Good thing it wasn't an amputation....

S1's right foot turns in about 45 degrees when he walks, especially when he's going up stairs. So we decided to get some hip x rays to see if there was a problem or not. The idea of him staying still during x rays was laughable so we decided to sedate him. He's been sedated many times before and has never had a problem. The sedation and x rays went off without a hitch. But when we were in Radiology, they asked which hip and I said I thought it was supposed to be bilateral x rays, but pediatric sedation only had an order for the left hip. I said that I hadn't ever seen the order since it was called in straight to radiology from the doctor's office. So they just did the left hip. I wasn't focusing to hard because they gave S1 ketamine (sp?). Basically it made it look like he had cerebral palsy. He was kind of twisted and stiff, eyes open and staring off steadily in one direction, head cocked to the side. It was a bit disturbing, being his mother, to see him that way but I knew it was only temporary.

When I called the doctors office later in the day to see what the results were the nurse said, "We're still waiting to get the results on the right hip." That's when I informed her she'd be waiting a long time since they didn't do a right hip x ray. Apparently the hospital had some kind of computer glitch so it only printed up the order for the left hip and not the order for the right hip. If I'd been in my right mind, I would have realized this while in radiology. That's why I say it was a good thing it wasn't an amputation or S1 would have lost the wrong limb! Actually, if it was for any procedure other than a simple x ray I would have been more focused. So we had to return two days later to do the other set of x rays. The hospital made it clear that I would not be charged for a second sedation.

I wondered how hard it would be to get S1 back into the hospital. As it turns out, the first visit wasn't traumatic for him at all as the second time around he walked right into the hospital like he owned the place. He waited in radiology just fine while I registered him. So we tried to see if he'd hold still for a x ray without being sedated, and low and behold he did! I had to hold his hand and sing to him so he'd stay on the table while the technician held his feet in the correct position, but he did it! I guess I just threw over $600 down the drain to sedate him earlier in the week. Nah, I don't think it was a waste. If I understand correctly the ketamine keeps the patient awake, just kind of disassociated from their body. They are still globally aware of things that are going on. So maybe the sedation helped him the first time around to see that x rays were no big deal so the second time around he'd know what was going on and could cooperate. Because I am pretty sure that if we had tried to force him onto that table the first time without sedation, we'd never get him willingly onto that table again!