Preparing Daisie for a CT scan

On Wednesday Daisie had her second CT scan to check on her CCAM but it was the first one she was old enough to understand what was going on.

To prepare her I told her about the shape of the machine being like a BIG doughnut which from what I gather from the 'can i go in the doughnut yet' 'whats the time' 'can we go yet' 'Is it time for me to go in the doughnut' she seemed really excited about what her appointment had in store for her.

I also showed her a youtube video of a little girl having a CT scan done on her chest by the royal childrens hospital melbourne to help her get to grips with the procedure and to see the machine before going along to her appointment. You can watch the video 'here'  

The only thing I didn't totally prepare her for was the cannula as I wasn't sure if she would be needing one so rather than drum the whole needle thing into her I mentioned it briefly, When we found out she needed one my stomach felt like an orca done a flip inside it and Daisies little eyes went like the cats eyes from shrek. After a 30 minute wait for a nurse it was time for Daisie to have the cannula inserted the nurse doing it for her was brilliant. Telling Daisie she needed to get the blue worms in her hand to come up and not be shy because she needed to give them a drink through a teeny tiny straw which would go in her hand, Other than a brief complaint of it hurting she took the whole cannula part in her stride and was really pleased the blue worms were getting a drink on such a hot day.

She even wondered why the blue worms in her other hand weren't getting a drink and suggested she went back and got them one too! 

I expected her to be a little cautious and have her hand held flat and awkwardly but as you can see from the photo above she was using it like normal and even gave me a thumbs up with it.

Whenever I asked what she had to do while she was in the doughnut she could happily and easily tell me that she had to stay really really still, The nurses and doctors were really impressed with how well she did through out the scan (I had to wait outside) leaving me a very proud mumma bear so proud I could have easily cried, Just when I didn't think it was even possibler to be anymore prouder after how well she handled everything else.

She really enjoyed going inside the doughnut! Now we have to wait for her results and see what steps are to be taken next.

Have your little ones ever needed a CT scan? How did you prepare them?