MRI Anyone?

First, Caleb got his wheelchair last night. We finally have something with wheels that will fit through our bathroom door -- it's snug, but it fits! That will make it much easier to get him around inside the house. It's not as bulky as the 3-wheeler (at least not when the leg rests are removed). We were very glad to have it this morning when we had to leave to head downtown.  Caleb asks "can I still ride in my 3 wheeler"?

Another MRI today. Caleb's still having difficulty with pain, blurry vision, severe weakness on right side, diminishing strength on left side, inability to walk, wobbly head (like an infant that can't hold it's head up yet).  Docs want to see if they can tell what may be causing it:  cyst, tumor, hydrocephalus, swelling due to reduction in steroids, or other.

So, we trekked out of the house this morning in 18 degree weather with a wind chill near 0.  Roads are icy, lots of spinning going on. Saw 2 wrecks within 20 feet of each other while dropping Caden off at a friend's house (thanks Carolyn!).  We left earlier than normal to anticipate slower driving conditions & got to the hospital an hour earlier than anticipated. Fortunately, they had several people cancel so we didn't have to wait very long for Caleb to be called back to get ready.  Unfortunately, that's where the problems began.

Right after we got into the prep/recovery area, a NICU patient came down for an immediate MRI. So, that threw us off schedule by 1.5 hours. Then, while we were waiting, Caleb tried to scratch his head near an incision line. He managed to tear open the sutures and his head started bleeding.  We had to call neurosurgery to come down & see if it needed more sutures. While waiting for them, they attempted unsuccessfully to access his port. They could get it to flush okay, but couldn't get blood return. The anesthesiologist decided to use general anesthesia to get him under then access the port while he was out. We called a nurse from oncology to come over to access the port. So, this little MRI room that normally has maybe 2 people in it had 3 anesthesiologists, 2 nurses from radiology, 1 oncology nurse & Daddy in with him while I stood in the doorway & watched.

Once they got him under, Rachel (oncology nurse) access his port. She had the same problem as the radiology nurses -- able to flush, but no blood return. So, they couldn't use his port to do the contrast. (We'll have to access it again in clinic tomorrow and have some medicine injected to help break up whatever is causing the problem in the port.) They had to insert an I.V. instead.  He did fine with the imaging itself. Once the MRI was completed, neurosurgery restitched his head with stitches that will have to be removed in two weeks.

After the sutures were inserted, he was brought to recovery. That's when we discovered they forgot to put some "special MRI pants" in case he relaxed too much during the MRI -- he did. Good thing we brought a change of clothes with us.  He's finally waking up well. He's already had an apple juice & a popsicle & is about to suck down some jello.  If all goes well, we should be leaving within an hour.

Once we leave here, we're supposed to go take him for a cheeseburger.