talking about. They did say she is doing well with the anesthesia.

UPDATE: Catherine is out of surgery. She is in the recovery room and we are waiting for the nurses to come get us to go see her. The surgeon came to see us at 1 pm and spent about a half hour with us. He said the surgery went well, but he did not find what he expected. Apparently she had a third partial kidney - it was attached to her left kidney. The second ureter was attached to the third kidney, which was dysplasic (which I think is medical speak for "dead"). He removed that extra kidney and the extra ureter and will biopsy that. He said he has no concerns that it is cancerous, it was just non-functioning tissue.

He moved the good kidney's ureter and reattached it to the correct place. She has a stent and a tube coming out of her kidney. They will measure the urine which comes out of that kidney for a few days to make sure it is working. Then, in a few weeks he will have to remove that tube and the stent. That can be done in his office. I think the shunt holds the ureter open until it heals.

He said in a few weeks, after he removes the two tubes, they will do another MRI of her kidney and another VCUG. If she still has bladder reflux, they will have to operate again to re-locate the bottom of the ureter into the correct spot on the bladder.

I am sorry if this does not make tons of sense. I only understand about half of what the urologist says. I need to research kidney anatomy.

Anyway, we are waiting to see Catherine when she wakes up after the surgery.