On Tuesday August 23rd Ella had an appointment to see her Neurologist. She goes in for a check up about once every 3 - 4 months. Dr. Philips just wants to make sure there is no swelling and that her shunt is operating correctly. At this last appointment my biggest concern that I wanted to talk with him about was the fact that Ella has way too many headaches. I actually had been keeping a log. She was getting headaches about 5 times a month and most of the time she would end up vomiting because of them. The funny thing is that after she would vomit she'd end up being fine and would want to go off and play. Other than vomiting the only thing that made her feel better when she got a headache was to go to sleep. I was starting to worry that her shunt wasn't operating correctly so I wanted to get to the bottom of it. Dr. Philips did follow the catheter part of her shunt with his hands all the way down to Ella's stomach and it seemed to be fine. She also still has no signs of swelling in her brain so that's great news!! He did send a note off to the new Neurosurgeon to see what he thought. The doctor that performed Ella's brain surgery has since retired. He did say that if something is wrong with her shunt it usually doesn't happen gradually....when something goes wrong things go downhill fast! He seemed to think that Ella is having migraines. My mom suffered from chronic migraines for years so it does run in the family. He put her on some meds to take every night before bed. Unfortunately since giving her the meds she's had 3 headaches!
Dr. Philips did order an updated MRI. Ella just had one taken in January when I took her to the ER because I thought her shunt wasn't working, but he knows that the Neurosurgeon will want a more up to date one.
On Tuesday when we got back from our road trip the boys went home with Ga-Ga to spend the night. Ella's appointment was at 8:30 the next morning so it just made sense for the boys to go with her so she didn't have to fight traffic the next day to come up and watch them. The moment Ella got out of the van when we got home from Ritzville she felt like she was going to throw up. She ended up falling asleep for almost 2 hours. Thankfully she never did throw up! When she got up I asked her if she just felt like throwing up or if she also had a headache and she said she did have a headache....so that's 4 headaches in a week since starting the meds!
The next morning we headed out early so we wouldn't get stuck in traffic. We were one of the first appointments and we were early so that meant Ella got the gaming computer all to herself. She's really good at bowling...she got 3 strikes in the 10th frame!!!
When her name was call the technician took us back to the very same waiting room we were in when Pa brought us to hospital in December 2013 for Ella's first MRI after her surgery! Thankfully this time around she didn't have to be sedated for the MRI.
Since she had to change into a gown I took her coat and wrapped up her clothes and shoes in it and then tied the arms in a knot so nothing would fall out.
Ella thought it was funny that I did that. I told her she could open her present and see what she got!
The knot I tied was really tight!
Hmm...I wonder what it will be!
The suspense is killing me!
Clothes...
Shoes...
She thought the whole thing was so silly! I love my goofy girl!
After this it was back for the MRI. Just like in January I was able to go back with her and rub her legs while she listened to music and held still. She's such a pro! It was all over in just a few minutes and then she changed and we were off.
On Friday September 2nd I got a call from the office of the new Neurosurgeon and Ella is scheduled to see him on September 15th at 11am. I'm bummed that she's going to miss some school, but she needs to be seen. I want them to figure out why my baby girl keeps having these headaches. Also it will be good for us to meet the Neurosurgeon now so that when there comes a time for Ella to have surgery we will already know who he is!
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