Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Brody's MRI

We went to Children's today for Brody's MRI. We knew it was going to be a big trip to begin with because it is a long drive and we were planning on taking all of the babies. Here I was totally prepared, packed and ready to go and I get a call from his neuro's office last night. "Did anyone tell you Brody needs to come sleep deprived and hungry??" UM NO! Nobody told me that. They told me if he wasn't able to be tired enough to fall asleep and stay still during the MRI, we would have to reschedule so they could use anesthesia. This is the part where I started to panic a little, making a second trip is not what we wanted to have to do. How were we supposed to keep a baby up for hours and on top of that- IN THE CAR? Their favorite place to sleep is the car, ugh! All we could do was try.

We woke them all up at 6am this morning (they usually wake 7:30-8am) to feed them and turned on The Little Mermaid to keep Brody occupied (which they all ended up watching). We headed out of the house at 7:15 to meet up with Bethany, our extra pair of hands for the day. Brody was trying so hard to drift off before we even got out of the neighborhood, he wasn't interested in hearing how cute and chunky he was and I apparently wasn't interesting enough to look at. We ended up letting him sleep from about 7:30-8am. I figured it was better to let him have a cat nap then rather than when we got close to the hospital. We were able to keep him up after 8am by using cold, wet burp rags (I know sounds mean), musical toys, goofy faces, with an occasion head rub and arm shake thrown in every few minutes. We arrived at the hospital around 9am and I carried him to help keep him up. While in the waiting room it was time for them to eat again but they didn't want us to offer Brody a bottle until he was on the table, hoping it would push him over the edge and he would fall asleep. So we fed the others.... right there in front of him. Poor guy :[ He didn't seem to mind, just wanted to go to sleep SOOO bad. He would try to smile and have fun but his eyes would be rolling back at the same time. If we looked away and stopped talking for just a split second he was gone!

This kid is a TROOPER!
When it was finally his turn to go back, Bret took him and Bethany and I strolled the halls of the hospital with the others. It was only about 30 minutes later, Bret called and said they were done and Brody had done great! He didn't even need the bottle to go to sleep, the second he hit the table, he was gone!


Big man finally gets to eat his bottle!


After the testing, we headed over to Dr. Honeycutt's office to get the results. When he walked in he had a big smile on his face and said everything looked great, thank you Jesus! His ventricles looked much better than his last MRI (a lot smaller) and it seems as if the shunt is working properly. He said Brody still has a lot of damage due to his IVH (brain bleeds) but only time will tell what that will mean for his future. I remember telling Bret when we were going through all of this just a few short months ago "As long as he can know who we are (Bret myself and his siblings) and be happy" it will be ok.... and he is and he does! By no means is this all that I desire for his life, but I thank God he came this far. I have every reason to believe his little life will be as happy and bright as his sunshiny blonde hair :]

"Love you Brody and as always SO PROUD!"
-Mommy & Daddy

8 comments:

  1. I'm SO glad it all worked out for you guys! I knew Bro-man would pull through and do what needed to be done. What a stud!

    I also LOVED your 6 month post and how you did the whole "then and now" thing. Such an eye-opener....thanks for the reminder.

    Love your attitude and love YOU!
    Moni

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  2. I'm so glad it worked out & what awesoem news!!! WOOHOOO! I promise you it is AMAZING what those little brains can do heal. If you have any doubt, look at JuJu. Call me ifyou ever want to talk. I have BEEN THERE!

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  3. woo hoo for Brody. What a stud he is! I had one with a brain bleed and so far he is my baby that is ahead of the rest. They heal!

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  4. OH Heather I am just so happy everything seems to be coming into place with your precious little ones!! I want you to know how much I enjoy your posts, and how much it gives me hope for the future! I want you to know that I admire your strength, and think you and Brett are doing such an amazing job, keep it up, and good luck with everything!!!!

    -sheridan johnson (hicks)

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  5. Wow I'm sure that was impossible to keep him awake like that! Sounds like you did great though. And I'm glad his test went well and things look great. :) Glad he cooperated during the MRI too!

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  6. I love your positive attitude and it is such an encouragement to me. You see, our little Jack has a grade IV brain bleed and he is getting his shunt next Tuesday. Just reading your blog makes me happy and motivated for my baby. Thanks!

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  7. Somehow I totally didn't see this post until today and all I have to say is WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO! I am so excited that his shunt is working properly and that his ventricles look good. I love the pictures of him. He is so chubby.

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  8. My daughters are both going to be getting EEG's and MRI's done here in the next few weeks and I'm worried about the whole sleep deprivation thing. Kind of a hard thing to do when they are 7 months old and enjoy their naps! I guess we will just have to try our best and hope they cooperate :)

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