Duc in Altum

Our daughter's MRI went fine. The initial report, as we very much were confident, indicates that all is well with her head. The concern over her head which is at a higher percentile in growth than the rest of her body can be chalked up to her simply having a large head. As a co-worker of mine noted regarding a niece of his, she had a higher percentile growth in her head until she turned three when everything "caught up" so to speak. The more detailed report is forthcoming, but I do not believe that anything will appear.

I need to look into these MRIs a little more. After talking to a second pediatrician, I began to wonder if MRIs are becoming "standard" similar to an X-ray. He indicated that he advises parents to have MRIs to the amount of hundreds per year for children he sees. That type of frequency concerns me.

The whole MRI process was an ordeal. Our eight-month old daughter had to stop eating, with the exception of clear liquids, six hours before the appointment was even scheduled. Then she had to stop having clear liquids two hours before we were scheduled to bring her to the hospital. This needs to be mentioned that my wife who prepared everything for this received numerous different schedules from different health care personnel for when food should be stopped. One nurse even told her that she go without food for 12 hours beforehand. Can you imagine not feeding your baby for 12 hours? For the schedule we accepted, we had prepared for this with her by practicing this schedule over the past several days.

After paperwork and information about the risks, we prepared for the administration of the sedative. As my wife noted, it was good that she had called in advance and asked dozens of questions. Otherwise, we would be learning the risks minutes before the procedure was to take place. Many people might not call because they trust the medical staff.

Of course, the administration of the sedative was difficult because it had to be administered orally. Then our daughter quickly fell asleep. She was taken to the room with the MRI tube. Fortunately, the whole thing only lasted about 40 minutes. I remained in the room, praying and checking that I could see that she continued to breathe. It was a little much for my wife so she remained outside the room. After all of the awful noise was over, our daughter woke up. It had been indicated that she might remain sedated for up to three hours after getting the sedative which would have meant remaining longer in the small recovery room at the hospital. I suspect that my daughter woke up as soon as she could because like us, she was ready to get out of there as soon as possible. Since returning home she has appeared as normal. The anxiety of her being sedated has been replaced with the relief that all is well. Thanks for your prayers.