Sedated MRI

My curious babe!  She has gotten to know this stroller well!

We are here and sitting in the waiting room at 7AM...We stayed in a hotel last night.  Eden was not ready to settle down after a long ride in the car.  I think we were all up until about 10pm!  I woke her at 3:30 to feed her since she can't have any fluids after 4.  We are praising God that we don't have to work around her steroid and prilosec schedule since she is recently free of all her meds.  It would have been difficult to get her dosages in her since she had to have her prilosec 30 minutes before eating.  And she had to have her steroid in the morning as soon as possible.  And I don't know if it is known that we actually had this scheduled 3 weeks ago (when she was still taking her meds) but she got sick and we had to cancel it!  God's timing is perfect and he works everything (even a nasty cold) for good!

A man came and rubbed numbing cream all over her limbs where they will possibly put in her IV.  Then they wrap those areas so she doesn't put her hands in her mouth.  Purple wrap to match her purple shirt!!  We had to give it about 30 minutes before they would come get us.  She is a hungry girl since she hasn't been able to eat yet this morning!  She did amazingly well!  She didn't start fussing until right before they came and got us!  She is such a good baby!

Nervous mommy waiting with her sweetie!  I had to get a picture before they take her away!

Daddy too!

I got to rock her to 'sleep'.  They put the IV in which took all four limbs to get it.  They were going to have to use a breathing gas if they couldn't get the last one they tried.  I was just praying so hard they would get it.  They did!  She was such a good baby through it all.  I put her in my lap and sang to her and she just kind of whimpered through it all. 

After she was out, I laid her back on the bed.  She looks so helpless here.  It was hard to see her like that.  She just laid there whimpering.  Almost like a cry.  The guy said she did it the entire duration of the scan!

Here she is doing a little whimper.  She really was completely out though!

My little sweetie.  We got called back around 8 and she was done by 8:40.  We thought for sure we should be able to make our 11am apt.  The doctor thought she'd be awake within 30-60 minutes.  Not so!  She was awake a little bit around 11 so I tried to nurse her but she just couldn't do it.  She was just too tired!  They released us from the recovery area since she did drink a little.  We headed to our apt. (a little late) with a very sleepy girl and I ended up pumping before we saw the doctor.  She didn't wake up and really nurse until we got in the car to come home at almost 1:30!  I couldn't believe it!  I guess she takes this sedation thing seriously like her daddy!  He is the same way!  She nursed and then slept almost the entire way home.  Have I mentioned what a good baby she is?!  And just so beautiful too!  God had his hand of protection over her.  I am so thankful for how smooth it all went.

Now the news of how the actual appointment went...

Dr. Arnold Menezes talked with us extensively about what he saw.  He didn't see any changes at all in her ventricles or the cyst that is in there.  Good news!  However, he does feel like she needs a shunt. Bad news!  He said that the brain tissue doesn't have enough room to develop the way that it needs to.  It isn't under any pressure yet but he doesn't want it to get that way either.  One of the ventricles is incredibly large leaving only a small sliver of area around the outer part of the head for brain tissue.  If we remove some of the fluid then her brain tissue will have that much more room for growth.  He did confirm that she has complete agenisis of the corpus collosum.  He talked a little bit about the cyst in there too.  He felt that it isn't a problem right now but that if it became a problem he would want full access to it.  He doesn't think it would be very easy to get to if we don't get some of the fluid out of her ventricles.  He wants the brain tissue to be lax so he can lift it out of the way to get to where the cyst is.  It all sounds so horrible.  The second he started talking about the shunt and wanting to schedule the surgery sooner rather than later, I started praying and immediately felt a strong resistance to the idea.  Despite my feelings we went ahead and scheduled the surgery for next friday (June 15th).  They talked to us about surgery prep and what to expect with the surgery and after.  She will be hospitalized for 5-6 days.  There is a chance of infection which can be really bad.  She will have a programmable valve that will go behind her ear.  The tubing will run over her clavicle and drain the CS fluid down into her tummy.  This is all so new to us and such a shock.  I am hoping to do a bunch of research and ask a bunch of questions and either feel better about it or not do the surgery.  Brian and I have a lot to talk about!