MRI #8

Not counting the first devastating MRI in August 2011, this was the worst MRI yet.  But first, the news is good, at least the preliminary report showed the tumor is stable.  And the oncologist doesn't think the tumor will get any smaller at this point, as it's mostly all just scar tissue.  We're just monitoring now to make sure it doesn't get bigger.

I was hoping today's MRI would be a little easier, as my parents are here and both wanted to come with us.  Around 6:15 this morning I realized that their light was still off, so I stuck my head in, and they were still asleep.  We needed to leave at 6:40 at the latest.  So of course we were a few minutes late.  Finn slept until I woke him up to change his diaper (and remove the cotton balls out of his diaper so I could squeeze the urine out of them for his urine specimen).

The receptionist recognized us when we checked in, and gave Finn a teddy bear - so sweet!  We had a new anesthesiologist today, and he was a little nervous talking to me, I guess because I'm a doctor.  Which was funny, but sweet. Now that Finn is older, he gets a little Versed (a sedative) before they take him back so he won't be too upset, only he ended up spitting most of it out on me instead of swallowing it.  The anesthesiologist was so sweet - he said, "If he cries, I know that will be hard on you, but it's actually a good thing.  When they're worked up they inhale the gas more quickly and they fall asleep much more easily.  I think it's actually easier on them that way, since they aren't fighting the mask."  So when Finn cried when they took him, I was prepared.  Prepared enough that instead of crying myself, I took a picture.

Seeing it now makes me get a little choked up, but it was nice to not cry then.  I warned him that Finn hadn't been drinking much when he was sick, so I thought he'd be a hard stick.  And he was. It took 3 docs over 20 tries to get an IV started.  Luckily he was asleep for all that, and the little stick marks all over him don't seem to bother him at all.

The wait was forever today.  I'm pretty sure we were there waiting for a good hour longer than usual. So of course I was starting to get worried, because that usually means they found something.  When they finally called me up to get Finn, he was crying. He was hungry, but then he didn't want to eat, he wanted to be held, but he didn't want to be held.  Then the nurse thought to give him ginger ale in his sippy cup.  Magic. We diluted it with ice, and he drank the entire can and the ice as it melted.

There was a little blip, because they did actually find something wrong.  There were some weird streaks on his MRI in his lung, that might be pneumonia.  So he also had a chest x-ray, which he hated, and that took another 10 minutes to calm him down from.  The chest x-ray also showed a hint of something, so he's now on his first ever round of antibiotics.  His fever has been gone now for 24 hours, but I think it's worth it just to be on the safe side.

We were at the oncology office for a while longer than usual today, too.  But as always, they were all super nice - the nurse and the child life specialist took good care of him.  He also got a Joy Jar (read about them and the amazing girl who came up with the idea for them at www.negu.org) which he hasn't gotten into yet, but is sure to be a hit once he does.

My parents were with me the whole time, except right before they took him back for his MRI, and then when he was in recovery.  They mean well, but they just aren't helpful.  Well, they're helpful if you ask, but they're not the sort of helpful that's good when you're a stressed out mom dealing with a toddler, because in those cases, it's often hard to even think to ask for help.  It was nice to have someone carry my bags though, when I was carrying Finn.  That was a huge help.

He somehow didn't fall asleep on the way home, and then refused to nap once we did get home (must have been all the sugar in the ginger ale).  I had hoped to have an afternoon of running errands without a toddler, but apparently my parents forgot about this plan, and left for the mall shortly after we got home.  When it became clear he wasn't going to sleep, I took him shopping with me.  It was not a fun experience, as he was understandably off kilter, but I had to get some things done.  And then he fell asleep on the way home, and is still asleep, an hour later than he's supposed to be napping.  I'm sure this means bedtime will be awful tonight.

I am so glad to have another MRI behind us.  With each good report, I worry a little less between scans, but the week before an MRI is always a rough one.  Every plan I make for the week after an MRI, I wonder if we'll be able to make it, or if we'll be facing cancer treatment instead.  Ever good report is a huge weight off my shoulders, and makes me feel so very lucky for how well Finn is doing, when there are so many other children who are not.