It's Friday and I am still amazed at how wonderfully Cole handled everything that he had to endure for his MRI on Tuesday. The first thing was not eating. His appointment wasn't until 10:15, we had to be at the hospital at 8:45 and he couldn't eat anything past 4:15, which meant he didn't eat anything after about 8 Monday night. He couldn't drink past 8:15, so that was when he started trying to sneak snacks. Fortunately I was able to get everything away from him before it entered his mouth. His first meltdown occurred when we arrived at the hospital. He thought he was going to get to go play at the Hem/Onc clinic. They have a great playroom in there and he has enjoyed it very much every time we had to take Jamison to clinic. Once he realized he wasn't going to get to play he was sad and started crying. He didn't get happy again until the Child Life worker came in with some toys. She brought him animals and he had a blast with them. Then she brought in her babydoll to show him how they were going to give him an IV, or a magic straw as they call it to children. He enjoyed squirting the water through the straw and didn't want to give her the baby back. So then she brought in another baby for him to play with and a movie to watch. He was happy playing and watching tv that he didn't even ask for anything to eat or drink.
Next obstacle was his iv. I was terrified of this as it has always taken at least two adults, preferably three, to hold Jamison down while he screams bloody murder and the third or fourth person accessed his port or placed his iv. Cole only cried for a few seconds when they actually had the needle in his hand, other than that he was still playing. I had my hands loosely on his legs but didn't need to hold him down at all. He did not like the board they place on him nor the fact that he had a bandage on his hand. He asked me to take it off about 100 times, but I told him if we took it off he would have to get a new one placed and that wouldn't be any fun.
Next they came in to wheel him away and sedate him. He cried as the medicine went in and the doctor said that it does burn going in, but he counted to three and Cole was out. I only have Jamison to compare this too and let me say I was shocked. Jamison's MRI was a bit of a nightmare. He had a cold, but we get his done in Philly so they gave him the special medicine that dries him up and proceeded very slowly with him. It took about 10 minutes for Jamison to actually go under and stop fighting. After about an hour and a half they finally brought him back to me and he slept for a bit longer. Then he was awake as fast as he fell asleep. All of the sudden his eyes popped open and he wanted to play. He was really upset with the pulseox and didn't care about the iv. Of course the pulseox was what had to stay on, but he had some cookies, drank some juice and was ready to get out of there.
Best news though is that his MRI is clear! This is definitely what we hoped for and expected, but with cancer you learn to expect the unexpected. I hate that we'll have to do this every 5 months until he's 5, but it needs to be done.
While Cole and I were at the hospital, Jamison hung out with his Great Uncle Johnny for a bit. He was sad when I left, but then I learned that he was given pixie sticks, so I'm sure he cheered up in an instant. :)
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