Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Sedated CT Scan Update

31 For 21 Challenge: Day 14

The bad news is that I missed a day of the challenge, but the good news is that we are home and Wysdom is doing well now. Tuesday was quite the day. I have learned several things about Wysdom. Firstly, that he never does anything the easy way! Secondly, he is a fighter and one tough cookie. We left our house on Tuesday morning at 10am and didn't get home until 7pm. I was so tired and had a bad headache that I went straight to bed.

We were scheduled for a 12:00pm sedated scan and we didn't actually get that started until about 2:00pm. They were behind schedule so we just had to wait. Wysdom was on no food from 7:00am so it was a long wait. They came and took him from us around 2:00pm. To say that I was a little nervous was an understatement. It brought flashbacks of OHS when they took him away. (Anyways that's something that I will always hate to do...hand over my baby). By about 2:20 I was getting a little concerned as it is only supposed to be a 5 minute test. Finally the supervisor came out and told me that there was a change of plans because they could NOT find any veins to use for the IV site and therefore could not inject the sedative or the contrast. They needed the contrast or die injection for the scan as they are looking at the optic nerve and it would have provided a better scan and some comparative pictures.

They tried four pokes for the iv and then decided that they would do it without the contrast. Wysdom was put to sleep with gas before they started the iv pokes. Unfortunately they had to intubate him and give him gas for the entire procedure. The intubation caused him to choke and gag throughout the test. When they brought him into recovery he was feisty. He was pulling off the oxygen mask and screaming his head off. He got so worked up that he had to be suctioned!! He totally hates that. So it was a little scary for a few minutes until we could get him settled down. I kept thinking in my head " Wysdom calm down and don't do any funny stuff...I want you home" He continued to scream for about 15 minutes and did a pretty good job at raising his heart rate. Finally we were able to get him settled, but boy was he unhappy at the slightest movement or touch.  They monitored him until about 4:30pm and then let us go home. So all in all it was successful test, it was just done the hard way. Once we got home he started acting more like himself and smiling a bit.

On another note while waiting for the test and during recovery we were paired up with another family who was having a CT as well. There little one is four months old. He has cancer in his leg and now lungs. The mom found a  lump in his leg. How heartbreaking! I was so surprised when she told me. I have never really met anyone that young with cancer. So we shared stories and talked while we waited. It was nice to be able to connect with another family like that. I will be keeping them in my thoughts.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers we truly appreciate it. We will find out the results of the CT scan later in November. Hopefully everything looks okay with the optic nerve. We still will have two other tests to be done before they conclude whether Wysdom will need eye surgery or not. His other tests will be hopefully less eventful.:)

5 comments:

sheree said...

bummer about the intubation but I am glad they got it done and over with. Fingers crossed for good results!

Beverly said...

sorry you all had such a long day like that. Praying all is well and also for the family that you met.

SunflowerStories said...

What a scary ordeal! I hope the results come quickly and are positive.

Michelle said...

Wow that sure was a long day! I can't believe they scheduled him for a noon procedure, knowing his age and not being allowed to eat anything! Then being delayed till 2! Such a long time and not being able to eat :( Sorry it was so stressful and hopefully you get some answers from the results!

Brandie said...

What an ordeal! I'm glad everything worked out in the end. Goldie's optic nerve is smaller than normal, but they were able to see it just by doing an eye exam. Otherwise, it is procedure to do extra testing when a baby has nystagmus. I hope the results look good.