Children's Hospital Visit

My daughter just turned five in February. One of the best things about her getting older is she is now able to describe many things she had not been able to describe up until now. This is both good and bad. The bad is she will now tell her friends in her class everything that goes on. Which is only bad when she tells something embarrassing. I don't mind because I always like to choose funny over not funny and most of the time embarrassing equals funny.

The bad is that sometimes she can tell you about something that makes you have to go have someone like a doctor take a look at it. We were playing a game where you follow the other person's finger. First, you follow their finger as they move it towards your nose causing you to go cross-eyed, you then move your finger right and then left. It's fun because when you move from cross-eyed to right or left it looks like you are able to move only one eye at a time.

When she looked to the right she said, "I see double vision." I stopped and asked what she meant. "I see two of you," she said.

We ended up taking her to the eye doctor and I told him what she said she saw when she looked to the right.

Three days later she was at Standford Children's hospital for an MRI.

I was freaked out by the speed we were lined up to go to get the MRI. Usually, when doctors move that fast there is something wrong. So I did some research and it turned out it was either something she was born with, which would not be an issue, or it was something bad. I'm going to let you know that it turned out to be okay and it looks like it was something she was born with. So you don't need to be worried.

Up until after the MRI I was very stressed.

The hospital called us up the day before the test to tell us the time and where to go. I didn't know what to expect. Hospitals can be scary and for kids, that is amplified. I knew I had to be calm and remain positive for my daughter. If I freaked out I knew she would freak out. So I hid my nerves and my wife and I took her to the hospital on the morning of the test.

For kids my daughter's age to get an MRI, they put them under general anesthesia. They were going to knock my daughter out.

Now I was worried about her going under general anesthesia and I was worried about what was causing the double vision. This was going to be a great Saturday morning.

During the prep call on Friday, they told us there could be two people with her over the age of eighteen. That was some good news. Both my wife and I would be able to go.

They gave us an address, but it turned out that was the old building and we ended up having to walk across the street to the main children's hospital. The walk wasn't that far and it's always nice to get a little exercise when you are stressed.

We went in the front door of the hospital to check-in. They gave us masks and took our pictures to put on stickers that were to be worn on our shirts. The pictures on the stickers were faded and looked more like shadow people than us, but we put the stickers on the three of us and they directed us on where to check-in.

Once you are past the check-in point at the main door you learn that the hospital is really designed with kids in mind.

The hospital is set up with a nature theme. In the main area past the check-in desk, there are small statues of animals running along the window to the left. These animals are cute and my daughter and I looked at each statue. Already this was relaxing. It was fun to look at the animals. The statues were all very accurate representations of the animals they looked like.

We checked in to the MRI waiting area for the MRI and my daughter and I went out to walk around the lobby while my wife waited in the waiting area for them to call our name.

Aside from the animal statues, there was a machine moving balls around in a maze. The items in the maze were related to the Standford campus.

You could also go outside from the main lobby and there was a play area for kids and chairs so that you could sit outside and relax.

We didn't go outside because they called our name to go back and get ready for the MRI.

All of the medical staff were excellent with kids. They talked about everything they were doing. They spoke to my daughter directly and let her know what they were going to do.

Each person that came in talked to my wife and me and included my daughter in everything that was going on.

We had already explained to her that they were going to put her to sleep so they could take pictures of her head.

The medical staff explained that to her again. They started by asking her what we told her. They then expanded on what they were going to do.

I wasn't sure how they would put her to sleep. For me whenever I have had to be put under for surgery it always started with an IV. I don't think my daughter would have been very happy with that.

Luckily they were going to put her under with gas.

They explained that they would put a mask on her that would have a smell she got to choose and that we would be with her when she went to sleep. They then gave her a mask to hold so she would get used to the mask. From that point on she got to hold the mask.

The anesthesiologist came in and told her what was going on and she was holding the mask.

The nurse came in with stickers and she got to choose some stickers to put on the mask. She then got to choose a scent to have on the mask.

There were four different scents for her to choose and to my surprise she chose watermelon. She doesn't even like watermelon so I'm not sure why she loved the scent so much. If she likes how it smells I wish she would eat it.

During all of this, she was allowed to hold on to a stuffed mermaid she brought.

This was done so well. When it was finally time for my daughter to go to sleep we walked her back to the room and I lifted her onto the bed where they had the gas ready. They connected the scented mask to the tube and put it over her nose and mouth. She held my hand as they started to give her the gas that would put her under.

I was nervous as my wife and I stood there watching out daughter go to sleep. My daughter squeezed my hand and right before she went under she moved her head back and forth a few times. The anesthesiologist told us sometimes there would be some extra movement when they went under and we shouldn't be concerned.

It didn't matter, there wasn't really anything that could be said at that moment that would have stopped my concern.

Once she was under they escorted us back to the waiting area. We checked to make sure they had our correct contact information and we were told that they would call us when she was done.

My wife and I went upstairs to the cafe to get something to eat while we waited. The food was okay and there was a nature trail with more animal statues outside of the cafe. So we ate and took a quick walk outside in the nature area.

We then went back downstairs and went outside to wait.

I don't know what most children's hospitals are like and hopefully, I won't have to go back to another one any time soon, but this one was designed to keep the kids and the parents calm and the people working there were all friendly and helpful and good with kids. It was the best experience I think I could have had in a stressful time.