Thankful Thursday

Today's Thankful Thursday entry is all about Ashley's trip to the hospital for an MRI under anesthesia. The MRI is a prelude to her appointment next week with the neurosurgeon who will decide the course of treatment for the two brain tumors he found this past summer. Today I am thankful...

• that Ashley slept late this morning. Her MRI wasn't scheduled until 10am and I really worried how I was going to keep her from wanting breakfast. But amazingly, she stayed in bed and/or slept until time to get dressed to go to the hospital.


• for the MRI staff who once again were very understanding of Ashley's anxiety and stress relating to being in the hospital, and therefore, moved through their paperwork as quickly as possible.


• that the anesthesia doctor believed me when I said that Ashley would do much better if she were given some medicine to relax her before going back for the 'mask' anesthesia.


• for Amy and her willingness to go back to the MRI room with Ashley. I am unable to go back because I have metal in one of my ears. It was very traumatic for Amy to go with Ashley for the June MRI and watch her eyes roll back as she fell asleep. Still, though, she was willing to go again today.


• that the MRI staff let Amy 'run the show' until Ashley went to sleep. Amy signed everything that was happening and let Ashley hold the mask before it was actually hooked up to the medicine.


• for 'people watching' while we waited for Ashley to be moved to the recovery room. It's funny, but I never go to this particular hospital without running into someone, and sometimes more than one person, that I know. That seems strange to me since Richmond is not a small town.


• for the really, really good turkey burger I got in the hospital cafe. And it was cheap too!


• for the recovery room nurse assigned to Ashley. She was wonderful - very caring, very skilled, and extremely helpful


• that Ashley came out of her anesthesia much better this time than times in the past. She awoke easily and was even able to get herself into the car to go home.


• that Ashley was able to walk (with assistance) into the house when we got home. After the last MRI, she was still so groggy that Amy and I had a really difficult time getting her into the house. We came very close to calling 911 to ask for assistance. Although Ashley has a wheelchair for times such as this, we do not have a ramp into our home.

All in all, a good day and the start of our journey to treatment for Ashley's two tumors.