The day after we landed in California, we headed to meet Dr. Steinberg and then Emmie went for her eleventh MRI and as an added bonus, an angiogram. The angiogram helped the doctors to see just where her occlusion was and to make sure they knew which arteries they were going for for the bypass. It also helped ot make sure she didn’t have any more areas of concern and to make sure she continued to show no signs of a stroke or TIA. Praise God! She didn’t show any issues. The angiogram showed that just the middle left cerebral artery was occluded and pretty much at 100%. There were still signs of collateral vessels and Dr. Steinberg told us that the collateral vessels were what was keeping her alive. It’s our understanding that the moyamoya vessels are really weak and eventually stop working which is what leads to a lot of people having strokes or TIAs.

This was a hard MRI for mama. They wouldn’t allow anyone but a parent back with her. Emmie chose Mark and I got to stay with Tobin. It broke my heart but she did wonderful with daddy.

Tobin was able to sleep while we waited on Ems to get done. And then mama was able to go get her girl.

Emmie was still sleeping off the anesthesia when I got to her in recovery. Because of the angiogram, she had to keep her leg straight for four hours. So, we had to stay for awhile in the Short Stay Unit. Anyway, I took her hand when I got to her and she wouldn’t let go. She squeezed it every time I moved. Then her nurse said, “I have a popsicle for a little girl once we see some eyeballs.” Emmie smiled the biggest smile and finally opened her eyes.

After I took the picture above, she told me to show it to everyone. I think she was super proud to be able to have not one but three popsicles! (Note: Emmie’s Horner syndrome tends to show up pretty strong after anesthesia and gradually gets better. That’s why it looks like she’s winking 🙂 .)

She loved the Short Stay Unit because she had her own personal tv/movie channel. She gets really goofy coming off of anesthesia and I have a few doozy stories that I just had to write down so I don’t forget.

–I eventually had to keep my hand on her leg because she kept wiggling it. At one point, she looked at me in all seriousness, “Mama, there’s something on my leg!”

“Yes,” I told her. “It’s my hand. You won’t keep your leg straight so I have it there to remind you.”

“Oh.”

–At another point, she wanted to argue with me that she had her undies on. They placed the angiogram at her groin and I knew for a fact she didn’t have any on because they handed them to me. But she was insistent that they were on because they were when she left and her daddy had told her they were.

–Last one: Emmie had had nothing to eat since the night before and I can only imagine was starving. The way their meal system works, is that a patient can choose anything they want and they can get as much as they want as long as it fits on a tray. The patient can also order every thirty minutes. Well, once we found that out, Emmie looked at the menu and announced, “I want EVERYTHING!” She was starving and ate so well once she could get some food.