MRA

The day of the MRA, I woke up at 5:00 a.m. and got myself ready. I had gotten all of Aerin's things ready the night before. I packed sippy cups, a big jug of Pedialyte, Aerin's medical folder, Cheerios, and Aerin's favorite blanket (I knitted it for her when I was pregnant). I got Aerin up around 6:20 a.m. I changed around everything I usually do when I get her up so that she wouldn't expect to get a sippy - I changed and dressed her in her room, rather than in the playroom, and I hustled her right out to the car.

She was completely awake by the time we got on the road and did her usual looking out the window, though she did babble more than she usually does. We were about 10 minutes early because I didn't figure that parking would be so much easier at that time of day. I know St. Mary's quite well and we found the MRI dept. without any problems. We signed in and waited. Aerin was not happy to be awake and unfed, so I walked her around and recited her favorite Sandra Boynton stories (Andrew and I both have them committed to memory) until the nurse came for us. We were taken into an inner waiting room and this one had a television. I put on Sesame Street for Aerin and Elmo was on. Aerin has seen Elmo maybe 4-5 times before (we allow almost no t.v.) and she loves him. She cracked the nurse up by laughing at him (if only he would use pronouns). I went over Aerin's medical info with the nurse and met the anesthesiologist and radiologist. Each of them answered my questions patiently and thoroughly.

Aerin was under very light anesthesia - just enough to keep her asleep and pain-free. They would be able to wake her up almost instantly if there were any complications. There are 2 types of dye typically used and they chose to use the one that rarely causes complications.

I took Aerin back into the prep room. They had me lay her on a stretcher and they put the mask on her. She was out in seconds and I had to leave. This was the hardest part of the day. Aerin usually seems so big to us because we remember how tiny she was, but she looked so small and still. There is something very primal and counter-intuitive about leaving your unconscious child in the hands of strangers who are about to poke into her. Your reason goes away and you are filled with an urgent need to protect your baby. Every instinct was screaming at me to grab her and run. It's a feeling that was familiar to me from the NICU, so I was able to leave.

I went up to the waiting area where I was issued a pager. The pager goes off when they're ready for you to come to recovery. I got a triple espresso latte, which I forced myself to drink, and settled down to pray. As is Jewish tradition, I said Tehillim (Psalms), which I read from my awesome Classic ArtScroll Tehilim. Rabbi Case found me shortly before the pager went off and was so comforting.

It only took about 2 hours total before Aerin was done. Rabbi Case and I went to the recovery room, which was nicer than any I'd ever seen. It was actually 2 rooms - an inner one with stations (stretchers, monitoring equipment, etc.) and an outer one with big, rocking armchairs. A nurse came out carrying Aerin, who was asleep. She didn't even wake up when the nurse handed her to me. I tried to give her some Pedialyte, but she wouldn't take it and just wanted to cuddle against me and sleep. When she finally did open her eyes, she was mad. I think she would have screamed, but her voice was scratchy from being intubated. When I offered her the Pedialyte again, she grabbed the sippy and gulped it down. She threw up most of the first cup all over me (not from nausea, but because mucus collected in her lungs from being completely still and intubated and she had to clear it out). Luckily, she missed herself and the blanket and the nurses cleaned me up. The second cup stayed down. The sippy calmed Aerin right down. We only give her milk and water and no sweets except for fruit, so the Pedialyte was a delicious treat. I gave her Cheerios and she ate almost an entire (small) tupperware full. Rabbi Case said Tehillim in thanks and gave Aerin a bracha (blessing).

Aerin is a very special child. People are drawn to her in ways I've never seen. There was another patient in the recovery room - an elderly lady, who was with her blind husband. Elderly ladies always dote on Aerin, but I never expected that anyone recovering from surgery would take notice of anyone else. That sweet lady just couldn't take her eyes off Aerin and told her husband all about her. All of the nurses came to sit by us to look at Aerin.

When Aerin had drank and eaten, our nurse Binah took us to the MRI dept. to pick up the films. It turned out that they wouldn't be ready for 2 hours. The receptionist kindly assured me that she would personally walk them up to Dr. Haynes office when they were ready. We headed for home.

Aerin was completely recovered within a few hours. I got her right back on her schedule and she was her usually self when she woke up from her nap. The doctors and nurses are so good that she didn't have any bruising at the needle sites.

One down, one big one to go.