Mommy: MRI #1

We went into this day expecting a much, much shorter day than it was... Originally I was considering going back into work... that was not an option! So we go there at 7:30 for a 9am starting time. Luckily, Cambria was being patient with her serious lack of breakfast,and preferred naps for the majority of the morning. Next we were taken back to check in, get vitals, and answer a bunch of repetitive questions about there being metal in her body, along with a bunch of others... (Hey, I'm glad their thorough, but some of the questions were funny... no our 6 month old *doesn't* have any tattoos, thank you for asking!)  Apparently Cambria was getting tired of the questions as well because she started realizing that she hasn't had breakfast yet, and this was a serious failure on our part. We got through that process and got another depressingly adorable infant-sized hospital gown.

Then the nurse told us it was usually about 45 minutes, but it may be more like an hour or an hour and a half because sometimes they have to retake images. Then she said we could pick up a little buzzer at the desk, and they'd let us know when she was all done. I was able to take her back because at this point because I had gotten Cambria back to by rocking her, so the anesthesiologist thought we'd keep her that way so she could give her less gas, and still get her under sedation. (The norm is to give the kiddo laughing gas and then the propofol via IV) So after I left her with the doctors, I grabbed the buzzer, which honestly was the same thing that you get at cheesecake factory when you're waiting forever for a table (seriously - why no reservations??) Anywho, so we went to start our wait. After a few minutes, we thought we'd go to the cafeteria and get some brunch (you know, if  3 people eating sushi, yogurt pretzels, half a granola bar, some eggs and grits count as brunch)  

We got back, and expected to be called back any moment.... we had left her at 9:02, and it was about 9:40 by the time we got back, so we thought we'd be called back any moment... then time kept ticking on. Eventually it was 10:35 (I was waiting until and hour and a half, as that was the outside number they had given us) So I went and asked what was going on... I mean hey, they had my baby back there under sedation... I was way on edge!!!! When I went back to ask, the first person I asked responded by asking me to spell Cambria's name, and clearly not up to date on her case... but luckily, there was a woman walking by that apparently runs the place. She knew Cambria's full name, as well as the details of the procedure, off the top of her head. Apparently the nurse had it wrong, while abdominal MRIs can just take 45 minutes, Cambria was in for an abdominal AND pelvic MRI, with 2 IV contrasts, so they had to set 2 IV's in a 6 month old whose had a few IV's in the past few months. This took them a bit more time than usual to get started, and then the procedure itself was more like a one and a half to two hour procedure normally. It made me feel a LOT better to know the boss had this on such lock off the top of her head. So I went back to the waiting room and was able to sit down instead of pacing. We waited another 40 minutes or so, and this time Derek went back to check in on her. This time he was told she was fine, they were just having to retake a few images... At this point it had been about 2 hours and 20 minutes. WAY longer than the 45 minutes we were initially told. I had taken to pacing again, I mean... I knew they would tell us if there was something wrong... but still. Another 20 minutes went by and this time my mom went back to ask. She was told they were having to retake a lot of pictures, and they  were having trouble reading some of the vitals automatically, which meant they had to stop everything and take them manually, and fix the automatic readers. Fun! Finally my table ready-buzzer went off and I did my awkward little speedwalk back to my kiddo. (Basically it's my "I'm not running, what are you talking about" now patented at Childrens's)

 This is when the nurse explained what the issue was... apparently our squirmy worm was still a squirmy worm even under sedation!!! So between her wriggles that caused them to retake pictures, and her wriggles that knocked the pulse sensor off her tiny fingers (which, again, caused them to pull her out of the machine and check her, and then retake whatever picture they were working on) she was definitely a difficult patient. She also took longer to wake up and be herself after this than she was after the biopsy, port placement (with bone marrow sample) or MIBG scan.... I'm wondering if the anesthesiologist got tired of that fal-de-ral and upped the dosage a bit. Here's our little girl sleeping away:

Seriously? those lashes!!!

Anywho, she woke up, and normally after sedation, you have some pedialyte, and then some formula and you can go on home. Well, apparently with the introduction of new foods and tastes, Cambria has decided that both unflavored, and cherry pedialyte are no longer acceptable. She was so hungry she was crying and sad... and when she saw the bottle she'd get SO excited (like flailing limbs and panting) but then when she got the taste of pedialyte instead of formula, she'd spit it out and look at you like "why do you tease me so????" Eventually after a good 20 minutes of unsuccessful attempts at getting her to drink, the nurse allowed us to give her formula. She gave us a look like "Oh thank GOD!!!!" and proceeded to suck down 6 ounces like it was going out of style (holding the glass bottle herself, even all groggy) After she was done, we were allowed to get her dressed and go on home! (She was still a little sleepy though)

All that was left was waiting to hear about the results....