Getting Abigail's next MRI scheduled and performed ended up being a huge hassle. After the MRI in January, the neurosurgeon said it looked like the tumor might be growing, so he wanted to do the next MRI two months later. It was scheduled for the end of March, but when the time came, Abigail had a bad cough as a result of an ear infection. Apparently that's a no-go with the sedation, so the nurse told me on the phone that morning, that we would reschedule for the next week.
I waited a few days, but didn't hear from the hospital as to when the procedure had been rescheduled, so I called in and was told the ordering physician (her neurosurgeon) would have to order a new MRI. Face palm #1. So I called the neurosurgeon's office and passed that along and was told they'd take care of it. Waited several more days then called again to be told they couldn't reschedule without a note from the pediatrician that she was no longer coughing. Face palm #2. Luckily, we were heading to the pediatrician's office the next day, so she agreed to fax a note to the neurosurgeon's office that day. Waited several more days then called the neurosurgeon again when we still hadn't heard anything, only to be told that they had to wait 6 weeks after receiving the pediatrician's clearance before rescheduling the MRI. Face palm #3 and getting a little upset by this point. As far as we knew, our daughter had a growing tumor in her brain and they wanted to wait 6 more weeks?! She's 3 and could be well, then sick, then well again several times during that long of an interval. And this was already 3 weeks after the originally scheduled MRI by this point! I asked the office staff to please talk directly to Dr. Belirgen and see if he was ok waiting that long or if we needed to bypass that little procedural norm in her case. I called back two days later when I still hadn't heard anything and was told they had spoken to the neurosurgeon and he did not want to wait, but agreed that she needed to get in as quickly as possible. And they gave me the number at the hospital to CALL MYSELF and reschedule the MRI. Face palm #4.
So I called the hospital and told them we just needed to reschedule an MRI missed due to illness and they agreed to do it. Just like that. Only they only available opening they had for a sedated MRI was another 4 weeks out. I tried to explain the situation and that her surgeon wanted her in as soon as possible, but they were insistent that was the best they could do. Face palm #5 and loosing my sanity by this point. So we put it on the calendar for Friday morning, May 4th.
A few hours later the hospital called me back to say they'd spoken with the neurosurgeon and he wanted her in sooner than that (duh!) and so they were switching her to an MRI under full anesthesia a week earlier, on April 27th, through the outpatient surgery department instead of the PICU. I wasn't thrilled with the switch, as it only moved her appointment up by one week, but that's what we went with.
Whew! With all that background, the day finally arrived and Abigail was still healthy! After Eve's spring program at school that morning, we had a little free time before it was time for Abigail and I to head to the hospital. The other bummer about this appointment was that it wasn't scheduled until mid-morning, so Abigail had longer to wait without food. I asked her to put some pull-ups on so we could go (don't want to have to worry about accidents when she's under!), and this is what she came back with:
We were originally scheduled to come at 11:30, but the hospital called that morning and said they were ahead of schedule and asked if we could come earlier. (That ended up being a bust - still didn't start the MRI until almost 1pm.)
After arriving at 10:30am, checking in and waiting in outpatient surgery:
Trying to not be too bored, but failing....
Finally in a room! They staff was very nice to Abigail, but I missed the PICU people that are more accustomed to working with children. Let me say upfront that the MRI did not go as smoothly this time.
Watching TV to pass the time.
One of the nurses gave her stickers, which ended up on her legs, left for a couple days, and became really difficult to get off.
Let's go!
Getting ready to head down. I didn't realize that unlike the PICU, they were not going to give her any sedation in the room. Not until she got down to the MRI room. That did not go well.
She did not take kindly to be in a big, scary room with lots of strange equipment while she was still awake. They tried to gas her, which I don't think would have been a problem had they done it in her room. She'd been using a steam mask at home to help clear up her cough and was quite used to it. But combined with 4 strange men crowded around her in the scary room as she was being ripped from my arms, resulted in lots of screams and tears and one very unhappy Mom. She was shouting, "I want Mommy to stay with me!" over and over :( They told me it would only take a few seconds, but they had to force that thing on her face for over a minute before she finally fell asleep by which point I was thoroughly traumatized. After she was asleep, they administered the anesthesia (precidex and propifol) and began the procedure while I headed to the waiting room.
And no pictures allowed in the MRI room, so you'll just have to imagine all the fun. It was 12:50pm when they finally gave her the anesthesia and began the MRI.
This MRI didn't take long - they finished around 1:55pm. The finishing was also a hassle compared to our earlier experiences. First of all, they came to get me about 10 minutes before they were actually ready to move her, so I stood there in the MRI room with no place to sit. By the end of those 10 minutes, I literally almost passed out. I don't know if it was from standing, not eating, the trauma of how the whole thing had gone, or what, but suddenly everything started going black, I couldn't hear anything, and I started sweating like crazy. Second time in my life that's happened. I struggled to not hit the floor and they chose that minute to say she was ready for transport to the PACU (Post Anesthesia Care Unit). Unfortunately, that unit has no waiting room and I couldn't go back with her until they had her "stabilized" so I had to stand in the hall for another 20 minutes, separated from Abigail and fighting my weird light headed-ness. I was very grumpy by the time they let me in to be with her.
They said it was best to let her wake up naturally, but after an hour, they abandoned that and began trying, without success, to rouse her. She finally came to, very abruptly and fully at 3:20. She immediately started asking for food and was thrilled with her purple popsicles!
At 3:35pm, they wheeled her back to outpatient surgery, where they needed to monitor her for another hour. She got some crackers and chocolate milk (which she chugged in about 10 seconds) at 4pm.
They finally released us to go home at 4:45pm. Since she'd been so patient with the unfamiliar way of doing the MRI, we stopped and she got an ice cream cone on the way home! Not much that won't cure!
Several days later, we heard from the neurosurgeon that the tumor looks stable! That was huge news and we were so relieved! He will schedule another MRI (this time with the PICU!) for 4 months out, which means we'll be back again in August for the next round!
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