January 29, 2007

We just arrived home from Shands. It was a successful visit, unlike the last one. It didn't start off that way though. We arrived in Gainesville around 7:30pm Sunday night and headed towards our motel (The Rush Lake Inn). After a little confusion on how to get there, we arrived at what looked like a pretty shady two story apartment complex with no windows on the units. We checked in, and made our way through a creepy parking lot to our room. As soon as we entered the "non-smoking" room, our nasal passages shut themselves down from the smell of the smoke. Between that, the prison look, and the scary dirty carpets & bathroom, we decided to leave and find a better place.

We headed for dinner (IHOP!!) and passed another hotel that was mentioned in our Shands materials. We called up and it turns out the cost of their room was only about $7 more than the Rush Lake. It was nice looking and had a conference center attached to it. We called them to check on room availability, and I asked how they compared to the Rush Lake Inn. "You're joking, right?" was the respsone. When we got there, I realized why she said it. It was very nice, very clean, offered Starbuck's coffee, and even had room service.

We woke up early today, and went straight to the hospital for Presley's MRI. We couldn't feed him because they were going to sedate him for the procedure. They decided to give it one try before sedating him, and although I could hear screaming accross the building, it was a success. They were able to get enough of an image to satisfy the neurologist that there was no brain issues to be concerned about. The MRI only showed the bone issues that we expected. We expected to be there for a few hours, but were out about 20 minutes after our appointment time.

From there we headed to the neurosurgeon's office to have Presley's physical exam. After a little confusion there, they sent us to eat breakfast and return for the visit an hour later. (A quick side note, Shands cafateria serves everything a la carte. You literally get charged per slice of bacon & per scoop of grits. ) We returned to the neurosurgeon's office an hour later and were brought back immediately. Within a few minutes the physician's assistant was in there to check out Presley. Everything was good, and she answered several questions we had come up with since our last visit.

Our last stop was the blood bank. As I mentioned in an earlier post, they had difficulty getting blood from Dana at our first visit. This time, everything went great. They had some concerns when looking at her veins (they aren't exactly buldging), but they called on one of their more skilled technicians who was able to handle it and not cause Dana any pain.

Thank you to my sister and brother-in-law, Debi & Eric, who took care of Powell and Amelia while we went down there. It's the kindness and prayers that our helping us get through this!!

1 week to go!!