Tatyanna's Hope

I keep meaning to post an update about the MRI experience but somehow life seems to get in the way and I get dragged away from the computer, leaving a fragment of an entry that invariably gets deleted a short time later. I have however, finished moving the remainder of this blog from lj. It's taken a while but I believe that it is finally here in its entirety.

The MRI went well. I am thinking that they don't get too many children in that particular department and Tatyanna was loaded up with stickers and sparkly plastic bracelets before the procedure even started. Watching them set up was also interesting as anything metal couldn't be anywhere near the MRI machine due to the fact that it's pretty much a giant magnet. The whole room was a flurry of activity as various anaesthetic equipment parts were traded off for different pieces that were made from either aluminum or plastic. Longer tubing had to be found which sparked a debate as the MRI department felt that anesthesiology should have said tubing and anesthesiology was positive that MRI should have it. I believe that it was eventually found in a completely unrelated department. The paper work portion was also interesting and Trent and I kept our selves amused by answering the various questions on Tatyanna's behalf.....any tattooes, shrapnel, piercings of the illicit nature and the like. By the time that things were ready to go, Tatyanna was so bored with sitting in the "staging" area that she was only too happy to go with a random nurse to "check out something new". I must admit that I do feel a pang of guilt over this part and I try not to think about how it was for her when they put her out because in the end, there were no lasting ill effects. With Tatyanna it is really difficult to determine how much she processes and how much she remembers. She doesn't seem scarred or unduly traumatized by the ordeal so I'll go with that.

The whole procedure lasted only 45 minutes or so. Just long enough for Trent and I to run and grab a much needed caffeine fix and get back to the waiting area. We heard her howling before we were finished the coffee and as uncomfortable as it is listening to your child cry and not being able to do anything about it, it was kind of reassuring knowing that she came out of it OK. I have watched one too many House episodes to take that fact for granted.

Once we left the MRI department she spent another hour in recovery, was given several more stickers and bracelets and sent to pediatrics for more monitoring. After a 45 minute sleep, she woke up as if nothing had happened and demanded to go to the mall and eat fries.

*****

Fast forward one week......the results came in and were completely normal. This has surprised pretty much all the professionals that have been involved with Tatyanna thus far. Nobody was expecting normal. While the results are reassuring in that we know there are no tumours or structural abnormalities, it leaves a tonne of questions as to what exactly is going on.