Hannah and Cook Childrens Hospital

Puzzle time when we first arrived at the hospital

Eating a popsicle after recovering from MRI sedation and incubation

Sleepy little Princess....

Tuesday Hannah was admitted to Cook Childrens Hospital for her 24 hour Video Monitoring EEG and MRI. We arrived at the hospital about 7:20 am and she was not fully "hooked up" until about 11:10. So our 24 hours of monitoring started 4 hours after we arrived. The first 20 minutes of monitoring she gave daddy and the nurses a good fit. I am not sure if they got all of it on video though, as they were still trying to get it all hooked up.

Hannah did really well considering she has a Sensory Integration Disorder. Having the electrodes glued to her head used all of her senses, and her brain does not know how to process all of it together. So, it was very painful for her. They measure and mark your head with a marker, then they start scraping the marks where they have to put the electrodes. Then they literally GLUED them on. The glue stunk REALLY bad, and they used a air pressure thing to dry the glue, which hurt poor Hannah. The sound and pressure really bothered her. After putting all the electrodes (about 25 or more) on her head. They wrapped her head up like a burrito. Someone told her it was her princess crown. She didn't fall for it. She told us that it wasn't a crown because it wouldn't move or come off. She did get awarded by one of the nurses with a new High School Musical Barbie. She was excited about that.

The Child Life Staff is really good. I was extremely impressed, especially with Alana.

After being all hooked up and in our room, Hannah had fun playing puzzles, coloring, painting, playing dolls and watching ALOT of Movies. Thank goodness they have 3 Disney movie channels. The nurses came in every hour or so and took vitals and checked on us. The first day went by really slow. That night we went into the playroom (20 minute limit off the machine) and it gave Hannah a little time out of the bed. :) We finally got her to go to sleep about 11:20 after taking a dosage of Tylenol and rubbing her feet for 20 minutes. She woke up about 12:50 - 1:15 with a "Night Terror". It lasted about 7 minutes. (which is nothing compared to some she has been having). The nurses came in and did their testing to see how she responded or didn't respond to them. After that episode we got to sleep until about 5:10 when the nurse came in to bring Hannah breakfast. She wasn't allowed to eat past 6 am so we wanted to try to get her to eat a little. (didn't work - she would not wake up). When I say sleep, it wasn't straight sleep. The light had to be on all night so the camera could see Hannah and plus a nurse came in about every hour to check. They didn't always wake us up though.

Wednesday morning, Hannah slept until about 8:15 and we watched movies and layed in bed together all morning. The MRI staff came in about 1:15 - 1:30 and took us for her MRI. They sedated her, and then she woke up about 4:15 and we went back to our room. We were finally discharged about 5:25 and Hannah was so ready to get back home. She painted a truck for Hailey and she wanted to give it to her and show everyone all the stuff she got from the hospital. Once home, she was the happiest little girl in the world.

She told us numerous times at the hospital Tuesday and Wednesday that this was the worst day ever and she never wanted to come here again.

I hate that she had to go through all the testing, but I think it will be important in diagnosing everything that is going on.

Now, we wait until next week for the results. Waiting is always the hardest part.

Friday I go to the MS Big Dogs at Southwestern Medical Center for my first appointment. We will see if they give me any more info on my condition. I am hoping they can get me into a GI specalist who will actually do some testing. I am tired of having stomache issues.