5/5 - MRI, Helmet and a Bum Eye

Leo had an unexpectedly busy day. 

When we saw the new neurologist when we first arrived 3 months ago she said his first MRI was fuzzy and she wanted to a clearer image. She also wanted another MRI to compare to the original to look for changes. Our favorite resident from the NICU is back with us as of 5/1. We asked her if we could go ahead and get that follow-up MRI while we are waiting here in the hospital. Our awesome resident made it happen today. They sedated Leo to get the best image possible. We are not sure if we will get the results this week or in a few weeks at our post hospital follow-up. The MRI was a little bit of an adventure. We had to track down a medal free Trach for the MRI and do an early morning change. Leo wasn't supposed to eat after 12:00. I went to sleep at 1:00 and they forgot he was NPO and fed him. I woke up at 3:00 and realized they fed him so then we had to figure out if his MRI needed pushed back. They also decided he needed an IV since his PICC line is out. They tried both feet and couldn't get. In the end they got him an IV after he was already sedated for the MRI....it was a crazy morning but it all worked out. He came back from the MRI on his HME. However he had a dry wheeze to his breathing so we put him back on trach collar to make sure he wasn't working too hard. It's common to have temporary set backs after sedation. Passed out:

I think I mentioned before Leo has a flat head. He really likes to lay on his right side. It is getting so flat that it is lopsided when he tries to face the middle. We don't think Leo will ever really care what his head looks like but we want him to maintain full range of motion so we decided to get him a helmet. The helmet puts pressure on the parts that are jutting out and has space around the flat parts. As his head naturally grows, the flat spots are filled in. The good part is he can lay however he wants and still correct his head with the helmet on. They said he will likely need it 3-4 months. Today it was fitted and tomorrow he will wear it for 3 hours and ease up to 22 hours per day.

When they attempted to get an IV in Leo for the MRI sedation he was thrashing around and crazy. We think during that he scratched his eye. They put some special dye in it to see the scratch. He is going to get antibiodic eye ointment for the next 5 days. 

Eye scratch:

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! We had a wonderful weekend with family and friends. Brandy made a special trip up and hung out with Sammie while Terry ran a 7k. Mom came up on Saturday and spent a long time with Leo. Terry and I got to see great friends on Saturday that we don't get to see very often anymore. On Sunday we had the whole family at the hospital. Theresa paid us a special visit and took a family pic! Too bad Leo was crazy mad!

One of our favorite NICU nurses even stopped by for a special visit!