Scan Day 1: MRI

September 13, 2010
After a late night of settling in at RMDH, we were up bright and early Monday morning to be at Memorial Sloan-Kettering for 7:30am. William had labs drawn, an exam and update with Echee, the nurse practitioner and then we were off for William's abdominal MRI.  Since our last visit, MSKCC opened a beautiful new interventional radiology suite.  We had a great room overlooking the playground across the street from the hospital.

As always, I went back to the scan room while they put William under general anesthesia.  I had to get into a fashionable bunny suit.  William thought the whole thing was silly...

With each additional doctor visit, procedure and hospitalization, William seems to be at a different developmental milestone.  This brings about new hurdles and considerations as to his reaction to the necessary procedures.  At this point, William is clearly aware that something is about to happen to him.  He is definitely a lot more scared and defensive of hospitals and staff these days.  It has been tough to wittiness and see how much more aware of everything he has become.

~ some much-needed cuddles before his scan ~

As I left William in the MRI scanner, the technician assured me I would be called from the main waiting room in about 45 minutes to meet William in recovery.  After an hour, I was becoming antsy.  Suddenly, Grammy and I started to hear the all too familiar sound of a crying baby off in the distance.  The sound became louder and louder...and I said to Grammy, "gosh, that sounds like William."  Just as the words came out of my mouth, the door suddenly swung open.  It was like the entire packed waiting room all watched the nurse, holding my diaper-clad screaming William (who was doing his best to squirm out of the blanket he was wrapped in) merely plop William in my arms.  She quickly assured me he did great through the test and just like that, she was off like a flash.  We call that Sloan's infamous "drop off your sack of potatoes and run" technique.   They do it all the time....apparently even in their new plush waiting room.

Out of pure embarrassment, I couldn't make even more of a scene.  We just let William sleep for a good 45-minutes on me before we attempted dressing him (in the middle of the packed waiting room!).