Friday's events unfolding...

This post is coming later than I had hoped. Several of you already know the unfortunate events of Friday but you can still enjoy the cute picture of Grant!

Grant, before taking the liquid medicine and 6 failed IV attempts

So here are the events as they unfolded: Friday started bright and early with the three of us in the car by 7am. My mom watched Kate for me so it was just Grant and me going to the hospital. We made it to the hospital in great time and without Grant asking for breakfast. He couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight Thursday. So I was nervous as to how he would do without his banana and water first thing in the morning. He did ask to "ea" and signed "eat" two minutes after he woke up but I simply told him that the doctor said "No breakfast before we go to the hospital." He just listened to my answer and I never heard another word about breakfast!

When the nurse saw that Grant was a little guy she suggested we try a liquid form of sedation first instead of an IV. I thought it was a great idea because I was already apprehensive as to how he would do with getting an IV. The nurse told me if the liquid didn't work then we would have to do an IV. I understood that hoping the liquid would do the trick.

He did not react well at all to the liquid. He was very drugged but very restless at the same time. His body would not be still and since he was so drugged he was very floppy and had very little control over his body movements. So the nurse tried to get an IV started after 20-25 minutes of Grant being on the liquid. She couldn't get it in and in the process Grant fell asleep. Wonderful we thought! After 10 minutes the nurse scooped him up and brought him back to the MRI room.

Five minutes later I hear Grant screaming and the nurse coming back into the room getting the IV stuff and then headed back to Grant, still in the MRI room. I continue to hear him screaming. I can barely see through the doors of the MRI room. I see two nurses and I'm assuming the MRI tech messing with his arm and then his leg. I felt helpless because I didn't know what was going on with Grant and there was no one to talk to at the front desk. And the MRI room says all over the doors "Authorized Personel Only". So I call my mom, and RN, and tell her what is going on. She says to march in there and tell them I want to know what is going on. So I did, well, I didn't exactly march in there but I did get their attention. One nurse quickly came to me and told me I couldn't be in there and I told her I wanted to know what was going on. She said that he woke up in the process of getting him hooked up to monitors and so then they proceeded to get an IV going. She said, "I'm not just saying this but we're pretty good at this. We're trying but his veins keep blowing." So she goes back in with Grant while I'm trying not to lose it.

10 minutes later the nurse brings Grant to me and says, "We couldn't get it. We tried 4 times." Actually it was 6. It was a rather tense 15 more minutes as I was trying to keep my cool while man handling Grant. He was crying, drugged, restless, and there was nothing I could do to help him other than try to keep him from hurting himself by flopping around everywhere.

During those 15 minutes I found out:
- every time they tried to start an IV Grant's veins would blow (still not exactly sure what that means except that it prevents the IV to work)
- IV sedation is what they do in most cases for MRI's
- Grant had a "bad reaction" to the liquid, a reaction no one could know without trying it 1st
- at the latest, the medication would be completely worn off by the next morning. "Great," I thought sarcastically to myself.
- we would have to reschedule the MRI for when an Anestisiologist could sedate him
- they don't have an Anestisiologist right now because they normally don't need one for these type of procedures
- that we were in for a long and hard time until this medicine wore off
- caffiene will help offset the medicine so we gave Grant as much coke as he would drink. It did help some.

So we finally make it to the car. I loose it. I was drained emotionally and physically. I call Joel and he can't talk because he just had a major spill. That's when I really loose it. I call my mom and can hardly talk. She says to go home and she will bring Kate to me. Somehow I didn't loose it when talking next to my good friend Tammy, who called earlier just after the nurse had brought Grant back to me. I wasn't able to take the call obviously.

We get home and before bringing him in the house, as he had fallen asleep for most of the way home, I put his mattress on the floor then bring him in. He woke up and would not go back to sleep. He is still in the same state that he was since 9:20am and it's now after 11am: drugged, restless, whiny/crying, eyes half open, talking asking about Kate and asking for me to sing his favorite song to him. My mom was here by now and I am so thankful she was there with me and that Kate was taking her nap. After an hour of being at home still man handling Grant, I decide to drive around in the car with the hopes of him falling asleep in his carseat. That worked for 35 minutes. By the time we came home we could tell the medicine was starting to wear off and by 3pm we were closing the door to his room as he was falling asleep on his own in his own bed. Praise the Lord!

Joel came home and my mom left taking Kate with her. I had the best nap ever while Grant slept until after 4:30! When he woke up most of the the medicine had worn off. The only thing was his balance was still a little off. We had several close calls of him hurting himself very badly by falling or bumping into something. We were on hard core "Grant watch".

So no MRI on Friday and he is scheduled for Dec. 10 with an Anesthesiologist present. That day they will put a mask on him that will knock him out and then they will get an IV going to keep him knocked out while the do the MRI. The medicine given through the mask will make his veins swell a little so the IV that day should not be a problem.

December 10 seems like a long time from now but Tammy said that it is good: We will need that much time to recover from Friday. That's perspective for you. When I was talking to her on the way home from the hospital I told her, "I have all my family coming over for dinner tonight in honor of my brother home for a 2 week leave from Iraq!" She calmly said, "Good. That's good." And it was very good! Having them here getting my mind off of the days' events, enjoying family, and letting them love on Grant was what I needed.

I know many of you were praying for Grant on Friday. Thank you for your prayers! I know they really helped in me getting through the day and for the medicine not talking until the next day to wear off! I'm not really sure why things happened the way they did but I will share one more thing and then I am done with this post - I promise! - Throughout the whole day on Friday what kept going through my mind was this "I am not in control of anything but rather He who holds all things in His hands." When Joel's sister Sarah and her husband Lance went back home to Mexico they had some unexpected events happen on their way home that were rather inconvenient. In their email letting everyone know they had finally made it home that is what they said and it really stuck out in my mind. Now I know why.

God is in control and I am not going to let Satan have victory in the midst of an awful day. I am thankful for the sweet time I had with Grant before 9:20 and thankful for all of my faithful friends and family that God has surrounded me with to uphold me during times like this. He is a good God and with that comes much peace and comfort, especially during an awful day like Friday!