Last week marked the one year anniversary of Z's spinal cord surgery. (you can read more about that here) To celebrate, the neurologist ordered a follow-up MRI. We wore the kid out the day before and kept her up late, as requested by the nurse, and tried to feed her a bottle of milk around midnight, which she hilariously refused since all she wanted was to go back to sleep.
So, bright and early and with an empty stomach for the bambino, we headed to St. Mary's for the big test.
Last year, our tiny three month old went through the second MRI of her little life (the first was the day after she was born and we, thankfully, we not a part of it) and it was a total effing nightmare. (read more on that here) This time was muuucchh better. Still not the best time I've ever had, but it went pretty well. This time we opted not to sit in the noisy darkened MRI room, and went back to the little exam room and watched the Today show. Time flew by. And when Z woke up from sedation (just in time for Sesame Street), she was right back to her old self, albeit a wee bit drunk. If she was already talking, she'd end up on You Tube, for sure..."Is this real life?" I so wish I had been allowed to have my cell phone so I could video how funny she was acting.
The doctor and nurses warned us that she'd be groggy for the next few hours, so we had planned to snuggle in and watch Frozen--something the Hubs and I were looking forward to since our nerves were shot. No such luck! By the time we got home from the hospital, Zoey was bouncing around-you would never had known what she had just been through.
Fast forward to yesterday--we met with Z's amazing neurologist. Actually, Zoey walked into the office. Kind of a big deal, considering.
And although we both felt totally confident (I mean, have you seen this kid walk?!), seeing for ourselves that Z's spinal cord was doing as well as we hoped would definitely put our minds at ease.
I am happy to report that Zoey is beyond awesome...something we all knew, obviously. Without getting all science-y on you guys... there are no signs that her spinal cord has re-tethered. The fatty mass that was hugging the base of her spinal cord (80ish% of which was removed during surgery) has gotten bigger, but only because she has gotten bigger, so no worries there either. And, her spinal cord, which had been stretched longer than normal due to the tethering, has ascended (which sounds bad but is actually really good) up a bit in her back, closer to the spot where it should be, though it will most likely never get to that spot. And that shouldn't be a big deal either as Z grows.
black & white top - similar here
Looks like we'll have to endure the MRI adventures once a year for a while, just to check in with her growth and progress. The last big hurdle will be potty training, since the nerves that are involved with that whole nightmare process could have been affected. Thankfully, it'll be another year or so before we even have to worry about it.
So, huge sigh of relief.
We couldn't have been more pleased with how well Zoey recovered and hit all of her milestones. Not only is she a walking fool, but she dances, jumps, runs, climbs, and throws herself all over the place in typical toddler fashion. Not too shabby. In fact, as I type this post, Z is running back and forth, moving magnets from the kitchen to the family room.
We are feeling especially blessed.
No comments:
Post a Comment