Saturday, February 19, 2011
Playing with Scruffy before!
Sleeping on the way there...it was early morning!
Sacred Heart Children's Hospital MRI
On February 18th, 2011 Alexis went into Sacred Heart Children's Hospital. She had her MRI done by Dr. Sokolove (sp). He was great. He was in there the whole time. Seemed like a young but wonderful Dr.
We arrived early in the morning. Her appt. to go into the MRI was 10:30am but she didn't actually get in until about 11:40am.
The MRI was a 2 hour procedure. And they used "Precedex" (sp) for her anesthesia. I guess it is a fairly newer drug. They told us that it would take about an hour to two hours to wake up.
It took a little longer for her to wake! She was out and in recovery at 2pm. We were in the recovery until about 4pm, I think. She did wake enough to be able to go home.
And I don't think she fully awoke until 9pm that night. We were able to tell that she was coherent and understanding what we were saying. Her dad was right there and he was talking to her...he said she is such a cute little bugger...she thought he had said she is a "booger"! And her little fingers started to pinch his! Lol. He kept telling Alexis to OPEN your eyes...she said to me, I'm trying!
Now, we are just waiting for the results. I've been so stressed out about all this and haven't been able to sleep very well or eat. Last night, I did get about 13 hours total! Alexis was up off and on, got a little bit of her appetite back.
She was still very groggy and I had to carry her to bathroom.
Today, she is doing well! Seems to have energy again and asked me today...Mom, when am I going to have my MRI???
I said, you already had it! :) Big smiles!!!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Valentine's School Party!
Alexis' class had a Valentine's Party. They got to have cupcakes, pretzels, and juice. It was fun to see all the little one's so excited for the Big day!
Alexis had a great time opening all the valentine's with her friends! She got several valentine's from one special person! There is someone who has the biggest crush on Alexis. It is very cute. They have had play dates and enjoy their friendship. But I think Alexis is "only" at a friendship level! WHEW!!! I'm not quite ready for that for many many years to come! :)
After the School party, Alexis had another party to go to! I think she got as many gifts as she did at Christmas time. Love to see her happy and content. She has been down a little bit this week. As someone in her grade is having a party and went out of their way to tell Alexis that she was NOT invited. And to let her know that all of her friends were invited and attending it.
She has more important things to worry about than things like that anyway. I told her that we will do something special for her.
With her going through all this medical stuff on top of this, I want to be here for her, be good to her and maybe do extra special things for her, too! So, what ever she wants...if I can do it, I will!
Love you so much, my little Angel, Alexis!!!!
First MRI (attempt)
February 8th 2011
We headed to Spokane to the Inland Imaging. Alexis was given 5mm of Valium for her MRI. We got there early. And the Valium was making her sleepy. However, we had to wait. I didn't know if it wore off or just wasn't strong enough. It came time to go into the tube and she was awake but sleepy. They laid her down and put ear plugs in. Put a foam pad next to her head. And this thing went over top of her head. Then they put a washcloth over her face, covering everything but her nose. And IN she went. They did get a little bit scanned. But unfortunately, it was too scary for her. They pulled Alexis out of it & tried to calm her down. It worked and we proceeded to scan again. And about 3 minutes later, she was in tears, wiggling and crying! So, out she came and we had to end it there. They were very sweet and gave her some McDonald's coupons, a toy doggie that looked like Misty! And a stamp, I think.
They tried to reschedule the MRI once again. But this time, we have to go to Sacred Heart Pediatric Surgery Center. They will have to anesthetize her this time. After a long, complicated few days, we got her scheduled for February 23rd. I told them that they needed to put us on a cancellation list.
WAITING!!!!! And Friday, the 11th I got the call from Sacred Heart and they had opening for February 18th, 2011. YIPPEEEE!!!
So, now it is a few days before and I am a nervous wreck. Many different emotions. Alexis needs this MRI more than anything. But it scares me that she will have to be put to sleep. And for so many hours.
Also, I am scared of what the results will be, yet we NEED to know what is going on with her little body!
I feel devastated for my little girl.
Please keep her in your prayers. I have met soooo many beautiful, wonderful ladies on the support groups! I can't say how grateful I am for all your support! My heart goes out to all of your sweet little darlings as well! No matter the outcome, these people have touched my hearts and gave me something else to be passionate about!
There are so many children in this world who need help to find cures for their problems. Please think about that. You never know when something can happen to you or a loved one.
God Bless!!!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Getting her XRAYS done 
Alexis scoliosis journey!
I wanted to share a little bit info about what is going on. It is very confusing and hard to understand it all. This all started when we found Scoliosis January 12th 2011. Thanks to Dr. Joan Burrow. My chiropractor. I had asked her to look at Alexis' back. I didn't have any reason just felt we needed to do that. She didn't want it looked at but I insisted! Thank God!
So after quite a journey in finding out & learning about Scoliosis. We were referred to Shriner's Children's Hospital in Spokane, WA.
They did XRAYS and we found out Alexis has Double Curves and the Thoracic Curve is reversed. Meaning Curving to the left. When this happens, there is usually another underlying problem. So we are trying to get MRI done so this will tell us more. Tuesday February 8th, we attempted to get MRI done. They did get a little bit scanned but not enough.
We have a new appointment scheduled for February 18th for 10:30am (9am check in).
They will be putting little Alexis to sleep so this will be done in the Pediatric Surgery Unit.
Left Thoracic Scoliosis
- Discussion:
- left thoracic curvatures are uncommon (1-2% of curves)
- associatted conditions: (33 % of patients)
- occult syrinx;
- treatment of the scoliosis without recognition of syringomyelia and
Chiari malformation can lead to paraplegia;
- Arnold-Chiari
- spinal cord tumor;
- neuromuscular disorder;
- MRI is usually indicated;
Sunday, January 30, 2011
This is the one that you can see the scoliosis is mild but there...her head is sitting nicely at this time on her spine but in the recent one's it is totally tilted on her spin!
As you can also see, her head is not sitting on her spinal cord correctly. It is tilted and slightly off to the side.
The "Lower XRAY" of Alexis is showing the 2nd curve in her spinal cord. It is also showing the spinal cord "Twisting"...like clockwise. Obviously, that is not good! :(
You can look at the XRAY's from 2008 and see that her head was actually sitting on her spine correctly at that time. And now, it is tilting.
We are "anxiously" waiting to get into to see Shriner's Children's Hospital in Spokane, WA!!!
Alexis' Dr. referred her there. Shriner's will only see Children with a 20 degree curve or higher.
Our goal is to keep Alexis' spinal cord degree UNDER 40 degrees!
Unfortunately, she has a lot of growing to do.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
In the one where the cursor is pointing to the neck...the Dr. was concerned about the shape of her neck. He said there is no curve in it like a normal neck. Her neck is straight.
Honestly, I don't know what that means. We are still in the learning process of all this!
Grandpa adding a smile sitting with Chris!
And my sweet girl.....love ya tons!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Tonight, I went to the Chiropractor and just as a thought, I asked if she would look at Alexis' back. She did and almost immediately, she told me that she thought Alexis had Scoliosis.
My first thought was to see if the Chiropractor could "FIX" her back! I was so worried!
We left and I was on the phone calling her dad. We set up an appointment right away in Moscow and Alexis was seen tonight. They confirmed that her back is curved and she has Scoliosis. So they set up an appointment for her to see the specialist on Monday!
Please keep her in your prayers. If I could, I would have this so Alexis can live her life to the BEST!
A couple days before Christmas, Alexis found a little tiny hat outside Safeway! She thought it was one of the "Elf's" hats so she left a special note for Santa and wanted to return the hat to the Elf. Santa had left her a note telling Alexis to keep the hat as a gift!
