Max's Belly Button, Part II

After Max's bloody belly button experience last year, we went through some testing to make sure there wasn't anything too funky going on between his bladder and his belly button.  The contrast xray didn't show anything too out of the ordinary, but the surgeon did say that Max's bladder is placed right up against the belly button, so what ends up happening is that as his bladder fills it pushes his belly button out and when his bladder empties, it pops back in.

We had a follow-up phone call from the surgeon's PA and in chatting with her I mentioned that Max still had his "pee pee predictor" - it was, incidentally, spectacular for potty training as I could ask him if he had to go, then lift up his shirt and show him that he did - was still functioning.  She seemed to not remember that we had discussed this phenomenon when we came in and after a brief check with the surgeon,  we were given a consultation to pediatric surgery to investigate the hernia.

When it came time for the appointment, Max decided he wanted "a grown up boy" to go with him and he asked for Boppy, who was in town for the holidays.  So we swung by the house to grab him and headed out to cross the Bay Bridge.  In rush hour.

Needless to say, we missed our appointment.  But Max was in good spirits and he got to have juice and chips while we waited for the doctor, who'd had to step out when we weren't there.  As annoying and time-consuming as the delay was, it ended up being quite serendipitous because when we finally went back to meet with the surgeon, Max's bladder was full and his belly button was out.  She examined it and agreed that the hernia should be repaired.  While she was poking around, Max squirmed and whispered that he needed to go to the bathroom, so Boppy took him and when they returned, Max's belly button was back "in".  When the doctor saw this, her eyes got big and she said that in addition to the hernia repair, they would take the opportunity to "explore" and see what's happening.

And so that is being scheduled for June when school is out.