M R I

Elijah had his MRI today. For those of you who don't know, here's the full story...
Elijah has been having mild localized seizures. They occur in only one leg and he is fully coherent during them. They last from 10-30 seconds usually. It looks like a leg tremor or like he's got the shivers. I didn't realize what they were until Jim and his parents started noticing them. He can't stop them, so that is what triggered us to talk to his pediatrician about them.
She recommended that we have an EEG done just to see if there is anything unusual going on. That was done a few weeks ago. Then, we met with a Pediatric Neurologist to discuss the results of the EEG. There was a little bit of abnormal activity in one sector of his brain, so we then scheduled an MRI to look at things a little further. Elijah had a leg quiver this weekend when he and Jim were at the ranch. And today he had his MRI.
What an event. Jim, Micah and I went with Elijah to his appointment. Mom came in town and kept Rebekah at home. I am SO thankful for my Mom. Rebekah would have freaked out if she had seen what Elijah went through. The MRI wasn't so bad, but the sedation...yikes! They gave him a liquid form of "Chloral Hydrate" to knock him out. Well, it was a battle once it started to take affect. They say it makes you feel drunk and then sleepy and keeps you in a deep sleep. My four-year old little boy makes a miserable violent drunk! He was fighting going to sleep and was thrashing in his bed. It was an awful sight. We had to hold him down and keep him from hitting his head on the side rails and wall. The were times when he was twisting and kicking trying to get out from under the blanket we used to help contain his flailing limbs. I had no idea he was so strong. It was an awful sight. He finally calmed down and fell asleep when the nurse "swaddled" him in the blanket and rocked him to sleep. He screemed and cried up the last moment before he konked out. Micah and I had to leave the room for that last part.
Jim went with him to the MRI room and was with him for that. At the last part of the screen they had to bring him out of the machine and give him a shot of blood dye so they could trace the flow of blood throughout his brain. He awoke as they brought him out and was awake when they gave him the shots. He never went back to sleep and the MRI was over. They weren't able to do the last part of it. We're praying they have enough information from the first 20 minutes of the scan to keep him from having to do this again.
He came back to the room crying and thrashing again. I sat on the bed and held his head in my lap while Jim held his legs wrapped in the blanket. He gradually gained more and more consciousness and was able to drink some juice and eat crackers. Finally, after about 45 minutes of recovery time, we were able to leave. He was so uncomfortable in his carseat and kept squirming. I sat in the backseat beside him and held him as best I could. At one point he looked at me and said, "Mommy, I do love you." Then, I shed a few tears and told him I loved him too. It's so hard to see your little ones hurt.
He's been sleeping for about 4 hours now at home. I'm anxious for him to wake up and snuggle. Lord willing, he won't remember much of his experience today. I will, but maybe he won't. We'll find out some results in a few days and we'll see the neurologist on the 21st. I'll keep you updated as we learn more.
I can't help but draw some imperfect parallels to our relationship with the Lord from today's experience. We go through painful situations, that are truly for our good, and the Lord is there to hold us and protect us through it all. It doesn't mean we don't have to go through it, but He's there to keep us from flailing out of control or hit our head. We, too, can look up at Him in the midst of the pain and say, "Lord, I do love you."