More MRIs

If you follow our blog you know that this has been the year of modern medicine at our house. We are still continuing this trend. Hopefully that will change next year!

In October I took Ben to see a Pediatric Neurologist. He has had some hand tremors for several years. I asked our doctor about it before he started kindergarten, but he didn't seem too worried as long as it wasn't impairing his function. After our situation with Lizzy this year I became more concerned about this problem with Ben. When we went in for his Well Checkup I asked our new pediatrician about it. She referred us to the neurologist. He diagnosed Ben's tremors as Essential Tremors, sometimes called Familial Tremors. Usually this is something you see in older people. It is a bit unusual to have in a child this young, but for now Ben can do most things. As the tremors worsen and cause problems in Ben's functionality (hopefully a long way off) then there are medications to help with this. We chose not to put Ben on anything right now because the side effects of these meds are so nasty. I told the doctor about Lizzy and said I was concerned it could be a symptom of a similar problem. He didn't think it would be, but agreed to have an MRI done on Ben's brain to rule out that possibility. Lizzy's neurosurgeon had told us that the Chiari can run in families and to be on alert for any symptoms.

I was very grateful we were able to get an MRI for Ben. It is a little scary though because he needed to be put to sleep. Lizzy is unusual for a child her age and has been able to be as still as still can be for her MRIs (the only one that gave her a little trouble was when they did an MRI with flexion in her neck putting her in all sorts of uncomfortable positions). Ben and I both knew he wouldn't be able to be still so would need to be put to sleep. So one day he and I spent the day at the hospital. There is a great children's hospital here in Des Moines. They were awesome and so helpful to Ben. They assigned a Child Life specialist to him who explained things both with pictures and with words and told him exactly what was going to happen. She had an Ipad that she brought so he could play games while we waited. He was awesome! He stayed calm and came through with flying colors. We are happy to report that his brain was completely normal. A big sigh of relief for this mom. That brings our family MRI total for the year up to 7. Technically it could be considered even more because Lizzy will sometimes have two different studies done at once. Crazy huh? Way to go Ben. You were really brave.

Ben before with the IV ready to go in his left arm.

Still asleep after the MRI.

Trying to wake up so we can go home. You rock Ben!