The MRI went well!

Except for a glitch in the original plans, everything went well yesterday with the MRI.

What was the glitch? Well, they were concerned with a potential risk associated with Ian's "lack of muscle tone". At first, I couldn't figure out what the nurse practitioner was talking about. Finally I asked her if she was referring to Ian's Motor Co-ordination disorder at which she responded yes. Apparently Ian's neurologist is concerned that Ian might have this one type of condition that can occur with children who have "low muscle tone" in which calcium in the person's body can cause the muscles to contract. I vaguely remember the neurologist saying something about poor muscle tone and that Motor Co-ordination disorder can be a loose term covering a variety of different problems. One reason for the MRI was to check out possible neurological delays and then if that doesn't show anything to do further testing to see if Ian has this certain "calcium" condition. Now of course the nurse practitioner and the doctor told us the name of the condition, but I can't recall what it is for the life of me. Neither can Tim and neither can the psychiatrist. The psychiatrist didn't quite understand what the doctor was talking about and neither did I. Usually I lock onto those pieces of information and don't forget, but I don't know if it was because of the stress of the situation or for the fact that this threw me for a loop or maybe both that I can't remember the name.

Anyways, I guess the general anesthesia that they wanted to use can raise the potential of this condition, and they wanted to use a different approach and a different drug. When the nurse practitioner was discussing this with me, the rest of the team was busy flushing out the lines. They wanted to use an oral medication and then give him Nitrous Oxide. They also wanted to give him an IV while he was awake. This was a huge concern. I had already talked to them about not mentioning an IV or anything to do with sticking him with a needle. Now they wanted to do it while he was awake! This child has to be pinned down just to have a shot and you want him awake for an IV? That is a recipe for disaster. This child is so super sensitive! I knew Tim and I had to be in that room while they did this or they would have an hysterical, irrational and violent child on their hands!

I was also concerned with them switching drugs. The psychiatrist wanted the anesthesiologist to talk to him at the very beginning and only then had approved what drugs they were using. Now they wanted to change them. I kept asking if they had talked to the doctor and I was told yes, but something didn't seem right. Finally the nurse practitioner said she had talked to the neurologist and he said it was fine. I reminder her that the psychiatrist wanted to know what medicines they were using and to consult him. Her response was the medicine should be fine. SHOULD be fine! With Ian's track record of responses to medicine, there is no such thing as should. I immediately called the psychiatrist to tell him what was up. I told him that should was not the same thing as would and I was very concerned and wanted him to know. He agreed that the medicines would be fine and would even be better than what they were originally going to use. He told me that he would be around and to call him if there were any problems or concerns, but then he changed his mind and said he would be right there.

He arrived before we got there! It is nice having all the doctors work in the same place. He immediately let the doctor know what Ian's current diagnosis was and to let them know that this was an extremely sensitive child and they had to be very careful. The doctor then started to explain all their concerns and what they were going to do while Ian was right there. Now true Ian had already had his oral medicine and they were in the process of giving him the Nitrous Oxide, but the doctor was still going over everything with us. The psychiatrist got mad and reminded him again that this was a very sensitive child and told them to go outside. So off went Tim, the psychiatrist and the doctor. I stayed with Ian.

We were able to distract Ian from when they put in the IV. Now they use a small, plastic "straw" if you will, instead of a metal needle to put the IV in. They also used a local on his hand, so he wouldn't feel it. However, when they put the medicine in his IV, he felt that! He started screaming in a very high voice. Luckily after several seconds he was out.

So that was our little glitch. Nothing much in the end, but it was rather stressful at the time. The procedure went fine, though we had a very difficult time waking Ian up. Ian wanted a picture of his brain, so they gave us a DVD. It's pretty cool to see!

The doctor did not come to see us after the MRI, so that meant they did not see anything right away that was of great concern. That was a relief! We have an appointment with the neurologist next week and hopefully we will know something a little more concrete about what has been going on with Ian.

The psychiatrist was not so keen on the MRI, though afterwards he was glad we had done it. We had to keep telling him that the neurologist had concerns and he thought it was warranted to have the MRI. I believe it's warranted too. I have my own thoughts about what I think is going on with Ian. We will just have to wait and see...