Good MRI News!

I think all the prayers people have been sending our way worked yesterday... the MRI was nothing but good news! Everything with the shunt is working properly and, in fact, the ventricles on left side of his brain are completely minimized to a "normal" size. These two ventricles have been getting smaller with each scan over the last year (and looked pretty good three months ago), but this time they are completely condensed and look even better. The right side is slightly smaller too than last time, and we're probably close to the final way it will look. There is still a large tunnel missing that spans from the middle to the front, but its nice to know there's been even more improvement on the right since the last scan.

Dr. Yaun was genuinely thrilled to give us the news. She told us that she has been nervous all week with him coming in, that she does NOT want to have to operate on him again. The first thing I said to her was, "Am I just crazy for seeing things in him that make me suspicious? Can I just not relax with this shunt?" She said she absolutely believes that I'm seeing changes in his eye and understands why I would be suspicious of pressure, and she feels that there is just something else going on (and wants us to follow up with our ophthamologist). She made me feel better (or less like an alarmist) when she told Bran, "Angie has always had a really good eye for picking up ealy signs in Lucas, she's seen things and been right about it before anyone else ever notices." So I guess I'm not completely crazy. She also told her resident that was in the room with us, "Lucas is very tricky because he has an amazingly high pain threshold, it is really hard to figure out when he's in pain so you have to look for other signs." She told him "this kid has come in with CT scans that would make you think he should be in great pain or even passed out, but he has been sitting here with me an hour before surgery smiling and laughing." Yep, that's our happy boy!

I told her that leaving the last surgery in November with the shunt catheter in the wrong place has had me on edge (she said, "me too"). But she said that you just can never tell... she's had catheters that are in the model place, ones you could take a picture and put it in a textbook...and two weeks later they will fail. Then you'll have ones like Lucas's last year, where it shifts into the most un-ideal place (his shifted against the wall of the ventricle four hours after surgery instead of staying in the middle), and she's seen the "embarrassing ones" (her words) work for 10 years! Go figure. She feels that punching holes in a lot of the membranes last surgery that were causing trouble is why it is working well now. I don't really care what method worked... as long as she never has to go in and do the really invasive surgery to cut out the membranes, I am thrilled.

Another thing that made me suspicious this past week (in addition to his eye dropping, lack of appetite, additional sleep, etc.) was that last week our Cranial Sacral doctor was working on his head and said, "has his shunt always been this protruding?" I hadn't really noticed anything different, so it was a surprise to me. He said it felt different to him (and he's the bone doctor who makes the most precise shifts in tiny bones... he would be one to notice). So for the following week, I have been feeling his head, noticing that you can now feel every piece of the shunt... not just the bubble valve, but the connections, the wiring, etc. This had me very nervous as well. Dr. Yaun gave us the most sensible explanation... swelling and scarring can be present around the shunt for a year or so, making it feel more like one smooth lump. Eventually the scarring can settle into hardware of the shunt, and swelling diminishes, making it much more prevalent. Makes total sense! Ok, now lets all relax.....

We were due anyway for a checkup, so it all worked out that she got us in for an MRI. She said the stars were in alignment, because she is booked until September for MRI's but one opened up at the moment I called last week (remember, too many CT's carry risk with radiation, but MRI's do not). We will see Dr. Yaun in three months for standard checkup, and in 6 months for another MRI (she wants to give him a break from CT's for awhile and do an MRI next time).

A quick funny story from yesterday... this is the first time in awhile that he's been put under that hasn't been associated with surgery where he would wake up in pain, and the last MRI was over a year ago when he wasn't verbal. They expected him to take 45-60 minutes to wake up after the procedure, but he actually woke up in 10 minutes and tried to sit up to look around. The nurse told me I could hold him, but to expect he'd be a little drunk and to hold his floppy head. As he started to wake up a little more and jabber, I asked him to say "hi." (He just started saying repeating "hi" this past week and it is so darn cute.) He was all smiley, and repeated in his loopy state, "Hhhhhiiiiiiiiieeeeee"...then he giggled. He sounded like he'd had about ten drinks. We cracked up, it was a nice to laugh after the MRI was over and know he was ok, when the morning had started very emotional having to watch him being put under.

It goes without saying that the clouds have lifted. Its amazing how different I feel when I don't have to worry about the shunt and surgery. When he's ok, everything is right with me.