The Talley Family: CT and Ultrasound

Ace had his abdominal ultrasound and head CT this morning. He did so good!!!! It actually could not have gone better. He could not have any milk after 6 a.m. and was able to have water or apple juice from 6-8 a.m. He polished off his bottle at around 5:45 this morning and went back to sleep around 6:30. He woke up around 7:45 and had some water. We were supposed to arrive at the hospital for his tests at 9:30 and we are staying about 5 minutes from the hospital. Around 8:15, he started to get antsy so we decided to go ahead and load him up and head that way around 8:30 hoping he would go back to sleep in the car. No such luck, he got the hiccups as soon as we got in the car, so we thought we might be in trouble. But, as usual, Ace was a trooper and did great. We got to the radiology department a little before 9 and they took us back almost immediately and did the ultrasound. Ace laid pretty still and just kept reaching for the ultrasound tech's wand. Normally they will not tell you anything during the procedures, but there was a doctor in the room observing today and he told us that nothing stood out on the ultrasound to him. This is wonderful news! The kidneys, liver and spleen are harder areas to treat for LCH patients. The radiologist and Dr. McClain still have to review the images, but we are glad that there was nothing of major concern for the doctor that was there. We then went back to the waiting area and only had to wait about 10 minutes before they took us back for the CT. The CT is the test that we were dreading as we felt pretty sure Ace would have to be sedated in order for him to be still enough for them to complete it. They put the IV in for the contrast and sedation if needed as soon as we went back into the prep area. The CT was not actually scheduled until 11:30, but this was at 10:15. They said that they wanted us to have plenty of time to try to get Ace relaxed after they put the IV in hoping that they would not have to sedate him. Ace was getting hungry by this point, but was also very sleepy. I walked and bounced and tried all my tricks to no avail to get him to sleep. Toby took a turn to try and wouldn't you know it, he was out like a light within a few minutes. They took us into the CT room immediately, got him all set up and did the test. Ace slept all the way through it and never stirred until they took the IV out. We couldn't be more thankful! We are so glad he did not have to have any type of anesthesia. We have our follow up appointment with Dr. McClain tomorrow to receive the results of the ultrasound and CT as well as the treatment plan for Ace.

Thank you all so much for your prayers for Ace. He is doing so good! We feel so positive about today's tests and are so glad they are behind him.