MRI Bomb

Yesterday Leo man had to have his routine MRI and visit with his lovely neurosurgeon.

The last couple times he was slid into the MRI tube he was either snowed under from a seizure or doped up to his eyeballs. This time, he was as fresh as a peach and as slippery as an eel. In other words, both Justin and I were just a teeny weeny bit unprepared for the fury that becomes Leo when he is faced with an MRI. Wow. I'm still recovering. And I wasn't even the one that sacrificed life and limb to go in the barrel with him to hold him down. That claim goes to poor Justin who may have toddler sneaker shaped bruises on his face for several more days... (Note to self: next time, take the sneakers off. Repeat, take the sneakers off...)

It all started out innocently enough, with Leo enjoying his walk-about the hospital and even cheerfully donning the ridiculous johnies which in my humble opinion have seen one to many squirmy/squirty toddler bodies. Shouldn't those things come with an expiration date? Eugh.

What's different??? (hint...NO HANDS!! OMG!) 

Anyway Leo was gigling and marching up a storm, even jogging down the hallway to the MRI unit and he stayed chipper all the way untill the tech slapped on the violently colored orange ear muffs/plugs and then all hell broke loose. He promptly ripped them off, along with hair, and found to his dismay they stuck to his fingers...and things escalated rapidly from there, (imagine bomb explosion in test tube) culminating in the vision of Justin retreating, in a smart fashion, Leo thrown over one shoulder as if the devil's own imps were nipping at his heels.

MAMA! MAMA! HEEEELLLPPP!

After some major regrouping and deep breathing, the brave soldiers tried it one last time. And although it was a little like trench warfare; tight quarters, horrendous conditions, they emerged after ten year long minutes, victorious.

Then we met with his beautiful, fabulous, talented...er..ahem.. Neurosurgeon who told us that his brain looks perfect, no extra fluid or changes since last time. Not that I was worried...me? No way...
We got to talking a little about his funky brain bits, which are all, incidentally in the back towards the top part of his brain. She explained to us that when the neural tube forms, in the first couple weeks of pregnancy, it starts out flat and then rolls up into a tube, and as it seals up around the top, sometimes things can go wrong and cause a whole host of different conditions, like spina bifida, which is one of the better known ones. Though Leo didn't have that one, his hydrocephalus, might have been caused by something going wrong at the joining of tissues at the top part of his neural tube. His body tired to fix it from the outside, but inside at that faulty seam, his brain became abnormally shaped. And because of that, his ventricles were unable to drain the CS fluid properly so after 8+ months of build-up, I can't really blame the docs for thinking little man had no brain at all. At least I can't blame them...much...
The real miracle is that his brain withstood that incredible pressure to bounce back within months of the release, and not just bounce back, but also develop and grow past all predictions. And it is still going strong! This past week Leo has had several solo walks, reducing everyone around to tears of joy, including his neurosurgeons who he was showing off for, just a bit.
I can't say that we deserve this miracle, but I can say for sure that Leo does. He's amazing. "Nuff said!"