Atley's latest Incident

We just returned from our annual July trip to Colorado and have much blogging to do. First, Atley officially completed Kindergarten! Yay! Unfortunately, he missed the last week of school because of an illness that kept returning off and on for about 5 weeks. The doctor's finally wised up and admitted him to the hospital where they proceeded to run a battery of torturous tests. Test one CT Scan. Atley had no problem with this. He has been there and done that before.

Next, blood tests and IV administered.
Then the doctor's returned with the results of the CT Scan. The results showed a severe sinus infection but then I was also told that they had found a cyst on Atley's brain and further tests needed to be administered. News like that definitely deserved a reward and Atley savored his Popsicle.
The head of pediatric neurosurgery at Georgetown wanted an MRI of Atley's brain. This didn't go so well and after three attempts they decided that they would have to put him under to conduct the test.

After coming out of the anesthesia and while waiting for the results, the pediatric nurses were amazing at keeping Atley entertained. They even gave him a doll that he gave an IV to with a real needle. It took a few pokes to get the IV just right and the doll reminded me more of a VOODOO doll than a patient but it kept him distracted for a few minutes.

After many prayers and a lot of anxiety the neurosurgeon called me down to look at the MRI images. He came to the conclusion that the cyst on Atley's brain was harmless and most likely just the way his brain was formed. They don't believe that its' presence affects him neurologically. The plan is just to observe it over the next few years and make sure that it does not change. Fortunately, when Atley fell off the stairs 18 months ago he had a CT Scan. The doctor's were able to compare the results and discover that the brain had not changed in that time period. If not for the previous CT Scan, exploratory surgery might have been the only other option. I never thought I would be thankful for that fall but sometimes things work out in mysterious ways. He seems to be doing a lot better now. He has been treated with steroids, antibiotics, and nasal cleansers over the last 4 weeks. The doctor's think that allergies are the cause of this horrible sinus infection so he has an appointment with an allergist next week. There is never a dull moment with Atley and never a month without at least one Doctor bill. Hopefully now he can healthfully enjoy his summer.