Karis's MRI

Yesterday we took Karis to the Children's Hospital to have an MRI of her brain, neck, complete spine, and pelvis. Her pediatrician was concerned about tethered cord syndrome. We took her in very early in the morning which was nice since she wasn't allowed to eat or drink beforehand. They gave her an oral medication to make her very sleepy and she was really sweet at first when she started getting sleepy, but then she just started crying. I'm not sure if she was just scared or felt strange or what exactly was wrong, but she just cried and cried. They came in while she was in that drowsy state and took about 10 vials of blood to check for about 30 different things. Since we have no history on her, the pediatrician is hoping to get a better picture of her health by checking her blood for all those things. After they drew blood, they gave Karis an IV and then they wheeled her away for the MRI. It was really hard to see her go through all that crying and to see her wheeled away crying. They assured us that they gave her some medicine in her IV that knocked her out and that she was fine during the MRI. They brought her back to us about an hour and a half later and she was zonked! It didn't take her too long to wake up and she wanted something to drink. She also kept trying to sit up and get out of the bed! When the nurse took off her monitors and Karis got to get in BaBa's arms, she was much happier! She was very floppy and the nurse said she'd be like a newborn for a while! We got her dressed and carried her to the car and then she realized she was hungry and began the crying again until we were able to get her some food. The nurse recommeded soft foods for the first few hours so we opted to stop and get her a milkshake which she seemed to thoroughly enjoy! Then we had to stop and pick up Brandon and Bekah who had been staying at a friend's house. By the time we were home, Karis was ready to eat real food and play! The Dr. mentioned that she might sleep 3 to 6 hours once we got home, but Karis had no interest in sleeping! She layed down in bed a few times, but she never closed her eyes!

This was before the MRI when she was just starting to get drowsy!

And this is when they brought her back to us.

Today we talked with our pediatrician and she said the MRI was normal!!  Karis's issues with walking funny and hunching are just a result of being institutionalized for her first 7 years.  We are very hopeful that her issues can be corrected with physical therapy and just living an active life with our family!  We already see so much improvement in just the 2 months that she has been with us.  They did spot a pineal cyst on her MRI but the pediatrician didn't seem too concerned about it.  They'll have a neurosurgeon look at it and decide if we need to do anything further about that.  We are praising God for this great news!