Our Boyz

MRI Research Study

Landon was chosen to be a part of an MRI research study

for his Hemiplegia Constraint Camp that he will be participating in this summer.

so we headed over to UNC on monday to get his MRI.

they read landon a book on what to expect,

gave him a teddy bear (sparky) to hold,

and took him to the simulation room (to show how it works).

landon was so brave.

he got on the table, laid down and held really still.

they even let kaden try it to help show landon there is nothing to be afraid of.

the whole time kaden was on the table,

landon held his hand.

it was so adorable. priceless.

the simulation went so smoothly.

however, once we got into the real MRI room

with the much bigger machine,

it wasn't quite as easy.

he did pretty good until he heard the first set of loud beeps.

they scared him.

so the next step was try to get him to take a nap and try again.

he fell asleep fairly quickly,

but didn't sleep too sound

(it was almost like he was sleeping with one eye open)

as soon as we would start he would only get through one or two beeps

before waking up.

so after several tries,

they decided it would be better to bring him back at bed time on tuesday.

MRI- round two

i went over with landon what we would be doing on tuesday

he knew he would be having pictures of his brain taken

and that he would be able to watch Cars.

he knew he had to hold really really still

and go inside a big tunnel.

we also told him he would get his very own big bag of M&M's (his favorite).

so when we arrived on tuesday he seemed kind of excited

we walk into the room

he hops right up onto the table, lays down, and is ready to go.

he rides back into the tunnel and is watching cars.

then the MRI starts along with the loud beeps

and landon is terrified once again.

i comfort him and rock him to sleep

(this time he was sleeping sound)

back in the MRI machine he goes.

he did so good for 1/2 of the MRI, but then the beeps wake him up.

(the beeps get continually louder as the MRI goes on)

so at this point I am comforting him and trying to get him to lay down

when he looks at me with tears in his eyes and says over and over again

"mama, go home now...please, go home now!"

I couldn't take it.

my heart was crushed

i knew right then that I couldn't put him through it any longer.

unfortunately he isn't going to be in the research study,

but since I know he will need MRI's in the future,

i wasn't willing to scare him for life.

(if you are wondering why they didn't sedate him,

as part of the research study they couldn't because of side effects)

landon was such a brave little guy,

so i still bought him his bag of M&M's.