MRI scan day

I was woken up by a nurse at 6 am telling me that Annette was to have her last feed then but she was still sleeping soundly so I didn't think I should wake her as she was supposed to have her last feed at 4 am. She was woken up by everyone's stirrings around 730 am and it was the start of another tiring day. She was still sleepy but I couldn't nurse her anymore (unfortunately she nurses to sleep) so I ended up having to carry this hungry and sleepy and bored girl around the ward, dragging along her drip (together with the metal stand), for the next 2 hours or so!

Thank God the doctors decided to bring forward the BAER test (to test her hearing and ear signals to the brain) to 930 am instead of it being done simultaneously with the MRI scan so Annette could be sedated and get the rest that she so wanted and needed. (Thank God this test came back normal.) It was quite difficult getting her to take the oral sedation (even the nurse got scared off the moment she started crying when the nurse tried giving it to her so it was up to me). And unfortunately I didn't have the extra props like a place to put the syringe and the patapum carrier which would have freed up one of my hands because it would get in the way of the drip. Thus it was a difficult task carrying the unreluctant and twisting Annette in one arm and the syringe in the other arm, and Annette almost wanted to vomit the medicine out (thank God the helper in the next bed got tissue for me.) so I was fumbling and about a third of the medicine dripped out of the syringe. But thank God she managed to take enough medicine to be sedated after we walked around and tried to find a quiet place to make it conducive for her to sleep.

She also had her eyes checked under sedation. (Thank God her eyes were fine too.) She continued sleeping soundly after the tests were done so we just waited for the nurse to bring her back to the ward. We thought they would just replace the bed but the nurse ended up carrying her to transfer her to the other bed, so Annette woke up. (Think I should have carried her instead because she's so sensitive to others' touch.) This meant she had to be sedated again for the MRI scan and she couldn't take the oral sedation again. So she had intravenous sedation (via the plug).

She was given a dose of sedation but it was more difficult getting her sedated this time round because she was very fretful (possibly because she was very hungry and still tired) and the place was less conducive for her to fall back asleep. The next patient in line took his turn while we waited for the nurse to get another medicine (though we had to wait quite a while for the nurse to get this extra dose and Annette was fretting away - don't know why they didn't prepare it beforehand...). Then after the doctor added ketamin sedation, she soon knocked out and was next in line. It was very nice of 3 friends to drop by for a visit while they were on leave as they got some food for us since we were too busy to eat much, and their company was comforting during the 40-minute wait. And it was a nice coincidence that one of our friends knew the doctor attending to us.

After the scan was done, Annette was still sound asleep. Thank God her pulse etc remained fine throughout the sedation. The doctor took the opportunity to examine her (because she usually makes it very difficult for doctors to examine her by squirming and crying away). Thank God he didn't detect any problems with her kidneys, heart etc. The doctors needed to still take another sample of her blood to test her CMV level again but thank God they managed to get enough blood from the plug instead of having to insert another needle. But she woke up crying (she was in the procedure room so we couldn't see what had made her wake up). But at least she could finally get to breastfeed and then she went back to sleep. I managed to finally get a bit of rest then too.

We waited quite long to be discharged because they also wanted to collect her urine sample but she took quite a while. Thank God she didn't show any signs of nausea after eating bread and drinking. During the long wait, Carlsen had to settle the car issue. Thank God my sis-in-law could pick Sam up from school and my in-laws fed Sam dinner while my mum and I settled the discharge. We took a cab back home and I managed to feed Annette more, bathe her and put her to bed as quickly as possible, while Carlsen picked up Sam after he was done. Thank God for the energy we needed for yet another hectic day.