Re: Two year old diagnosed with TCS asymptomatic

[Guest guest]

Our child has the same birth issues as yours. We adopted her at age 2.5 years.

She was diagnosed with TC at age 3. Untethering caused her to gain sensation in

both urination and defecation. She is still gaining sensation after 1 year post

surgery. She is now continent for urine but not yet for #2. Doctor says that

may come but I'm not so sure. She is 4.5 years old now and we are trying to

train her bowel with laxative and softner. It's coming along but takes lots of

patience. The TC caused her to be irritable and there seemed to be low-level

pain that we didn't notice until AFTER it was gone. She had learned to live

with it. Also, she could not lift her legs over her head....that caused

tremendous discomfort. She also had trouble completely voiding at one sitting.

She had little bursts of urine instead of a stream.

Tests associated with bowel control tend to be for older people I think. I have

used the Cincinnatti Children's Hospital website and Dr. Pena's work as a

reference. They use a lot of tracer foods to see how long it takes to be

digested through the body and use of x-ray to see how thoroughly the bowel is

emptied. We have not been to any bowel program but that is in the plan next I

think. Our daughter's toileting has improved tremendously since she got more

language and had her surgery. Hope this helps.

>

> Our daughter was born with anorectal malformation. Due to the relation to

TCS, it was recommended that she have an MRI. The MRI showed a tethered cord.

As far as we know, she is asymptomatic. There is some concern for us regarding

bowel continence. We don't know if it is due to the repair surgery for her

anorectal malformation or in fact a symptom of tethered cord. Does anyone have

a child with tethered cord associated with anorectal malformation? Are there

tests for a 2 year old child who isn't potty trained for bowel continence?

>

[Guest guest]

Thank you for your response, . Our daughter is adopted as well. She had

the urodynamics testing and everything was normal there. Our NS suggests that

detethering is not the answer for our daughter right now since she is

asymptomatic. We chose to have an MRI done for mere screening purposes since

she was born with the anorectal malformation. Our only issue is with the bowel

movements. Since she has had anoplasty, we don't know whether her issues are

related to the TC or not. It is WONDERFUL that your daughter has gained

sensation after surgery! How old was she at the time of detethering?

> >

> > Our daughter was born with anorectal malformation. Due to the relation to

TCS, it was recommended that she have an MRI. The MRI showed a tethered cord.

As far as we know, she is asymptomatic. There is some concern for us regarding

bowel continence. We don't know if it is due to the repair surgery for her

anorectal malformation or in fact a symptom of tethered cord. Does anyone have

a child with tethered cord associated with anorectal malformation? Are there

tests for a 2 year old child who isn't potty trained for bowel continence?

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Kyra:

You asked the age of our daughter at surgery for TC. She was exactly 3 and a

half years old. It was frightening and miraculous all at the same time. My

hope was to have her corrective surgery before school. She had three surgeries

for 1) GI malrotation, 2) detether spinal cord and simultaneously 3) removed

extra right hand thumb. In China she had the anoplasty. I would say that our

daughter was also asymptomatic for about one year but then experienced a

tremendous growth spurt and within six months of being home started showing some

of these symptoms. Good luck to you!

> > >

> > > Our daughter was born with anorectal malformation. Due to the relation to

TCS, it was recommended that she have an MRI. The MRI showed a tethered cord.

As far as we know, she is asymptomatic. There is some concern for us regarding

bowel continence. We don't know if it is due to the repair surgery for her

anorectal malformation or in fact a symptom of tethered cord. Does anyone have

a child with tethered cord associated with anorectal malformation? Are there

tests for a 2 year old child who isn't potty trained for bowel continence?

> > >

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