How we got here part 2

How we got here part 2

Dad's view 

The Stollery Children’s Hospital is a part of the University of Alberta Hospital.  It specializes in treating children’s health concerns and has a full support network to help the children and their families through some of the most difficult times in their life.

Mom and Gabby got back from Red Deer Thursday night and we started packing.  The pediatrician in Red Deer said we would be there for probably about 4 days.  How little we knew.  We talked with our 3 older kids about caring for the house.  They didn’t have school so our 13 year old went to stay with friends while the other 2 were scheduled to work a bit this weekend.  We had just bought a bunch of items that had frozen in the car with running from the ophthalmologist to the Red Deer hospital and waiting for the CT scan.

Friday morning we ate before 6:30 so we could be on the road before 7:00 a.m.  We were supposed to be at the Stollery by 10:00 a.m.  We left the kids the van, but only with a quarter tank of gas and no money for anything.  We weren’t thinking very far ahead for the kids at home.

It had snowed off and on of the past 3 days with highs of around -18 degrees Celsius.  That morning it had snowed about 2-3 inches and was sitting at about -28, and I couldn’t see the lines or even pavement for the first 60 kms of the trip.  We were travelling at about 80 km/hr for the first bit.  Good thing we had left early giving us some extra time to get into Edmonton.

The road eventually got somewhat clearer and we hit the edge of Edmonton at about 9:15.  We used Google Maps to find our way.  The University of Alberta, to me, is a huge complex of multiple buildings joined by pedways.  It’s a confusing maze to look at from the outside, and can be even more confusing inside.  I dropped mom and Gabby off at an entrance and went looking for a parkade.  We didn’t carry in much because we didn’t want to carry luggage all over the hospital while she was going through tests.

Mom and Gabby found their way to the Clinical Science building and I got lost trying to find it.  I had to ask a couple of people how to get there before finding it.  We waited in the waiting room briefly and then were taken into a med room.  We sat on the 2 chairs and Gabby tried to sit on the bed.  It was slanted so she kept sliding off and she had to take her boots off so she climb right up to sit.

In came a neurosurgeon, a registered nurse and a practical nurse (I think I’m getting their roles right) to talk with us.  Gabby was coming in a little bit unknown and on an emergency basis.  They had received the CT scan and were in the process of scheduling her in for surgery and bumping others.  We had to go to ophthalmology first to see how the vision was being impacted, especially since vision was what got us started on seeing symptoms.  

The Registered Nurse walked us through more of  the maze to ophthalmology where Gabby say 2 different doctors, taking tests for vison, and constantly looking into her eyes.  She will get tired of people shining lights into her eyes and asking her to look and follow her finger over and over.  When they moved to a different smaller room for testing I went to the waiting area and ended up falling asleep in the chair.  One of the Dr.s woke me up when they were pretty much done.  Gabby had played the world’s most boring video game, pressing a button on one remote whenever she a light come into her peripheral vision.

The ophthalmologist said the glasses she was wearing weren’t doing anything for her, and actually may have made her headaches worse.  The prescription was quite different form the January optometrist appointment.  Fortunately her vision could be corrected with lenses which meant no damage to the eye that couldn’t be adjusted for.

Then we had to find our way back to the Clinical Science reception area.  Once there we were guided by another nurse to the Stollery Children’s Hospital wing (ward?).  We were taken into a large bedroom, decorated with the same aquarium theme as the whole Stollery area.  The room had a hospital bed, a very narrow bed beside it which became mom’s, and a chair.  It didn’t take long and Dr. Souster (neurosurgeon), Wendy (Practical nurse?) and Kairon(?, registered nurse?) came in to talk with us.  

They discussed how the tumour was pressing onto the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus, and   Dr. Souster called it a booger and not a creepy crawly.  This means it is sort of a putty growth that grows around things, pushing things around, but not growing tentacles that take over organs.  That is positive, but some of the older parts of the tumour, that could be up to 3 years old, have calcified and formed a bit of a crust on the edge, and may be attached to the pituitary gland.  This could have impacted Gabby’s height (or lack of it) over the last few years.   This tumoru has also pushed up and around other areas that could be difficult to get at.

causing fluid pressure on the optic nerve.

Wendy then said to Gabby that she gets to make a wish that can be provided by the Wish Foundation.  This wish should be a big wish, like driving a Disney cruise ship between islands, or sleeping in a Scottish castle.  Honestly, I wasn’t aware of how serious this could be until Wendy brought this up.  My stomach dropped and I almost started crying right there.  Mom later said the same thing.  Wendy then explained to Gabby and us that any child who went through brain surgery got to make a wish, but they had to use before they turned 18 years old.  

I think Dr. Souster saw our faces and asked if we had any questions.  We started asking things and mentioned we hadn’t seen the CT scan.  They took us around the corner to a computer and brought up the CT scan.  They very plainly show us the tumour, where it was touching, where it was calcified, and explained some of the concerns.  They were hoping for the MRI that afternoon because that would provide them with the detail they would need to decide how to go into Gabby’s head.

More to come.