Need to Get Through MRI

I completely understand. My daughter had to be sedated for a CAT scan on her head. The only advice I can give you is the medicine that they gave my daughter to sedate her made her very gassy afterwards so keep that in mind and ask the doc if this happens. Try to feed him as close to the cut off time as possible. They should also have him scheduled first thing in the morning because it is harder for babies to go without the food. If they don't call and request that he is first thing if at all possible. Also try to take someone with you to help take care of him. You will be stressed out and if you have someone with you they would be good moral support. Good luck.
A.

Dear R.,

I know exactly what you mean about being apprehensive about a medical procedure like an MRI
especially your darling baby. I would just say - decide that you are going to get through this time span of deprivation for him, especially the water - that will be hard. Prepare the atmosphere in the house so that it will be low key and soft music. Also you could pray that he will sleep a lot during the deprivation time. If he doesn't then just spend that time with him and keep him very comfortable and rock and sing and go outside to see the birdies and I don't know what else, but I am sure that you will come up with something soothing for him. A cool wash cloth will help a bit and then fan him with it. It might be a distraction for a while.

Just tell yourself that it will be over and the mystery of the double dimple will be known and that is the most important thing for now.

Tell your support group that someone needs to be with you to answer the phone, keep things going smoothly - oh boy. That will be a hard day. Then it will be over. Thanks to God,

Good Luck, C. N.

My daughter is 6 and deaf. She has had to be sedated 3 times. The first two were when she was 2 and 2 1/2. She had an Audio Brain Response test, it's a hearing test. It really was no big deal. They gave her some oral meds to take and she fell asleep. The after affects weren't bad for her either. We had a two hour drive home afterward. The last time was 18 months ago, she had just turned 5. She had to be sedated for an MRI and CT scan. They did both back to back. She was being evaluated for a cochlear implant. It also was no big deal, she just fell asleep. I made sure that w/all the sedations they were scheduled first thing in the morning. This way she wasn't hungry for too long. The hardest part was after the procedures when she woke up and was hungry. They can't eat a lot after the procedure. The meds can make them nausious. The dr.s will give you instructions on when and what they can eat right afterwards.
Good Luck
K.

First off, I like to say good luck and stay strong. I haven't had to be in a situation like yours, so I can only sympathize.

I'm sure you have already considered this, but is this MRI really necessary? Are there other "signs" that his spinal cord may be tethered? If it is, is surgery necessary and is there an advantage to doing it now instead of waiting? I truely don't know anything about this kind of stuff, but I do have (as well as all three of my sisters) the same "dimples" above my butt too, and have never had any type of spinal cord/back issues. My sisters and I have had them all our lives, and we have never been over-weight or anything like that. (When I was a teenager I thought I had them b/c I was "fat" at 5'2 and 100lbs...)

It sounds like it'll be a miserable couple hours for you and your little guy, but if its going to give you better piece of mind, you may find it worth it.

Good luck to you and your son! (and your hubby of course) :) I'll be thinking of you all on Friday.

Well, I don't want to tell you that it's nothing, but I have this and all 3 of my kids do, too. When I was born, the doctors freaked out my parents, and it was nothing. When my kids were born, the doctors didn't say anything about it, but I noticed it. Good luck, and I am sorry your son has to go through all this, but hopefully, it's nothing like in my family. I really just think it's a genetic trait.

My son has the same problem A deep sacral pit, but my pediatrician believes you are able to tell with a simple ultrasound instead of the MRI my son had his ultrasound at around 9 mos and they saw that there was no tethered cord just a deep dimple. maybe ask your doctor about having a ultrasound first and if they really can't get a clear image then go for the MRI. Good Luck

My daughter was born with neuroblastomia cancer, she had to do the whole cat scan mri thing even spinal taps and if u ever saw ur child go through that is painfull enough, but my point is she has done them both ways, awake and sedated. Its much better having them rest because they need to stay still and our children are scared to death of thoes machines, even us parents but from experience,,,,, its much scarier than it really is, dont panic, look at it as finding out now before its to late, good luck and god bless.....

Hi R.,

Our daughter recently had an MRI at CPMC in SF for the same reason. She was 8 weeks old at the time and it was part of week long hospital stay where we did lots of other tests to rule out some scary congenital diseases. (We eventually discovered a urologoc condition that we are currently maintaining with the help of the terrific pediatric urologists at UCSF) Our scan was two hours long because they were looking for other issues as well. I was worried about the procedure too but it went so smoothly that I feel confident you will have a similar experience. Lily is a pretty mellow baby and not much of a complainer so we didn't have too much trouble with not feeding her. We just did our best to distract her. Maybe a break from your normal routine would help? At his age this may be more difficult than with a two month old and as a first time mom, I have no experience with older babies so I'm sorry I can't offer much advice on this. The sedation they use is pretty light and quick to fade - she woke up and came out of grogginess pretty quickly. I was not allowed in the actual MRI room as the images were being taken (which really upset me) but I was in a waiting room directly next to it. I understand that this is up to the person in charge of doing the scan (or may be the policy at your facility), so be prepared to be separated from your son during the procedure. Overall I would say that as far as tests go, this is a gentle and painless one though I completely understand that any tests done on our children are nerve-wracking, to say the least. But you may be surprised at how well you both handle it. I wish you good luck on Friday and hope to hear back from you on how it goes.

Hi R.,
My son had to have an MRI when he was 5 months old. It's scary, but just remind yourself that it is worth it. As far as the food try and feed him right before the deadlines for the various food and drink items. This way his tummy is as full as possible. And make sure you give him enough time to finish. After that just give him lots of cuddles and kisses. When they sedated my son they put an IV in his arm and let me hold him until he was out. It's actually really quick. It took less than a minute after they got the IV in for him to be asleep. Then they let me sit in the room with my son while the MRI was being done so I got to see the whole thing and I never had to leave his side. It took about 2 hours for him to fully wake up and then you can only give him juice for the first hour or two. But my son didn't actually seem that hungry at first. By that evening you wouldn't have even known that he had the proceedure done because he was up and playing. So just hang in there. I'm sure your son will be just fine. Try not to let him see you stressed because it will stress him out. I know it's easier said than done, but just try to remember it is for the best.

Hi R.,

My heart goes out to you. My daughter's dimple wasn't caught as a warning sign of a tethered cord unit she was two. She had her first MRI at Kaiser in Oakland at that time. Unfortunately the MRI was inconclusive so they waited a full year before she had another one. The second MRI came back as a tethered cord. Her dimple was very deep and irregular, she also had other signs of a possible tether. She just had her surgery at the end of June and is doing great! We are all so relieved to have this big process over with and to know that our daughter is no longer at a higher risk of a spinal cord injury.

There is nothing that I can say that you haven't heard from the doctors already about the your baby being sedated. It is stressful and it sucks! You can only do your best to be strong for your little guy and know that you are putting him in good hands. I am assuming that your are doing the MRI at a pediatric hospital where they specialize in children's MRIs and they do them all the time.

The food issue was never a big deal for my daughter. She has now been through fasting 3 times (2 MRIs and the actual surgery). Just keep him busy (or sleeping) and hopefully get it scheduled as early as possible in the morning.

Best of luck - I truly hope that your son's test goes smoothly and comes back as negative for a tethered cord.

I pray that everything turns out fine for you. I have had several MRI's. The first one was scary because I didn't know what to expect but the following one's I actually fell asleep. I'm sure the reason for the sedation is because you have to remain very still during the tests,which is impossible when referring to a small child. The chamber itself was a lil claustrophobic but I hear they are better now.The machine does all the work and it is not painful in any way!It's just like a big xray chamber.I hope that eases your mind a little.
Any question as to our childs health would leave anyone feeling the way you do. The kids are a lot tougher than we think,Iv'e raised 3 kids and almost lost one of them last year in a car accident but he got thru with no permenant damage and was released from the hospital just 5 days after brain surgery!!!! It is amazing how strong they are,Good Luck to you both & God Bless