MRI

I'm really glad today is over. It started at 1 AM, when I woke Lucas up to give him a bottle for the last time before the MRI. We arrived at the hospital at 6 AM, and Lucas slept the whole time we were there until he had the MRI. It really went quite smoothly. I discussed with the anesthesiologist not sedating Lucas, because I was convinced he would be asleep the whole time. The MRI was to take about 1 1/2 hours, so he didn't want to chance it. So, sedation it was. At 7:30 they wheeled me down to radiology holding Lucas and it was there that I had to give him over to the staff (that's never fun). But he was at least sleeping, so he didn't know any better. They gave him anesthesia through a mask, then put in an IV to continue giving meds, so he actually didn't shed any tears today (hooray!). That was comforting. The last two times we were in the hospital because he was sick, he cried a lot because they had to do painful procedures on him (like restarting an IV line 3 times in a row at 2 in morning).

Nate and I then went to the cafeteria to get some breakfast, he left for grad school and I went to day surgery to wait. I was told the MRI would take about an hour and half, so I was figuring I would hear from the doctor by 9:15. From about 9:20-10:00, when I still hadn't heard anything, I got pretty worried. Since there are risks associated with sedating babies, I was terrified. Instead of continuing my worst-case scenario thoughts, I asked the desk to call and find out what was going on. They said he would be in post-op in 10 minutes. I was so relieved. Soon thereafter, I met with the anesthesiologist who said Lucas did really well, and then I got to go to recovery and see my baby. The MRI just lasted longer than anticipated, as the radiologist wanted some additional pictures with contrast.

When I got there, I was told that the nurses were fighting over who got to hold him. He woke up groggy, but pleasant. He was happy to see me. He drank half a bottle and then was wide awake, standing on my lap, smiling, waving his arms, and flirting with all the nurses. And so continued his day. He had absolutely no side effects from the anesthesia! That's good to note for future reference. We both had a good nap together in the afternoon, then went swimming at Grandma's pool. You'd never know that he had had general anesthesia this morning.

At this point, we have no idea what the MRI showed. It has to be read by a radiologist, then relayed to our pediatrician, then we can find out the results. I hope to hear by the middle of next week. I'm just trying not to think about it. These results will either make or break his chances of CI candidacy, and his chance to ever hear.