Christopher's MRI

What a day.
Started out with a scary call from LifeWatch, the company that makes the monitor that Chris is wearing. A girl called and asked to speak to Christopher. I told her he was at school. She said "oh, we're picking up something here and need to make sure everything is okay." I said I'm on my way to the school now to pick up my other son (was picking Eddie up early for some orthodontics work) so I can check on him and 'push the button' on the sensor then. I asked her what she was picking up but she said she couldn't tell me, they can only give information to the doctor. WHAT?! I called the school and left a message for the nurse to get to Chris asap and make sure he was okay. I raced to school imagining Christopher sitting in his desk sweating and gripping at his heart while having major paplitations or tachycardia or some other kind of scary arrhythmia! I get to the school and Chris & the nurse were waiting at the main door for me. He was fine. Turns out his stickie was loose so the lead was falling off which I'm sure was causing all the commotion! Breathed a big sigh of relief!

Left Chris at school and gathered up Ed. We the time Ed & I got home from the orthodontist it was about the same time as Chris got home on the bus. We had just enough time to hurry up and get homework done before heading out for the MRI. When Chris gets home from school we always have to charge his cell phone transmitter for one hour since it is depleted of all it’s juice during the long school day. We finished homework and zipped out the door. I didn’t realize until we made it to he radiology place that we had left Christopher’s cell phone charging in the living room. He had already been separated from it for about 40 mins. If he is separated from it for 2 hours we lose all contact and have to start all over again!!! This cannot happen to poor Chris!!! So, my mother-in-law, had to drive all the way back home to get it in rush hour traffic. What would we do with her!!! Chris & his sensor were reunited about 1hr & 45 mins later…close call!!! Thank God for Grandma!!!!!!

Ken suggested letting him wear his motorcycle helmet for the ride to the hospital, then the MRI tube would seem spacious compared. Good idea, but I didn’t end up doing that. I tried to help prepare Chris for the experience by telling him that he would have to lay on a table that would move him into a tube that would be like riding in a spaceship or a rocket like astronauts. He was okay with that. But when we got in the room and he saw the MRI machine he said, “I’m not getting in that.” He said it so matter of factly! He said it was NOTHING like what he had imagined and that it was much bigger and scarier looking than he thought it would be. He got up on the table asking a million questions and the tech assistant actually told him “you talk too much!” She was actually a really nice woman and she got a kick out of the boys. When they laid him down and put his head in the brace thing and laid a blanket over him he was blinking those eyes and trying so hard not to cry. I felt so bad for him. He never let out a tear and was so brave even though he was so scared.

They gave Eddie & me ear plugs and pulled over two chairs for us to sit in right next to the machine during the testing. He left, shut the door tight and went on the other side of the window looking in at us. The test started and the tech would talk to Chris through some kind of speaker system. For the first part of the test they had Chris keep his eyes open and they angled a mirror so that he and I could look at each other even while he was in the tube. Then they told him to go ahead and close his eyes. This was when I remembered about the defib! I waved to the tech and he met me at the door. When I told him his mouth fell open and he told me to get out of there and that I should call my EP in the morning. He said that Eddie could stay in by himself if he was okay with it. He said he wanted to stay. He told me that MRI’s can cause damage to the battery, the leads or interfere with pacing. He said I might feel it if any damage occurred. Of course, my heart has been racing ever since…then again I’m just about the most suggestive person on the planet…so who knows! I may just suggest myself right into a full coronary event before the day is done! LoL! I have a call in to the EP, of course I got their voicemail! Figures!

The tech let me go in the room with him so we could look in through the window at the boys and look at the scans. I thought it worked out great because Chris had no idea that I had left and I ended up getting quite an education on the brain from the tech.

The MRI was looking for any kind of structural damage or abnormality to the brain such as lesions, swelling or sclerosis. He showed me Christopher’s inner ears, eyes, sinuses, brain ventricles, which are cavities in the brain containing cerebrospinal fluid which the brain floats in. The ventricles connect with the spinal cord. He showed me the spinal cord all the way down and the place where Christopher’s open heart surgery from 6 years ago actually shows up on his spinal cord. He showed me the Hippocampus which is a seahorse shaped looking thing that they believe has to do with epilepsy…whether damage here shows more cause or consequence of epilepsy is unclear. But it can offer clues. He said that there were no tumors or masses anywhere and that everything looked good to him. Though he did add, “but if I could read these things I’d be the one making the big bucks!”
At the end of the test when Christopher rolled back out again…he was asleep!!! Though he now denies it! He was so happy when he realized it was over. In all it lasted about 20 minutes. I do feel good about this since the tech seemed very competent and experienced. He runs these tests all day everyday and he knows what a normal brain looks like. I think his educated opinion is a worthy one. The scans go to neurologist this morning and I will start calling over and bugging them this afternoon for the official results! I loved getting to sit in the room with the tech….can you believe that even Christopher’s brains are cute!!!! They really are!!! :)

Sooooo happy that this is one thing down!

Next up….Thursday night visit with Dr. Love, Christopher’s pediatric electro physiologist.