CT and Neuro Appointments

and can you believe it, I didn't take one. single. picture. :(

I desperately wanted to take one during the CT, but figured I would probably not so nicely be told no. So, I didn't even ask. We were a little concerned about how this would all work today, but all in all, not that big of a deal. 

We got a call from the hospital on Tuesday: 

Beckett is too young for anesthesia to sedate him during a CT.  

Okay, so what do we do? 

Feed him when you get here and hope he falls asleep and you can lay him down and he won't move for 5 minutes. 

Hmmm...what if he doesn't fall asleep?

Well, we will worry about that if we need to.

So we got to Kosair Children's Hospital, very quickly checked in, started feeding Beckett, and then were immediately taken back to the room where the CT would be done. I had only fed him like an ounce and thought the lady was crazy when she said to just lay him down. But I thought I'd let her try. She wrapped him like a super tight burrito. Placed some little hard pillow things on both sides of his head. I had a paci in one hand ready to insert it quickly. Beckett was wide awake and didn't move a muscle. He just laid there like he loved the giant white machine moving around his head with the red lights flashing in his eyes. Go figure! No big deal at all. Less than 5 minutes, and we were free to go!

Then to Dr. Moriarty's office to wait for more than an hour. Thankfully, Beckett slept most of the time. :) We had a very nice visit with Dr. Moriarty. I thought it was a little odd however, that he did not even check Beckett out at all. He showed us the results from the CT he just had

***His first words upon viewing..."Brilliant!"***

and then went through all the ones he had while in the NICU. Seeing all the fluid on his little one day, nine day, and sixteen day old brain, was difficult. The shunt was absolutely necessary! If you remember, Beckett's shunt placement on top of the head was because he had a small bleed in the brain. When this was discussed, I always assumed this was from the fluid or trauma during the insertion of the EVD (temporary shunt). Not the case. Hemorrhaging in the brain usually only occurs in babies born before 32 weeks. If it occurs in a baby born after that time (like Beckett at 38 weeks) the bleed is usually very large and would completely fill the water space in the brain (the ventricles). For some blessed reason, Beckett's bleeds (one on each side) were very small and just resolved on their own. There was no evidence of any bleeding on the CT scan from yesterday. :)

Beckett also has some fluid on the brain on the shunt side of his head. This could be the beginning of a shunt malfunction (although Dr. Moriarty does not believe that is what this is). Beckett's anatomy could just be that once side is going to hold a little more fluid and that's just the way it is. It has nothing to do with the shunt placement. Good news...If/when he ever needs a shunt revision, Dr. Moriarty will consider moving his shunt to behind the ear. This would make it much less noticeable cosmetically.

We go back to Dr. Moriarty for a visit and an MRI in 2-3 months. If everything was "perfect" we would be seeing him when Beckett was 12 months. He just wants to monitor that fluid a little more closely.
Let's be safe when it involves our baby's brain, please!!!!!

And a few pictures...

And a really cheesy one...

C'mon hair, grow!

Paisley loved this elephant and it looks like Beckett will too!

To the pediatrician on Friday for his 2 Month Check-Up!