such a trooper

This blog is turning into an "all about Katie fest" lately, but she has had some big deal things going on what with starting school and all. Today Joe and I took her up to the nearby Children's Hospital for some tests. She is fine, these are tests she gets yearly to monitor the kidney reflux she has. What floors me is how matter of fact she is about the tests. She gets an ultrasound and goes straight from that to nuclear medicine for an RNC. This is a procedure that involves catheterizing her and filling her bladder with water and xraying her as she pees. It's not something most adults would go through without some complaining and maybe a few tears.

Not my girl. Katie took a deep breath and blew it out when they inserted the catheter and made one little grimace. That was it. I know I was much more of a baby about getting catheterized when I had my c-sections. The two techs doing the procedure were amazed with her composure. What bothered Kate the most was that they wanted her to pee while lying there in the xray bed. Her little bladder was so full her belly was popping out. But she kept looking at me and shaking her head no. She refused to go pee on that bed. Thankfully, they were able to move out the table and change it out to accommodate a little chair and she could sit on a potty seat and go. Throughout the entire process, Katie chatted with the techs about her American Girl dolls, the tooth fairy, her pets, and her sister and brother.

Afterwards, we walked through the halls of the hospital, Katie chattering and giggling and bouncing her balloon. I thought back to walking down those same halls with my very sick little one year old Katieboo who was so weak from fever (over 104 degrees for nearly a week) she could barely nurse. In one of our stops someone tied a balloon to her wrist and it was like a switch had been flicked. Katie was so delighted she smiled. I hadn't seen a real smile from her in days and days. She was entranced and waved her arm to make the balloon bob around her. We lived with that red sparkly star balloon for many weeks.


Balloons are almost as magical as Mommy kisses at making things all better. Just ask Katie.