My eldest and I spent the day at our local hospital for kids. He has a serious brain/spine structural defect that requires regular monitoring. While he was a baby the defect caused a whole host of serious issues, profound hearing loss, extreme fatigue, seizures, abnormal reflexes, serious motor delays, balance issues and swelling in the brain - but it suddenly improved spontaneously, and so did he.
We're not out of the woods yet, though. Eventually he will need neurosurgery to correct the problem - but we're hoping to put it off as long as possible as long as he remains stable. He is regularly monitored for seizure activity and hearing loss (due to pressure on the brain) - hearing tests, neurological tests like an EEG and brain/spine MRIs are part of our "normal".
His Pediatrician wanted a recent hearing test (already done) and MRI to monitor his current condition and to check for any changes. His teachers have noticed what may be increased absence seizures in class - but could also be some pretty typical daydreaming. He was diagnosed as having Epilepsy, but hasn't had a full tonic–clonic seizure or been medicated for seizures for years.
We should hear some answers in the next few days.
The scan was originally scheduled for after dinner, but we received a call the night before - his scan appointment had been moved earlier in the day. We were pretty thankful as we were concerned how late a night it was going to be for both kids, especially if they needed to do additional tests.
We arrived at the Childrens Hospital early in the morning, armored with a Double-double (mine) and a hot chocolate (his), a bag of knitting, and some reading for both of us (Percy Jackson for him, The Economist for me). We sat down in the cafeteria, with ceiling to wall windows and a playroom for the kids.
Here he is sitting in the playroom next to the cafeteria, working on one of the computer kiosks (this one featured art art/painting software).
"They have an Gamecube, too, mom". The ultimate endorsement.
Heading down the hall to the diagnostic imaging center (sometimes he moves too fast to get much more than a blur). Once we arrived there was a bit of confusion about the appointment being moved up - essentially one side of the department was not talking to the other side about which patients were moved around. At that point I knew that even if we were bumped back to later in the evening we weren't going anywhere for the day - it was just a matter of keeping the kiddo entertained for all those hours.
Eventually they figured it out and took us back to the MRI waiting room.
Reading Percy Jackson while we wait outside the big doors. One of the technicians took us in to a private room at one point to review the procedure and risks. Near the end she asked the kiddo if he had any questions.
He asked "Can I ask anything?"
"Sure" she replied.
"What time is Spongebob on?"
"What? You said I could ask anything."
She laughed and said she liked Spongebob too.
At least he has his sense of humour.
Eventually it was his turn, and we walked him to the MRI room and he hopped up on the table.
They plunked a set of headphones on him (noise cancellation and music) prepared the I.V. (to deliver contrast, if needed), attached him to the O2 monitor and put the call bell button in his hand.
Then came the "football helmet" plastic halo around his head and sandbags to help keep his head immobilized for the scan. Then the bed slid into the machine, they had to close the door and I went back to the waiting room.
It took about 20 minutes. At one point he got distracted and moved, but "they said it was okay". Thankfully they didn't need to use contrast this time (no I.V. yay!) although I think he was a little disappointed he wasn't going to be radioactive (not really, but he would love to be Spiderman, and this is the closest he'll get).
The scan went well and there wasn't anything that required immediate follow-up, so we were free to go home. We headed off to the cafeteria for sushi (his favourite), visited the hospital gift store for a small treat and then caught a taxi home.
In one of those funny coincidences our taxi driver turned out to be a retired Pathologist. We had a nice chat about the malformation and it's symptoms and treatment. He was a lovely man.
Above is the kiddo's choice of reward from the hospital gift store - a plastic coral snake. He also very endearingly bought his sister a gift with the rest of his budgeted amount and surprised her with her gift after school.
The snake coordinates well with his "lucky shoes", doesn't it? I jokingly refer to his "lucky shoes" as his "feet o' flames".
We got home in time to make dinner, and then the kiddo and I promptly fell into bed early after a stressful but pretty positive day. As hospital visits go, this was a pretty enjoyable one, no surprises, no admission to the hospital and a conscious and relatively happy kiddo (he got to miss a day of school, after all!). Here's hoping the results are just as positive and we can relax for a while.
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