Part 2. Getting the appointment.

Thursday (just shy of 2 weeks) rolls around.... We still hadn't received anything in the mail or a phone call or anything else, so I called their office. The MRI had been approved. They faxed over the info to the scheduling line and had me call to schedule the test. They had us come in that Sunday, 3 days after I'd called. We arrive before 12 noon and were taken into the back. The tech was a very friendly man. He explained everything, thoroughly, to Taylor.... She wasn't nervous.... Thank goodness....

He had me place the "marker" on the lump.

This marker is super small.... like the size of a capsule you'd swallow with a glass of water.... anyhow... it's basically a capsule, filled with yellow fluid on a sticker that sticks to your back over the area to be photographed.  

So we place the marker over the lump and into the "tube" room she goes.... He shows me to a chair around the corner from the room. It's one of those cold, hard, hospital recliners.... I had my backpack with me because we were told it could be an hour.... Jason was at home with Lewie because Lewie had woken up with a 103.4 fever. (He had JUST gotten over being sick, as he got sick right after Taylor had gotten better)... the man turned the music on for her.... The very first song was that hawaiian version of "somewhere over the rainbow" followed by some Norah Jones and then "don't worry, be happy..." You're probably wondering why I go into such detail about everything.... Things, like music, remind me of times in my life.... lyrics to songs, happy times, sad times.... music is a HUGE part of me and how I remember things.... I really was enjoying the music selection.... He stopped and made a call to the radiologist at some point during the exam (it was after a pretty short time).... The music was playing and there was a loud chirping sound in the background.... When a mother wants to hear something, she can tune her ears in to the sound she is trying to hear and drown out the rest of the noise.... and that is exactly what I did....  "She's only 12 years old," I'd heard him say. They showed me the MRI and how there wasn't any fluid around the marker (besides the fluid that was IN the capsule/marker).... This could rule out it being a fluid filled cyst.  

The MRI machines are basically pre-programmed with protocol for certain tests. When there is an order for an MRI of the spine, the machine has 10-12 photos that it takes, because what they are looking for is usually seen within those 10-12 images... The tech who was taking these images noted that the normal set of 10-12 photos was not capturing the capsule/marker in that 10-12 set.  So he increased the number of images and took 22 instead, and STILL wasn't getting the marker into the images.... That was the point that he had phoned the radiologist. He was given pretty specific instructions on what we needed to do at this point. The radiologist needed us to phone our doctor the next day (Monday), and tell her that instead of the MRI of the spine, she needed to place an order for an abdominal MRI with focus on the lateral back mass. This way it would ensure capturing the capsule/marker in the set of images that they took. 

Monday comes, and I called the doctor's office and explained the situation. She informs me that she will put the new order in for referral from the insurance company and they would let me know in 7-10 business days. I was NOT about to wait another 10-12 days for a response again.... I told her that I could call the insurance myself if I needed to. They hadn't submitted the set of images from the first MRI, so technically, they shouldn't have needed another approval as we were doing the same test, just in a different area.... She said, "Give me a few hours and let me see what I can do, okay?"  A few hours later, she calls with insurance approval. AWESOME! Now I can call and reschedule. 

Thankfully, they were able to get us in that Wednesday evening, just 2 days later....