Shelby's MRI and 18 mo. well visit

Picture of Shelby at Thanksgiving

I took Shelby to her MRI appointment on Tuesday afternoon. They had to sedate her for this and as usual, the nurse had a hard time finding a vein to get the medicine in her. After 3 sticks, they were successful. Unfortunately, Shelby seems to have gotten to the point where she realizes what they are trying to do and resists (not that I blame her). I really don't want her to become afraid of doctors since she sees them so often. She handled the sedation just fine, they got a good scan, and she was snuggly and subdued for the rest of the afternoon. The mri c.d. and report will be sent to Dr. Grant at Duke (Shelby's neurosurgeon).

We went to her 18 month well check-up with the pediatrician on Wednesday afternoon. I think Shelby remembered her doctor experience from the MRI the day before because she cried any time Dr. Love came near her. Anyway, though Shelby has gained weight and is almost to 20 pounds, she is still in the 2nd weight percentile. The good news is that Shelby's head is starting to grow a little bit. Maybe one day, it will be on the charts! It is a good thing she has big hair....

Dr. Love already had the radiologist's report on the MRI. According to the report, one of Shelby's ventricles appeared swollen when compared to the scans from last June. This could indicate that her shunt is slowly malfunctioning. Dr. Love assured us that this was not an emergency situation, and that the radiologist may have even misread it--especially because it is nearly impossible to get the same cross sections on each scan. Since I knew it would be a few days before we would hear anything from Dr. Grant, I called Shelby's neurologist on the way home. He pulled up both of Shelby's brain scans on the computer and compared them. He did not see any significant difference. Now we are just praying and waiting for that same reassurance from Dr. Grant. I don't think he would want to do a shunt revision unless Shelby were actually showing outward signs of a malfunction, which she thankfully isn't. But it is frightening to think of her brain (which has already been through so much) under any kind of pressure.

We've got an EEG and appointment with the neurologist coming up after Christmas and will keep everyone posted on the results.....