MRI Results

Mason recently had a follow up MRI. It was an extremely long day. We were at the hospital for about 5 hours total. Mason's MRI took about 2 hours and he was sedated for it. I hate having to sedate him but it's better than the alternative; a screaming 18 month old strapped to a table for 2 hours. We finally got him back and were headed home. All seemed well until he started throwing up all over himself. The next day he ate some breakfast, had a nap, and after lunch he threw up again. Sunday, threw up again (luckily we had him home from church). And come Monday he finally kept his food down all day. Come Tuesday he was able to keep his food down again, but has been pooping like crazy  instead, like all day. Malone took time out of work to go with us to Mason's appointment to see the neurosurgeon to find out the results of his MRI. We waited in the 90 degree waiting room for an excruciating two hours. Meanwhile Mason was going through diapers like crazy because of his wild BMs. We ran out of diapers AND wipes within the two hours of being there. I ended up having to ask the nurses for diapers and Malone had to go to the pharmacy for wipes!

There is good news and bad news with Masons MRI results. The good news is  his brain is looking really great, thanks to his shunt that was put in last year. The bad news is unfortunately Mason has fluid building up in his spinal cord. Fluid building up will cause big problems in the future. There are two possible reasons this could be happening, we don't know which it is or if it's a combination of both. One, the MRI revealed he has a tethered spinal cord which could be causing it. Or two, his slight chiari malformation in his brain is creating the problem. In order to get the fluid back under control we have to do surgery. We will be doing surgery on the tethered cord first to see if that will solve the problem. If the doctor feels it isn't enough, he will also do a malformation decompression. Mason will be in the hospital for three days to recover. And he will have a follow up with his doctor within 2-3 weeks.Surgery is scheduled for June 30th.

While Malone and I know in this case surgery is needed, it is still very difficult having to put Mason through another surgery. Especially when he is doing so well otherwise. He is walking and showing no signs of problems whatsoever, to the surprise of his neurosurgeon. We have  fears of what repercussions could result from this surgery. The only thing that we can hope and pray for is that this surgery will be all he needs to fix the problem and that he will be able to recover, resume life normally, and continue to make progress. Please, keep our family and especially Mason in your prayers.