MRI Results and the next step

So on Monday I called to get the results of Siena's MRI. The lady that answered the phone told me it would take 1 1/2 to 2 weeks to get the results read. I told her in so many words that I was not waiting 2 weeks to find out if my daughter had a brain tumor. I got called back with in 30 minutes. HER MRI WAS 100% NORMAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So that's the good news! But we still don't have any concrete evidence of why she gets the head tilt. Her last physical therapy appointment was this morning. Once she starts walking or if I think she is not progressing in the right direction with motor skills, we can take her back in for a check up.

So the conclusion we all came to was that her head tilt is growth spurt related and when she has a growth spurt it takes the muscles in the left side of her neck about 1 1/2 weeks to stretch out. So we will see if this pattern continues on. If and when the tilt comes back again we will just work on her stretches.

Siena's MRI

This was a pretty crazy busy month leading up to Christmas. We had so much going on that Christmas eve snuck up on us. With Siena's MRI being Christmas eve that kind of took away from slowly moving into Christmas mode.

We got to Sutter Memorial in Sacramento at 7:45 to check in for the MRI. Siena was a total trooper and wasn't even complaining about not being able to eat or drink. As I was filling out the paperwork I noticed that they had Siena down for a "MRI of the brain with anesthesia". No mention of the neck. I went up to the front desk and asked the receptionist if her neck was also going to be scanned. She said no, the order was just for her brain. I said to her that the main reason we were here was for her neck and the brain was an additional thing to look at. I told her it was my understanding that her neck was being scanned to look for congenitial muscle shortening. She said she would call the neurologist office and double check. After a few minutes she called me back up and said the office is closed and she could not get ahold of any one. I told her she'd better try again because there was no way I was putting my daughter under anesthesia twice or paying twice for an MRI! She ended up calling the neurologist at home and found out that I WAS CORRECT!!!! He messed up and didn't put it on the order. Let this be a lesson to every one who has to deal with doctors and hospitals. You have to be your own advoate to get things done correctly!!!

So after things were straightened out the nurse came out and put some numbing gel on Siena's wrists so when they put the IV in she would not feel it as much. When it was Siena's turn we went into the room where she was going to be put under. She was very uneasy when she was on the table. She knew something was up. She stared crying when they put in her IV. Then she got really pissed. But after 5 seconds she was out cold. It totally caught me off guard. My eyes welled up with tears but I held them back. I flashed back to my daily job and they way I was comforting Siena and telling her everything would be ok was exactly how people do when we put their animals to sleep. I was in shock when I realized what I was doing and then seeing the look on her face scared me. I hope we don't have to do that again anytime soon!

While Siena had her scan, which took 1 1/2 hours, Mike and I sat in the waiting room and addressed our holiday cards. Better late than never right? It was actually nice because it kept our minds off of waiting for her to be finished.

When they brought us in to see Siena, she was lying on the table with the IV in her hand and oxygen tubes in her nose. When I started talking to her she began moving and rubbing at the tubes. They took off the oxygen tubes and the IV and told us to have a seat and try to get her to wake up. Well that was easier said than done. After about 30 minutes we finally resorted to taking off her clothes and rubbing her with wet baby wipes. She woke up happy as a clam like nothing ever happened. I was so relieved to have my little girl back. :-)

Let the nerves set in

Siena has her MRI in 3 hours, which means that in 2 3/4 hours she gets knocked out. I have a headache which I think it related to me stressing last night while trying to sleep. We should have results today if I can convince the office to get some one to read it, and if they are open it is very possible.

Please keep her in your thoughts this morning.

MRI

Siena's MRI has been scheduled for Christmas Eve. WHAT!??!? I know weird, but it was the first morning open and since they want the patients to with hold food for 8 hours you can exactly starve a baby through out the day. She can have clear fluids until 2 hours before. Their idea of clear fluids crack me up. Juice, Gatorade, koolaid, water. Who gives their baby Gatorade and koolaid???? Anyways, check in is at 7:45am and the MRI is at 8:45. She has to be sedated because they need her to be still for an hour. We can be with her while she is being anesthetized. I am not sure about the scan part. I also don't know how long we have to wait for results. Maybe a week or so. I was a little on the fence at first about doing this but Siena's head tilt came back on Thursday and so far the worst of the days were Saturday and Sunday. The scan is being done to rule out acquired torticollis which is caused by a tumor or lesion on the brain. She isn't in any pain, she just tilts her head to the left. I did have the doctor recheck her eyes just to make sure there wasn't an eye problem causing the tilt. The Dr. said the eye looked fine and that the MRI will look at the optic nerves as well.

Please keep her in your thoughts on Christmas Eve.