3 month Checkup

We had our 3 month checkup today with the neurologist. We knew that this would be Robert's first MRI since his surgery. We really wanted to see how things may have changed. We were also anxious to see Dr. George for the first time since the surgery, but it turns out they had scheduled us with his partner, Dr. Lee. I called the nurse yesterday and tried see if there was anyway we could get in to see Dr. George instead. She tried to help, but he just wasn't available today. We did check and they said that in the future we can request to see Dr. George. Hopefully that will work out. The positive side to this is that after seeing Dr. Lee (who was very nice) we have two excellent neurosurgeons that know Robert and his medical history. That way if we have an emergency we will be comfortable with both doctors. We found out today that both doctors encourage all patients to alternate between them, so that both Dr. George and Dr. Lee get to know the patients and their medical conditions.

Kelly took Robert to his MRI appointment this morning. The MRI took place at an imaging center that is downstairs from Dr. George's office. Luckily, the MRI went really fast. They call it a fast acquisition MRI, because it takes less than five minutes. We talked with the MRI tech about how nice it was for Robert's brain to be scanned so quickly, and she said Dr. George is the one who developed fast acquisition MRIs! We were glad it was a quick MRI, because Robert had a hard time staying still! We didn't want to have to sedate Robert, so the MRI tech tried to wrap him up real tight to keep him from moving around. Dell Childrens Hospital uses body casts to keep the babies still, but this imaging center didn't have any of those, so they wrapped him up real tight in a blanket. Then they gave Kelly earplugs and they put headphones on Robert. The MRI tech told Kelly that babies really hate earplugs - they'd almost rather hear the loud MRI machine than have earplugs in their ears. So they put headphones on Robert. Kelly said it was so cute to see Robert with these giant headphones on - they even had a microphone attached. Robert looked like a little pilot! They wrapped him up real tight and told Kelly to stick her head in the machine to talk to him and hopefully keep him still. Well, that didn't work so well - Robert kicked and screamed the entire time. They weren't able to get any good pictures, so they asked Kelly to lay on the table with Robert - actually on top of Robert! They wanted her to lay her head on Robert's stomach to comfort him. Then they ran them both through the MRI machine! Luckily, Robert settled down immediately and they were able to get a good luck at Robert's brain - and maybe Kelly's too! Kelly had no idea when she brought Robert in this morning that she was also going to have an MRI!

We met with Dr. Lee about an hour after the MRI. When we met with Dr. Lee he said that Robert's MRI looked completely normal! That was such a relief and wonderful news to hear. He looked over the shunt and checked to make sure it was still pumping fine. He said everything looked great. We were amazed to see the difference between the MRI in September and the MRI today. Robert's MRI in September was basically black, because there was so much fluid covering his brain. The extra fluid pushed all of his brain tissue to the edge, so you could hardly see it on the MRI. The MRI today was completely grey, showing quite a bit of brain tissue and hardly any fluid! It was really neat to see. We were so relieved after today's appointment. We got the best news that we could have asked for!

We did talk about a few other questions. Robert has a bit of a head tilt and is also developing a little bit of a flat spot on one side of his head. We think that both of these may be related to the location of the shunt, because Robert prefers to lay on the side without the shunt. So, we are going to have referrals to a couple of specialists for physical therapy so we can make the side of his head with the shunt a little stronger. The nice part is that the physical therapists make house calls! Dr. Lee said Robert probably won't need much physical therapy, if any at all. Usually these types of things will work themselves out over time, but it never hurts to have a specialist take a look.

We were very happy with the outcome of our appointment today. We will go back to see Dr. George in June (six months from now), and then we'll start our yearly visits after that. We cannot thank you enough for your prayers and well wishes. They have definitely made a difference. We are so thankful to have such a great support system.