Follow-up exams
On Feburary 12th, 2006, three months after the first surgery, following up examinations started to see how everything was going. The schedule was as followsw:
2/12 (Sat) MRI/MRA
2/21 (Mon) Angiogram
2/22 (Tue) and 23 (Wed) SPECT
This time MRs were taken at Stanford Hospital. MRs are the easiest exams as they are non-invasive ones. Surprisingly, the appointment was on Saturday morning, which was good for us because we wanted Kota to go to school as much as possible. We arrived at 7:30 am which was directed, there was nobody in the reception area of MRI. When we were hanging around, a receptionist showed up. The scan started at 8:15 and finished before 9:00.
Next one was the toughest angiogram. That year's February 21st was President's Day. The school was in winter break that week. We requested this week for most of the exams and it actually happened. As I wrote before, children's angiogram is done under systemic anesthesia. There is always some risk while it is not that big. There also is some pain after the exam. For these reasons, we asked many times to make sure if this would be really necessary. We heard that some doctors may not require this exam depending on the MRA results. But according to Dr. Steinberg, this is the only way to confirm the graft. We told Kota that so that he could understand why it was needed. The scheduled starting time was 7:00 am, but the anesthesia actually started at around 8:30. We met Kota in the recovery room after three hours. My wife brought something to eat. The recovery room was similar to ICU, which is to be honest not very comfortable. A nurse kindly brought a portable DVD player so that Kota could see Pokemon movie. After a while, we moved to a regular room for one day stay an the first floor, which was almost same type of a room as the one we stayed after surgery so we could stay quietly with firm privacy. Being asked if he liked to play video games, Kota immediately answered "Yes!". To our surprise, there were dozens of game softs together with Play Station. Because we do not have any Nintendo or Play Station, Kota is not familier with these games. But anyway, he chose "Harry Potter". Since he was still recovering from anesthesia, we gave him some privilege to play. However, it seemed to be a little difficult for him, and he eventually got tired. He was discharged from the hospital right before 6:00 pm and we came back home. He could not walk very well, because he had pain at inside of his right thigh where the catheter was inserted. He got back to normal after three days.
For two days from the day after were scheduled for SPECT. Although school was off, my work was on. So my wife attended him. Our friend family kindly took care of our daughter. On the first day, it took more than expected. But the second day was relatively quick to finish by noon.
In the following week, doctors reviewed all the results. We received an e-mail from a Nurse Coordinator on March 1st. Let me cite a part of it below:
Everything looked excellent! The MRI shows no evidence of injury and looks great. The SPECT scan shows good blood supply to his right and left brain which is actually improved since his testing before surgery. The angiogram shows good blood supply through the direct graft on the left and the indirect graft on the right. Tell him that these results are like getting an A+ at school.
Just from this week, the spring little league baseball practice starts. Thank goodness, Kota seemed to be able to participate.
3/1/2005
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