Bee's MRI

Bee had one of her twice-yearly MRI's last Thursday to check-up on her optic glioma (tumors around her optic nerves). Her appointment was scheduled for 10:40 am. We arrived around 10:00 am (okay, pick up your jaw Mom) hoping they were actually on time. At 10:45 they came in to tell the other parents in the waiting room that the little one before them was taking more time than anticipated and their wait would probably be at least another hour and a half ! Then they turned to us and told us that we probably wouldn't get in until at least 1:00! Yikes! Poor Bee was starving already and very much looking forward to lunch on the way home, then we had to break it to her that she had to wait even longer! They at least gave her some apple juice, which I had her drink out in the hallway away from the other little boy who's test would be sooner so he couldn't have any! These little people with medical issues are expected to be so brave, and sometimes it's just not fair ya know! We went out and got the mini DVD player out of the car, and put on a video for her and the other little guy waiting. That soon became boring though. Thankfully we had taken the laptop so I could work on Sunday School material while we waited, so Smart Guy tapped into the Cleveland Clinics wireless and got her on Playhouse Disney, which kept her occupied and happy until it was time to go back !!



Waiting....


Waiting...


Yep, still waiting...


Finally, we go back, she changes into her green gown, and the nurse brings her a warm blanket straight from the warmer. We wrapped her up in it and then added her blankey (Sara Orange's gift when she was born) and her bunny and she was a happy camper!!




After waiting for a while longer, the anestisiologist (yah, butchered that one I know) came in and told us all the things we've already heard about ten other times during all of her other MRIs, but they have to repeat them again. I do have to say, that the nurses up there are great. They now recognize us when we come in and totally respect the fact that we know what we're doing at this point. A couple of the nurses even remember the circumstance surrounding Bee's last MRI and my own health status at the time. Pretty amazing considering all the many patients that they see in there. So anyway, when they do an MRI on a small child, they typically put them under sedation so they'll be still and not be scared of all the noise. Most of the time they also give Bee something to drink beforehand to make her groggy to relax her. Bee calls this stuff "happy juice". The last three times she's had her MRI done , she has opted out of the "happy juice". She says it tastes bad and she couldn't be anymore relaxed than she is. She's old hat at this stuff by now, and just walks right back there. So, then they ask what kind of lipgloss she wants put in her gas mask, so that it smells good as she's dozing off. This time, she chose to have all of them smeared in there together. It was very yummy smelling.
They brought the mask in for her to hold onto after they put the lipgloss in it and you'd have thought she'd never seen one before, she was so fascinated with it.



I love this picture.


Afterwards. There's not a whole lot of things funnier than a half-drugged Bee. After one of her MRIs, I had her say her ABCs to me (she totally messed it up, it was hilarious ), so now everytime she wakes up, one of the first things she does is recite her entire alphabet. This time though, she did it perfectly!!


Drinking her apple juice. They make her drink 1/2 cup of juice before they'll take her IV out. They put the IV in to give her the sedating drugs. They do it after they've already knocked them out with the gas, so she never knows their doing it.



We finally arrived back home around 5:00. It was a longggggg day!!