MRI

We had to be at Kosair Children's Hospital at 7:30 am today for a 9 am MRI to see if anything wacky was going on in Nate's brain to cause seizures. He couldn't eat or drink anything beforehand, so we just got him out of bed, dressed him, and put him straight in the truck. Last night I told him we were going to have a "special day" (if you put "special" in front of anything these days, it's suddenly fun for him)--that daddy was going with us to the hospital, and they were going to give him medicine to make him sleepy, and then they'd take pictures of his BRAIN! He thought that was cool. We took turns looking in each other's ears to see if we could see brains, and he stuck his finger in his ear and said, "I have brains on my finger!" So this morning, he was in a pretty good mood going to the hospital.

Surely I'm not the only one who takes pictures of such events? :)

Of course Georgia had to come along, and she was really good, despite feeling bad from her shots yesterday.

Okay, then they gave him the versed. If you've ever had this drug or been with someone who's had it, you know why I think this is funny. It basically made him drunk. They sprayed it up his nose, which he didn't like, but then he sat there for about 30 seconds and then started chuckling. Look at him, hehehe!

I am so mean for taking a video of him acting all loopy--he's going to want to kill me when he's older. :) Notice the bobble head.

So once he was feeling good, they gave him the IV, which he didn't like but he tolerated it very well. Poor guy. He hates IVs.

Blake and I were traumatized by the MRI Nate had at 12 months at Vanderbilt. They used a sedative that is supposed to cause an apnea spell, so when they put it in the IV, he stopped breathing and his lips turned blue. I was horrified! They "bagged" him and he was fine after that, but I was not! This hospital uses a different type of sedative for MRIs, and though I wasn't allowed in the MRI room when they administered it, the nurse said he did fine and didn't need any oxygen during the test. Whew! The test took about half an hour, then they brought him back to the room. He woke up a little and was very upset, so we let him sleep awhile longer.

While he was sleeping, the radiologist came in the room to speak with us--okay, that NEVER happens! Typically we'd have to come home and call the doctor who ordered the test (our pediatrician), then he'd call and get the results and call us back. But the radiologist saw in his chart that he'd had fetal surgery for spina bifida and was interested in talking with us about it! She also told us what she saw--nothing surprising or alarming for a patient who has spina bifida. Almost everyone who has SB has "Arnold Chiari Malformation II" which means the cerebellum (the back part of the brain) is flattened and often pressed down into the spinal column. This *can* cause major issues but usually doesn't. Anyway, she said that Nate's cerebellum is almost completely normal; she only saw one slight difference that showed her he had the malformation. She also said his ventricals are larger than normal, which we already knew, but he's never had any issues that warranted a shunt. I told her that Nate's neurosurgeon at Vanderbilt said he thought it was very unlikely that the buildup of fluid was causing seizures. She said, "It's interesting, most neurosurgeons think hydrocephalus don't cause seizures." Hmm, so she disagrees? It was vague.

When Nate woke up, he was still crying, and he cried all the way out to the truck, then more when we got home. The only thing he was interested in doing was eating. He ate a container of yogurt, some crackers, and a cookie before I made him take a nap, then he wanted another cookie, a peanut butter sandwich, some cereal, raisins, a cereal bar, more crackers ... wow! But now he's feeling great and is playing, so I think the sedative has worn off.

I'm glad that's over, and we're one step closer to figuring out what's going on with Nate. Next we'll go to the neurologist on Feb. 16, and they'll probably schedule an extended EEG from there. As with everything, it seems, this is a slow process!