MRI Scan - The Day

Many's been asking... what happened that day...
here goes, a little long... do bear with me.

To the hospital
6am, Jere was still sleeping when we grabbed him and rushed to the hospital as we were told to admit at 6am and uh oh... we were late. As we hopped on the car, Jere opened his eyes and smiled thinking... "Oh? an outing so early?" Poor boy, not knowing what he is in for.

Prayers prayers and more prayers
I had sent sms out to activate the prayer loop for Jere as he goes for his scan from the night before so i know Jere is very covered in prayer and we just had to trust in the Lord and let him lead.

At the hospital
We reached KKH at 0620 and headed straight for the A & E admissions room as instructed. After signing some papers, we were sent up to ward 55.

The nurses all were gathered at their station, looking reading to hand over to the next shift when we reached the ward. We went to the bed assigned to Jere. Bed 08. Hhhmmmm..... 5508! If anyone of you heading straight to buy... don't forget to contribute to Jeremiah's funds when you make a killing or remember the less fortunate and give some to them. On Jere's bed left is another Jeremiah who's admitted for cough and phlegm and the other side was a Chua Li Wei. Poor child. I could not tell whether the child was a boy or a gal. Li Wei looked like he/she had lots to say but couldn't say it. Tim and I then said a little prayer for Jere and all the other children in the ward. Told Tim to leave to send Nat to school.

I then decided to change Jere's diapers and try to catch some pee to send for the test. Got a container from the nurses and went to clean Jere up. Managed to catch some pee mid stream. Asked the nurses if I should send it to Clinic K or to leave it to them to send. They told me to leave it with them. It was 7am then. They clipped it to the files of Jere.

Got standard questions, no standard procedure?
Soon a Dr A came around. Did the standard kinda questions with me and made me sign some papers. He then said he would come later to set the plug. I was like "huh? Can't you set it when you all knock him out later for his MRI? Then it would be less traumatic to the child?" Dr A's answer was "oh? they did it like that last time? ok. good then i wouldn't have to do it." Then he also asked what drug allergy does Jere has as there was a sticker on his files to warn of allergy. I then explained that the allergy was a precautionary thing for spina bifida cases as 80% of them has latex allergy. then he said... "oh is it? i've never heard of it... where did you hear that from?" then our dear Dr A continued to say all their spina bifida kids never had latex allergy es if doubting what i had to say. Praise God they do not have this latex allergy as it would be tough to be latex free in the medical world... as gloves are latex... and even the sticky tapes they use... has latex...Well, this info is from the neuro surgeon and the internet. so it seems that these doctors may not know as much as you think they do :P but still i feel this dear dr here lacks humility... haven't he heard... everyday we learn something new? the last dr when jere was admitted was nicer about the whole thing.. he too have not heard of latex allergy but he was like... oh... ok i learn something new today! that dr was really nice.. can't remember his surname but i rem his name was Chin Tye and he's a christian too! he even played with Jere and jere gave him a half smile. God bless his heart wherever he has gone.
I just find it so so strange. Can't they just make it a standard procedure if they were going to knock out a child, do the setting of the plug only when they are knocked out? So what would happen to those children whose parents just entrusted to the hospital?

Anyway,
0830 - i was trying to sing Jere to sleep as he is getting a little grouchy. I suppose he's hungry as he has not had anything since 3-4am when he nursed in bed. I don't even know how much has he taken. The ward was just gettin too noisy as the day starts so i carried jere in my sarong sling and went out singing him to sleep. Jere slept.

Dr G came around. Found out about the urine and said to do a clean intermittent catheter (CIC) to have a clean catch of pee to send for test as what was there has been left too long she says. Apparently as they changed shift, they left the urine sample juz there. There was this staff nurse Wan Sin who just stood there for her instructions and me trying to argue... must we do the catheter? can we just send this for the test? Dr G even wanted to wake Jere from his sleep. Then i told her to leave Jere alone and do it only when he returns from his MRI. I supposed then he would be too drowsy or numb to feel much.

9am, still no news to go down to the MRI suite. Asked the nurses at the station. They said MRI side would call. at 0930, Tim returned. I handed Jere over to him and went to pump milk.

THe pump at level 5 which we were on was spoilt so i was sent to level 7 to borrow their pump. I went up to level 7 and it took them awhile before they found the funnel for me to attach to the pump. As i was pumping halfway, Tim called to say they were heading downstairs to the MRI suite. i quickly finished up with whatever i was pumping and headed straight downstairs.

At the MRI Suite
Tim was carrying Jere and the staff nurse Wan Sin was there too.
The anaesthetist came out and ask some questions then carried Jere in. We said a little prayer and left the place. I know it's gonna take at least 2 hours before he can be out. It was 1030 then.

The wait
It was starting to drizzle. We thought let's get out to grab a bite and fetch nat home and return.We went for some noodles and fetched nat to grandma's and headed straight back to the hospital.

We returned to the hospital about 12 plus and were told that it would take another half an hour more or so coz it's a long study. We left and walked about and returned at 1pm but still no news. I was getting a little worried and started to activiate prayers again. Dr G came out and apologised saying that they had to set the plug at the neck which is some big vein as they could not find any on the hands or feet. This made me feel a little worse. All i could think was... poor child. Lord, spare him. Heal him even now!

Finally
at 1.30pm, they came out and told me baby is in recovery and i was allowed inside to comfort him. Jere was crying a really weak cry as if complaining. His voice was almost hoarse. Poor baby. I was allowed to carry him but still he was complaining. Then i carried him and walked around, sang hymmns and rocked him to sleep. I suppose he must be feeling the aftermath of the anaesthesia... maybe a horrible headache that he did not know how to deal with.I told the Lord to take away all his discomfort and pain.

Back to the ward
It was about 2pm before we were sent back to the ward. I laid Jere down on the bed to rest and watched him till about 3pm. i decided to lift him and make him nurse otherwise he can't go home as he had to be observed for the next 6 hours that he drinks eats and not puke before he could be discharged. i activated everyone on the prayer loop to pray for i want Jere to go home that evening. Jere drank from mama's bar and had a baby bites biscuit. then he fell back asleep.
4pm, Dr G came and removed the plug. Poor baby screamed while it was being done. then i comforted him and nursed him after. He fell back asleep. Dr G still insisted another clean urine sample to be caught via CIC. Staff Wan Sin who was with us since morning said she would do it when Jere wakes. She's really kind. Dr G went about her rounds. Tim and I discussed the necessity of doing another urine test. Then we saw Dr C doing his rounds. Told tim to go ask his opinion. I think Dr C is just a medical officer so he did not dare to voice out much, putting everything very diplomatically. Then as he was explaining still, Dr G came and stood like 3 feet away from me, writing her reports. i quickly turned to her and asked again is it necessary and her opinion is still the same yes.... explaining that the staff did not send the urine sample straight to test and kept at room temperature and the test may not be accurate. actually i was quite furious then but kept my cool coz i felt the staff was at fault for not acting on it. anyhow, dr g also said that getting the pee from CIC would be really clean and that would be better. We finally gave in since Jere was already in the hospital... might as well la...Jere is still sleeping while the whole world turns... haha almost upside down thanks to dear mama me :P Dr G then said we would see Dr T in 2 weeks time and she said the scan shows the water quite stagnant and no pressure on the brains. PRAISE THE LORD! THANK YOU LORD! Urine in the morning was sent for test after all. The results was the wbc has fell to 17 from a high of 2000! These 2 pieces of news were great news! wonderfully good news! all we had to do is TRUST IN HIM.

First experience of CIC and news of discharge
5pm we carried jere into the treatment room. Staff Wan Sin was really gentle. Jere was still drifting in and out of sleep as she did it. Then a Dr came in and said Jere can be discharged. We exclaimed PRAISE THE LORD! THANK YOU LORD! and she echoed after us yes PRAISE THE LORD! THANK YOU LORD! she really seemed like an angel sent to us to give us the news. Then we realised staff Wan Sin has finished what she was doing. We cleaned Jere up and we were all ready to go home.
We left the hospital about 6pm! earlier than expected! Thank you Lord! ALLELUIA!