MRI Results

For those of you who like to flip to the back of a book to figure out the ending without actually reading it: 

We got the MRI & EEG results back, and the verdict is that everything looks normal.  This is a huge relief & an even huger (is that even a word?) answer to prayer.  It's possible that the abnormalities on the CT scan were "artifact," which I think just means he moved a bit during the scan.  We're going to stick around in Thailand until the pediatric neurologist comes back just to make sure that the radiologist read the films correctly.  Hopefully, we'll be able to get some answers as to why the seizure might have happened in the first place.

And for those of you who would like to hear the drama of our night in the hospital: 

Sami & I checked into the hospital around 4 PM, having no idea what kind of accommodations would await us there.  Much to our delight & surprise (OK, maybe it was just my delight & surprise. I don't think Sami cared either way), we had a fabulously comfortable private room.  It was on the top floor of the hospital with a beautiful panoramic view of the city and the surrounding mountains.  The nurses came to take some of his vitals and asked me if he went "pee pee and poo poo" that day.  Gotta love language barriers!  We hung out in the hospital room until Kevin & Micah came to visit with Subway sandwiches for us.  By the way, is it normal for a two year old to be able to eat an entire 6 inch sub?  Because mine can.

After they left, I got Sami ready for bed. The hospital didn't provide a crib for me, so I rigged a few pillows around the end of the hospital bed and we shared it.  It wasn't the most terrific night of sleep for either of us.  The nurse woke us at 5:45 the next morning to prep him for anesthesia.  The whisked him off to another room while I got dressed.  That didn't really take long since I just slept in my clothes from the day before, so I sat down to take a few quiet moments in the word.  I was reminded by Luke in chapter 4 of the crowds of people that would flock to Jesus just to touch him in hopes that they would be healed, and by His power they were.  As I was reading, a bird flew past my window and Matthew 6 came to mind to prompt me to consider the birds, how they neither sow nor reap but are cared for nonetheless.

These were the words stirring in my heart as I realized quite a bit of time had passed, and Sami hadn't been returned to me.  In that moment of having no clue where my son was, I was challenged to again place him in the Father's hand, knowing that He is willing & able to care for him in ways that I can't.

Once I went looking for him, it turned out that he was only two doors down.  The nurses had successfully put an IV in his little hand.  To keep him from ripping it out, they had wrapped & knotted a cloth around his entire forearm, and you can imagine how unhappy my little guy was about that.

So I had an unhappy & hungry baby on my hands with nothing to do but wait for the doctors to come retrieve us and take us down to the MRI floor.  Sami screamed & screamed and there was not a thing I could do but hold him & sing to him.  I sang him every English worship song I could think of and when I ran out of those, I started on my Chinese repertoire.  Finally, he fell back asleep in my arms.  I didn't dare put him down on the gurney when the nurses came for us, so I carried him all the way to the MRI wing.

The anesthesia & MRI took about an hour, so I slept off & on in the waiting room.  When it was done, I heard Sami wake up and cry, which was comforting to know that he was ok.  They then took us to the recovery room, where he slept for another 45 minutes or so.  Not surprisingly, he woke up terribly hungry, so I was quite relieved when the doctor gave me permission to feed him a bottle.  After he had his IV removed, we packed up our things and headed home.

We are certainly grateful for the care & support we've had here and for the prayers coming from you all. The next few days will be spent waiting for the doctor and taking the boys back to the hospital for the orphan check-ups.  No time for elephants just yet but hopefully we'll be able to take care of our remaining medical stuff soon so we can do something fun!