she's OK!

a bath photo, just for fun

Joan's MRI went through this morning. The anesthesiologist was a little leery, but because she had no fever and her lungs sounded clear, he said he was fine with going ahead. Apparently, the drugs they give can cause the lungs to "shut down" to the extent that they have trouble clearing themselves out, which can lead to an increased risk of pneumonia, which is why they won't put a sick kid under, if they can help it. But both he and the nurse agreed that, although she still had a cough, her lungs were clear.

Only one of us was allowed to go be with her for the sedation, so Mike went, which I was kind of glad of. Not sure if I could have handled that, to be honest. He said she fussed a little, but was too tired to put up a fight - it all happened before her normal wake-up time. Then, we took John to the coffee shop for some breakfast, before the playroom opened. I love having a hospital that's so geared to families, right down to the coffee shop. In the fridge were things like Minigo's, cheese strings, Jell-o, and about five different flavours of rice krispie squares.

The playroom is awesome. John bolted in as soon as the door opened, and was pushing trucks around before we even had a chance to fully check him in.It's huge and bright, and the volunteers are really nice. It's all funded through the hospital foundation, so it's free to use. I really appreciate that it's there, and if we decide to give anything to charity this year, this hospital tops my list. It's a little stressful getting the referrals organized, but now that we're in, it's a great place. The nurses are awesome, and it's all set up to be so family-oriented. There's toys in every waiting room. Play areas, fish tanks, wishing wells. Lots of bathrooms and smaller, more private waiting areas. They're all nice to John, who alway has a million questions for the doctors and nurses, but they all take the time to answer him and make him feel part of the process. They all seem to have all the information they need, and the interaction between them and us is all very organized and streamlined. For a hospital, where terrible things must happen all the time, it's a very soothing and reassuring place. It's been really great so far.

We didn't need to wait long for Joan to wake up. She was pretty crabby from the drugs and not too happy with all the wires and sensors attached to her. But she cuddled for a bit, and had some juice, and she seemed to cheer up with every wire removed. Her big beef was the IV hook-up, and I can't blame her. Those things suck. They told us everything went fine. They didn't need to use the radioactive dye - we had to sign a consent form ahead of time, in case they needed to use it. It feels great signing off on something for your kid, where the potential risks are coma and death. The anesthesiologist popped in to see her before we left, and said she did well, and her lungs weren't a problem.

The whole thing was very fast. They originally told us an hour in recovery - the nurse discharged us after about 10 minutes. I felt bad for John, who only got to play for maybe 20 minutes. He gave us a very sour look as he saw us coming to collect him! But he'll be back - I'm hoping to use it during her physio appointments, too.

Joan recovered just fine. She wasn't back to her usual happy self for about an hour and a half. But then she was starving, and ate like a horse. She did throw up a little - they said that might happen, even though they gave her antinausea drugs - then she was down for a nap.

So it all went very well, and I'm glad that's all done and behind us. She can now eat coins to her heart's content! And in four weeks we meet her neurologist, to see what horrors are hiding in that little head of hers!