Poor baby

Bryce has been having these abnormal bruises with masses behind them all along his spine for several months off and on. Sometimes they are directly over the vertebra and other times spotted along side of the spine. Always looking like an index finger print. He also has a sacral dimple the pediatrician has been watching since he was an infant. With those two things, his pediatrician recommended we go see a neurosurgeon at Children's National Hospital in DC. The same place he has surgery on his arm last November for a consult. We talked to the neurosurgeon who wanted to do an MRI. So, here we are on the MRI day to rule out any spinal issues such as a tethered cord or abnormalities that would require spinal surgery. It was such a long day and Bryce was such a trooper. Being almost 3, they needed to sedate him to keep him completely still. The MRI lasted just over an hr. We practiced for the big day by using a oxygen mask my friend gave us (she is a nurse) which I think helped a lot. Poor thing just looked at me with his big blue eyes and whimpered as I held him, with the mask on his face giving him "laughing gas" before they inserted the IV. He didn't try to pull away, but just looked into my eyes with his eyes so big with fear and wet with tears. I bet his body felt funny and he was scared. All I could say was "mommy's here" over and over as I held him. After laying him on the stretcher to get the IV with propaphol to sedate him for the scan, and being told to go wait in the waiting room, I left, went to the bathroom and balled for a good 15 minutes. My little baby, so trusting, so innocent, and not even fighting, just scared and tearful whimpering... I could not stop picturing his eyes. I didn't want to be away from him. I didn't want him to be scared. I suddenly was scared. What if something was really wrong with his spine?
They came and got me when he was done so I would be there when he woke up. It just an unsettling feeling seeing your baby with an IV, hooked up to monitors, and an oxygen tube in his nose. He woke up about a half hour later and didn't cry or anything. He wanted the tube out of his nose and IV out of his hand. The tube came out, but IV needed to stay a bit longer.
He was a little loopy and said, "My so brave at the doctors. My didn't cry like this, wah, wah..." I told his he was so brave and he could have a Popsicle if he wanted one. He was very excited b/c all morning he kept saying, "My SOOOOO hungry!" He couldn't eat or drink anything for the day and he last ate/drank at dinner the night before and was up at 6am. Poor thing. He kept the Popsicle down and so a bit later was able to leave to go directly to see the neurosurgeon for the follow up appt and read the results. All in all, we were there from 7:15am and after seeing the neurosurgeon, left at 1:30pm. LONG DAY!
Turns out, his spine is okay. Thank goodness! The dimple is just a deep dimple with no connection to the spinal cord which is great. The bruising however is still a concern for the doctors. The next step is to do a full blood work up and check for blood disorders. But for now, the MRI is done and Bryce is doing well. I just hate putting my baby through these tests- especially after all he's gone through, and continues to go through with his arm. I wish I could take it from him and do it all myself!
(playing Dr the night before his MRI. This is Bryce's turn to be the Dr. Check out those glasses!)
(Bryce's turn as the brave patient. We practiced taking deep breaths and counting slowly to ten).

(Bryce thought it was so special he got his own hospital gown. He said, "now I'm a princess!" Clearly he needs more guy friends! :)
(waiting, with sheepie of course for the anesthesiologist. The whole MRI process from start to having him wake up again was 4 hrs. Too bad the DVD player only had 10 minutes of power in it. Grrrr!)