Jerad Bitner

This was a hard, terrible day.

They woke us at 5am to start prepping for the post-op MRI. There was some confusion as to where to go as there are two different MRI’s in this hospital and they had to find someone who knew how to get to the outpatient MRI station, which does a lower resolution (non-contrast) MRI, deemed slightly safer for a baby. The OB has since explained there is a lot that is very safe for a baby, we just try not to do them needlessly, and everyone at the hospital gets on-edge when there’s a pregnancy involved.

After a quick cup of coffee and a hug from Jim, I drove to the hospital to be with Jenney before the surgery. When I got to the room, curled up in the hospital bed with her and we held each other and cried. At 6am they came in to prep for surgery, then wheeled her down to the pre-surgery area. I remember an area where there were lots of lights and alcoves. In one of the alcoves they placed us and put a monitor on the baby to get a read on his heartbeat. The quick pulse was comforting to our ears. Jenney mentioned double vision, and they noted it during another eval.

In the morning the Neurologist, Dr. Hammer came to see us. She said she had referred us to Dr. Goldman as she would be out later in the week and wanted to ensure we had continuity of care. She answered our questions, showed us the MRI, explained how an operation might proceed, assured us that this was a very good time for the pregnancy for an operation, and assured us that the chances of success for where the tumor was located were very good. Dr. Goldman would be in to see us later that morning to evaluate Jenney and would most likely want to operate as soon as possible.

Jenney fell again while I was helping her to the bathroom, and I caught her. She had been having a headache and thought she needed to pee, but once it subsided realized she in fact did not. I took her back to bed and didn’t give her the option this time. We were going to the ER.