MRI at LPCH

It took until late on Thursday before all the arrangements were made for Caden's MRI on Friday. The initial decision was made for him to have a CT scan. However the CT machine at LPCH was down and they were having to share the scanner on the Stanford Hospital side. This became a problem because they were unable to fit Caden in under such short notice. After going back and forth again, they decided to go ahead and to the MRI at LPCH. Teimour and Dr. Reddy have more authority there and were able to get Caden in. That involved another patient getting rescheduled so he could have their spot.

We arrived in Palo Alto around 8:30 am and didn't have to check in until 9:30. So we headed to another local park to let the kids play. We were also trying to keep Caden distracted from the fact that he couldn't eat or drink anything. This never used to be an issue but since he decided he wants to eat and drink now, not letting him do that definitely made things more difficult. Poor baby!

Playing Jenga in the waiting room

After we checked in, we waited for the nurse to call us back. Children are not allowed in the prep area or in the recovery room so Greg had to stay with Kyler in the waiting room while I went back with Caden. He was super grumpy and didn't want to cooperate with the nurse, or me, at all. The nurse was great and handled it all so well and really sweet to both of us. The anesthesiologist was fantastic! She came and spent quite a bit of time talking to me and going over Caden's medical history to make sure she understood all the information before they went into the MRI. I could just tell that she really enjoys her job and truly cares about each patient and that meant a lot to me! 

They gave Caden Versed, a pre-med, to help him remain calm before going back and having the mask put him to sleep. Once he got the Versed on board, he became super silly and goofy. That is a nice benefit of this medication. However, the downside is how groggy and loopy it makes them afterward. :( I got to stay with him all the way until they got him to sleep. And when it came time to have the mask to put him under, he really fought it. I was surprised how much he resisted the urge to sleep. I would see him relax and then he would jerk himself awake again. He did that several times before he finally completely gave in.

Being silly after getting Versed

I gave him a kiss and walked out of the room with the nurse. It almost surprised me when I started crying. Caden has been through so much and so many surgeries where I have had to hand him over to the nurses and doctors. It caught me a little off guard when I started crying over something as “minor” as an MRI. I guess it just never gets easier to hand your child over to the anesthesiologist and put your trust in them and the whole medical team. I so wish I could take this away from Caden so he didn't have to go through any of it. :( It just breaks my heart!

While Caden was in the MRI, Greg, Kyler and I went to the cafeteria to eat lunch. Even that brought back a lot of memories as I ate there every day for two months. When we were done, we went back to the waiting room and waited for them to let us know he was done. It was slightly before 1 pm when they called me and took me to see him in recovery. When I got there, he was still completely unconscious. The nurse and I talked for awhile and she said if he didn't wake up on his own in an hour, they would help him wake up. So I just waited with him.

About 15-20 minutes later, he started waking up and was super groggy. He was trying to get up and told me he wanted to leave. I told him he needed to drink some apple juice and suck on a popsicle before they would let him go. And being the very independent soul that he is, he wanted to hold the juice cup himself and he wanted to hold the popsicle himself. But his hand-eye coordination was off, his depth perception was off, and his muscles were weak and nothing was working the way he wanted it to. So he spilled the juice, dropped the popsicle and was getting really mad and frustrated with me for not continuing to let him do it himself.

He drank enough that they were ready to let him go. So I had to get him dressed and that was no easy task as he was not helping me at all. In fact he was working against me and was super "floppy". So I had a difficult time getting that accomplished. Then he was not allowed to walk out of the hospital which is what he wanted to do. He had to either be carried by me (and I had too many other things to carry) or he had to ride in a wheelchair. I chose the wheelchair and the orderly brought it over. It was a child-size one just for him and as I went to put him in it, he straightened up stiff as a board and refused to sit. So I tried again and this time, he sat down, but got super floppy and was trying to throw himself forward out of the chair. I had to grab him several times before we gave up on that idea. So the best solution was for me to ride in a regular wheelchair and hold him on my lap. We made that work but he still really wanted down and kept trying to get away from me.

We got through it and he did okay. We don't have the results yet. I'm not sure how long it will be before we find out the diagnosis. Saturday night Caden appeared to have some nausea from the anesthesia and was retching a fair amount. He had been sitting on my lap and he just looked like he was going to throw up, so I ran him into the bathroom and put his head over the toilet just as he threw up. His tummy hurt for quite awhile and then he was better. Today he seemed okay until lunch and then he started retching again and saying his tummy hurt. So I think this is the first time he's really had reactions to anesthesia. And, this is the first time he's every truly been able to throw up. I think it's a good thing over all because it probably means his Nissen Fundoplication isn't so tight anymore. All those years of him retching and never being able to burp or throw up. I am almost glad he is able to throw up now. Isn't that strange?

So, now we wait for more answers. I hope we don't have to wait too long to get the MRI results and diagnosis. I really just want to know what we are dealing with and what the plan is going to be. Can you tell I'm a planner? Thank you all for your continued prayers as we wait, not too patiently.