Our morning started off SUPER early. Every morning starts off early for me, but this one was different because we were getting on the road before 4:00am to go to Cook's. Seiden's sonogram was scheduled for 7:30am and her MRI was scheduled for 10:00am. Because she was going under anesthesia, she couldn't eat anything 6 hours before the MRI and she couldn't drink anything 3 hours before. So, we woke her up at 3:30 that morning in hopes that we could get something in her tummy since we would be on the road and she couldn't eat anything after 4:00 that morning. My sweet girl woke up so happy and was just talking away. Thankfully, she ate an entire banana and a yogurt! I guess she was hungry from sleeping so hard! My parent's went with us. So, when they got to our house, we got the car loaded up and started heading to Ft. Worth. We weren't 10 minutes down the highway and Seiden had fallen asleep. Which was so great because she had such a long day ahead of her.
We pulled into the Dodson Specialty Clinic right at 630. We got all checked in, sat down in the waiting room, got Seiden some toys, her juice, and waited until we were called back for the first test. We didn't have to wait long at all to go back to the sonogram room. The technician we had was so sweet and Seiden did phenomenal during the sonogram. She was playing with a toy and looking at the TV they have mounted on the ceiling. There were cartoons on...so that took her mind off of what was going on! The child never watches TV...so I was surprised she was so into it. But hey, whatever works! We got a surprise while we were in the sonogram room. Dr. Mac wanted to come over from Cooks and do another sonogram on her so he could see for himself what he was looking at before the MRI later that morning. This was our first time meeting him. And, let me tell you, he is nothing but amazing. He was so sweet and gentle with Seiden. He called her his little "boo boo" and just loved on her while he was doing the sonogram on her neck and cheek. We were sitting in there the entire time and got to see everything. What we saw didn't surprise us at the same time that it did. The inside of her sweet, little, right cheek looked like a sponge. There were just hundreds and hundreds of these tiny cysts all in her cheek. Some of them were knitted together,most of them were tiny, and there were three that were pretty big. Those big ones ranged in size from a quarter to a dime. And the rest of them were tee-niny-tiny. Like...the size of the tip of a pencil or pen, tiny. He talked to us about other cases he had worked on and felt confident that he was going to be able to do the interventional radiology treatments on her. We just needed to do the MRI and get those results back so he could confirm and have an even better idea of what was going on inside her cheek and neck.
We were done with the sonogram by 8:30 and had a lot of time to kill before we needed to go over to the radiology department and get checked in there. We walked over to Cooks (Dodson is connected to Cook's, so we can walk across on a sidewalk and be to either place) thinking we could go to Build A Bear for a bit while we waited. But, they don't open until 10:00. So, Cody and dad went and had some breakfast while mom and I walked Seiden around in her stroller around the perimeter of Cooks. We didn't want to eat in front of her since she couldn't eat, so we went in shifts. It started to sprinkle while we were outside. So, we went back in and looked at the Lego replica of the building, went to the library, the music room, strolled back around the hospital, switched shifts, and then it was just about time to head back. So, we all walked back over to Dodson for the MRI. We had to wait awhile for them to take her back this time. I was getting nervous because I was afraid she was going to start getting really hungry and/or thirsty and there was nothing anyone could do for her. But, just like every other time, she totally surprised me and was just as happy and content. The nicest thing about a children's hospital, is that it is solely geared towards children. There is a TV in every waiting and pre-op room, toys in every room, a big play room at the back of each department, and the doctor's and nurses are just absolutely amazing with kids. You can just see and feel the love they have for them. Finally, it was time for her to go back. The anesthesiologist came in and looked at her, took her vitals, and asked us a bunch of questions. While he was examining her, he noticed her trachea was pushed a little over to the left. He told us that it was due to the fact that the cyst had put so much pressure on it while she was developing, it moved it slightly. But, it had never been a problem and should never turn into one. Just more of an observation than anything. After that, we got to go back with her while they put her under. Another perk of a children's hospital...scented anesthetics. We always pick cotton candy for her because...well...because cotton candy smells AMAZING! This was the hardest part of the day. The techs and doctors held her arms and legs while we rubbed on them and soothed her. And, I laid my head next to hers and just talked to her and prayed over her while she feel asleep. It didn't take more than 30 seconds. And, when we were leaving, one of the nurses prayed over us and her, then wheeled her into the MRI room. There is no better hands we could be leaving her in when she goes back with those doctors and nurses. We truly know she is in God's hands and He has sent these men and women down to lay healing hands on her.
It was just about lunch time when we came out to the waiting room to get my parents. They told us it would be about an hour from the exam time until she woke completely up. So, we went ahead and walked over the food court in Cooks to grab a quick lunch. After we all got what we wanted, we sat down to eat. Just as we were finishing up with lunch, I got a text on my phone and our pager went off. Seiden was out of her MRI and it was time for us to go back to the waiting room.
Seiden wasn't fully awake when we got back to her room. While we waited for her to wake completely up,we went ahead and changed her back into her pj's. We had to leave on all her monitors and she had to take a few sips of juice before we could leave. So, we wanted her to be comfy and already in her pj's so we could snuggle her and allow her to be as comfy as possible while she finished waking up. It didn't take her long to fully wake-up, but she was a little out of sorts for the first few minutes. She was really confused and upset until she realized we were there with her and she was ok. However, she did not like the monitors. She started grabbing at her toes to try and pull them off. The nurse told us it was ok because, clearly, her vitals were fine and she was ok. She didn't want any juice at first, but we finally got her to drink a few sips. Then, we were discharged and they walked us to our car. Before we left for home, we made one more stop to Toys 'R Us. We knew she would need to run around and play a little bit before we headed back home. But, we didn't want to take her to a park because she was in her pj's and houseshoes. So, we thought it would be better if we took her there so she could look at everything and get a little bit of active time before the long ride home. Since she had been under anesthesia, we knew she would tire out faster than normal, so we just walked around and looked at books, stuffed animals, and dolls. It wasn't long and we could tell she was getting tired. So, we went to pay for a couple of things we found for her, loaded up in the car, and headed home. Another safe trip, and hopefully some answers for the questions we had about what we were going to do for Seiden.
We didn't find out the results that day. But, we did get a phone call from Dr. Mac that next week. He confirmed what he had already told us he thought. That she was, in fact, a candidate for the interventional radiology treatment that he wanted to do on her. The treatment was called sclerotherapy and it was going to be an outpatient procedure. We were so excited to hear that news! Just knowing that she wouldn't have to be intubated, possibly sedated, and in the hospital for a few days, was music to our ears. The only bad news, she would have to have more than one of these procedures. We didn't know how many, but from how Dr. Mac talked, we thought probably close to five of them. I hung up the phone with him relieved, anxious, nervous, excited, thankful, sad, angry, just a flood of emotions came over me. I knew God was leading us through, just like He always had. I knew Seiden was going to be fine and this was just another phase in her journey. I knew that this was God's way of putting physicians in her life to do His works here on this earth and heal her. Our appointment for the first sclerotherapy treatment was scheduled for June 22nd.
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