CT Spells Cat

I woke up in the glider rocker. The doctor had come in to our curtained off area of triage and had already started talking to Lisa before I had fully awoke. Christie was by now sitting up in the hospital bed, snuggling with the Gund bear and still thrilled that her bed could be turned into a cool ride that could be pushed up and down the hallways.

It was a bit embarassing to wake up in the middle of a conversation that had already started, but the adrenaline of the morning had completely dissipated while we were waiting for the results of Christie's CT scan, and I was running on very little sleep over the entire weekend. That's what computers and a passion for hockey will do to you, I suppose. You stay up late looking at blogs, pouring over hockey stats and forums, and watch just about every hockey game you can find on TV.

I was really amazed at how calm Christie was in the hospital. She was always scared of going to the doctor's office, but the ER was apparently a different story. She was certainly too tired or sick to really care about where she was going, but once here, she was fascinated by her surroundings. There was a lot to look at and some really cool equipment beeping at her. In fact, it almost seemed like she was hoping to stay awhile, maybe even go for another scan as long as she got to ride down the hallway again on the bed with wheels.

It was definitely a far cry from early this morning, when we woke up to her uncontrollable crying and, much more frighteningly, her vomiting. Normally, we would have chalked this up to some sort of bug and handled it appropriately. But Friday, she had hit her head in gym class and was now complaining of headaches. It was entirely believable that we were looking at symptoms of a concussion, which was confirmed as a possibility by a call to the pediatrician. In order to rule that out, a CT scan would have to be done which set us off on our adventure.

I never really got to see how things went during the CT scan. They only allowed one of us to stay with her, and in such cases, Mommy always gets chosen. I was unceremoniously dumped out into the hallway, holding jackets, a purse and the garbage can we brought just in case Christie needed to throw up again. It's amazing how something like that gets so little notice by the people passing you by in the hospital hallway, but then again they've seen things much more outrageous. But I was told it went exceedingly well. Christie had not only laid completely still for the scan, but actually enjoyed it. Again, she was fascinated by the equipment, by all the things moving and churning around. She was having fun, and she has the stickers to prove it!

Back at pediatric triage, waiting for the CT results, Christie had become fascinated with having a TV on an adjustable arm and happily watched Disney Channel cartoons on it. The minutes passed and the glider rocker became a very comfortable place to nap, making the long wait for results pass by in an all too short slumber. The conversation I woke up to was defintitely a good one as we found out the CT scan showed no evidence of a concussion, but did show swelling in her sinus cavities that was indicative of a viral infection. Christie was just plain sick, and for once, that was good news.

And in the process, I think we made medical history. Never before has such an advanced piece of medical technology been used to diagnose a cold.