First we pulled up like we normally do in front of the hospital and valet took our car. Because Hannah is an oncology patient, we don't have to pay for valet (which is nice, because then we can always leave a tip for our driver :)). When we went in, they told us we could not use valet for no cost because it was a weekend, so they couldn't stamp our pass. Ok, no problem we'll pay today.
Next, we went down to MRI. They came out and sent us to a different floor to check in, because there is no secretary in MRI on the weekends. No big deal, only a delay of about 15 minutes. Back down to MRI. It's nice and quiet since it's the weekend, so that was good. We were familiar with the tech, Brian, a nice (and very big) guy who we have seen numerous times. So about an hour into the MRI, they come in to start her IV and get ready for the contrast dye. Brian looks at her arms and decides he doesn't want to try and start the IV. He calls over the other MRI tech and after several minutes of looking, checking, probing and discussing, he decides to try it. Joe was very nice, but couldn't get a vein. Try #1.
Next they call in the radiology resident to see if he could do it. I'm wondering why they would call a radiology resident, whose job it is to read MRI's, but I'm just going with it for the moment. He arrives, and is not the poster child for confidence. He is outside for quite a few minutes, talking with Brian, and I could tell he really didn't want to try the IV. He looked at Hannah, saw that she was a young girl, and looked hesitant. He finally came in and announced "I'll give it a shot." Oh boy. It took him a lllllloooooooooonnnnnnnnnnggggggg time to even prep Hannah for the IV. I should have known when he didn't tie the rubber band properly that he wasn't a good choice. He put in the needle and poked it around her arm for about a full minute before he gave up. Try #2.
What to do next? Well it's a Sunday, so anesthesia isn't around, so that's not an option. I suggested they call one of the nurses from hemonc down, but they said they wouldn't come down. They suggested calling the radiology senior resident, and even though I didn't resist, I wasn't going to approve of that one. Brian ended up calling a nurse down from the pediatric ICU. Hannah and I were taking bets on whether it was going to be a man or woman (since they were all men so far.) We both bet on woman, but they sent both...a man and a woman. They brought down some type of handheld vein finder. The man started the IV in about 10 seconds...Try #3. Hannah has NEVER had to be stuck three times for any IV. Hence, my reservation on the weekend MRI.
I asked Brian if the MRI would be read today, but the radiology attending had already left for the day (at 10:30am) so I put it out of my mind that we would have any results today. I am going to try to contact the fellow on-call tomorrow in oncology and see if they can get a reading. The hospital is closed tomorrow in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Otherwise, we won't know until Tuesday. That is the longest we have ever had to wait for MRI results, even the initial MRI, which, by the way was January 30. 2007. I can't believe it's been almost 3 years from initial diagnosis.
Hannah and I went to the traditional celebratory Olive Garden lunch afterwards, which hopefully will be our celebration lunch. I will let you all know as soon as we do!
1 comment:
Sorry the weekend MRI didn't go so smoothly. I'll keep checking back to read the good news!
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