MRI

Yesterday afternoon we arrived at the hospital for Maddy's MRI.  They weighed her and then brought us to an exam room.

Madeline is not waving at the camera here.  She's trying remove the ID bracelet on her wrist by waving it around wildly.

Then she pulled on it, still trying to GET IT OFF.  Maybe I should have put it on her ankle.

A nurse came to talk to us about what to expect.  He also told us that we'd be waiting awhile.  The schedulers I spoke to on the phone failed to tell me that our arrival time was at least an hour before the actual scan.  And they were running behind.  Because it's a hospital.  (By the way, those same schedulers both urged me to get Maddy a morning appointment because of the fasting requirements, then told me that there weren't any morning appointments for the next month.  Very helpful.)

Still waiting.  We were in that room for an hour.  At some point the anesthesiologist came in to answer our questions and explain what she was going to do.  This was the person I had been waiting and waiting to talk to.  Over the last few weeks, every time I asked any other hospital staff about what kind of anesthesia Maddy would need, everyone was really vague and told me I'd have to wait to talk to the anesthesiologist we had on the day of the MRI.  I found out from other parents that some kids just get sedation (meds taken orally).  Other kids have to have general anesthesia (meds given through an IV).  The ones who have anesthesia often have to be intubated to keep their airways open.  

When we first scheduled the MRI, we were told that Maddy would have to have general anesthesia instead of sedation because of her problems with vomiting; they didn't want to risk her throwing up the medicine during the scan.  They said we'd get more info on the day of the scan.  Since most people I talked to had kids who had general and intubation, and some of the hospital staff led me to believe she'd require intubation, I was preparing myself for the strong possibility that Maddy would be intubated.  But our anesthesiologist said they would try general anesthesia alone, and if she vomited during the procedure or there was some other problem with her airway, then they'd intubate.  (Intubation scares me because it's an intervention, and it comes with its own complications and risks.)

They told us that starting the anesthesia and performing the scan would take an hour, and that it might take up to 30 minutes or so for her to wake up afterward.  We walked down the hall and I got to put Maddy on the scanner table.  They led us away before they put the gas mask on her.  I'm grateful for that.  Hearing her cry for us was hard enough.

Mike and I waited for an hour.  The nurse called my cell phone to let us know we could come back to recovery.  She was already awake and alert.  Mike told her to say "cheese" for the camera and she smiled.  We weren't expecting her to listen!

She was hungry enough to drink Pedialyte.  That stuff's nasty, and Maddy doesn't even like to drink fruit juice.  She must have been starving.  The anesthesiologist assured us that everything went fine and that they didn't have to intubate (yay!).  The nurse (in the background here) said they were prepared for everything and therefore didn't have to do anything out of the ordinary.

It was 6 pm when we left the hospital and got to sit in Cincinnati traffic.  We stopped for a quick dinner and let Maddy have some juice because she was still quite hungry.  Here is Maddy looking shell-shocked at the sandwich shop.

Playing with the band-aid where the IV had been.  That pacifier was her best friend yesterday.  She was a little off her game like we expected.  Her eating and napping have been a bit weird today, but she's doing fine.  I know that she will probably have many more MRI scans during her childhood, that she will require anesthesia again, and that she might have to intubated at some point.  Plus she is having surgery soon and that will be much scarier than this MRI.  But I'm glad we are easing into all the scary things she's having to go through this fall.

I'm guessing that it will take a few days for the neurosurgeon (Dr. M) to get the results of the MRI.  Maddy also has a sleep study on Friday, and the results of that will take about two weeks.  We're not sure what happens next.  Dr. M might get the MRI results and put her on the surgery schedule right away.  Or the sleep study might reveal something obviously urgent and they plan surgery based on that.  Or Dr. M might wait until he has the complete sleep study results weeks from now before he decides on a plan of action.  The uncertainty and waiting is frustrating.  But regardless of what happens, I am so grateful that we have the ability to bring Maddy to such a great hospital.  I feel like she's in good hands.