Okay, I know this is WAY off topic, but just thought I'd post these for those that have expressed an interest to me in seeing some photos of our day today. Jorden gave me permission. And just so you know, I asked for his permission for each photo, I didn't want to take any he wasn't comfortable with.
We started our day at Children's on an empty stomach, his MRI was at noon and so he couldn't eat, so we all decided to not eat with him. We got to Children's Hospital at 9am for his stress test, and followed the row of hearts down the hall to Cardiology.
First Jorden had the usual measurements done, height and weight (96 pounds! He's a 9 year old quarterback!)
Then we waited a few minutes, and Jorden tried out the new camera taking a pic of mom:
We were taken to the stress lab, and Jorden had all sorts of things attached to him. Here he looks unsure:
but he liked the idea of riding the bike
until he had to put the oxygen measurer in his mouth.
Jorden was going to be the first child at this hospital to use this new stress test system, with the bike and oxygen tester, versus just walking on the treadmill. Exciting! The excitement soon wore off when we realized they still had some kinks to iron out, namely the fact that the mouth piece seemed to be only in adult size. Jorden was a good sport, even though I knew by his eyes he didn't like it he persevered for as long as he could until he broke down and started crying. They took it out of his mouth finally and I told them I didn't think they should put it back, it was just way too large. The cardiologist agreed, and they just finished the stress test without it, after Jorden calmed down a bit. Poor guy.
After the test, Jord's cardiologist came to talk to me. He said Jorden's blood pressure got quite high (or something like that!) when he was exercising, and he had already spoken to the surgeons. Jorden will be having his surgery within the next four weeks, and valve replacement is imminent.
I returned to the waiting room where Jorden was playing video games, and looked happier now!
We let him play some games for awhile as we had some time to spare, and I went and grabbed a couple lattes for John and I, and John went and spent some money on some Hospital Lottery tickets. (maybe we'll win a house....
)
We went to radiology, where Jorden first had a chest xray. We were careful to check with him that he wasn't pregnant first
(he thought we were wierd..ha!)
Then we headed over to the MRI
We had a short wait, then they came and asked the normal questions before any anesthesia, and told Jorden about what was going to happen. Then they put the freezing on his hand so that when they put the IV in it wouldn't hurt so much (wish they did this for adults!) Here's Jorden and John waiting (and Sponge Bob)
Finally they came to take him in. They blew some bubbles with him while inserting the IV. Then he lay down and went to sleep. They wouldn't let me take any pictures of the MRI machine, shame.
John and I went and had a bite to eat in the cafeteria, then went to the waiting area to wait. It took longer than anticipated (almost 3 hours) which of course had us worried. Unfortunately they had to intibate him given the longevity, so he had a sore throat afterwards. We went in to see him as soon as he woke up and he was really drowsy and trying to enjoy a popsicle.
He wasn't enjoying the feeling of waking up, so it took a little longer before we could leave. But soon enough we were wheeling our groggy little trooper out to the car.
We stopped on the way home to get him the biggest milk shake ever, and he felt better in no time!
What a trooper. Thanks again everyone for all your happy thoughts and prayers, I'm positive they helped! I'm going to call on you again in the future!