Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2003. Mattie was in Los Angeles, to celebrate Christmas with my parents. That day we took Mattie to Travel Town in Griffith Park. This was quite a place, filled with old and historic trains. Children of all ages can explore on and off the trains, and also walk the tracks. Mattie was a big train fan, so Travel Town was always a highlight for us. Ironically prior to having Mattie, I never visited Travel Town before.
Quote of the day: This was how to help a family who has just lost their child. Wash the clothes, make soup. Don’t ask them what they need, bring them what they need. Keep them warm. Listen to them rant, and cry, and tell their story over and over. ~ Ann Hood
It was a very long day today! I got up at 5:30am and after doing my usual morning chores, I got my mom in the car at 8:30am and we headed to the hospital. The commute to the hospital was easy, but I knew as soon as I got onto Georgetown's campus, parking would be a show! Because the hospital is undergoing construction, one of the parking lots is closed and therefore patients must valet park. The valets were working very hard and despite the number of people transcending on them, they managed the flow quite well.
We got upstairs to the nuclear medicine department and there we spent about six hours. The DaT scan is long! It starts by drinking a solution of water and iodine. This is to protect the thyroid from radiation. My mom was anxious and a bundle of nerves. Her anxiousness comes out as snappy, rude, and overwhelming. Fortunately for her, I stuck by her side and helped the techs working with her. My mom drank this solution and then had to wait 60 minutes. After that point, she was injected with a radiotracer. Once that happened, we had to wait three hours before she could get scanned. The scan itself took 30 minutes, which isn't bad, but I assure you by that point in the day, my mom was tired and not happy about taking the test. In fact, my mom doesn't perceive herself as having any issues and truly resented taking the test. So again, I explained why we needed to do this because I plainly told her she lacks insight into her own situation.
It is hard to believe we were at the hospital from 9am to 3:30pm. During that time, the head of child life came to visit us and we even saw the former nurse manager of the PICU (where Mattie spent many months). This is the thing about Georgetown, to me the hallways HOLD so many Mattie memories. In fact, where my mom was today was a place I knew all too well. This was where Mattie received all of his bone scans. I saw the room Mattie typically was in for his scans and for that one moment, I was transported back to 2008 and 2009!
Info about the DaTscan:
DaTscan is the trade name for Ioflupane I-123, which is a radiotracer used in a nuclear medicine imaging test called brain SPECT. DaTscan binds to the presynaptic dopamine active transporter (DAT) on neurons that communicate with areas controlling movement, including the striatum. The hallmark of Parkinson’s disease is the loss of these neurons and a decrease in dopamine; when these neurons die, there are fewer dopamine transporters, leading to decreased activity on the brain scan.
For the classic motor symptoms of Parkinson’s to be present, typically 50% or more of these neurons must be lost. DaTscan is able to detect this decreased activity early in the course of Parkinson’s, when the diagnosis may still be uncertain.
Differentiating between Parkinson’s and essential tremor – in an individual whose sole symptom is tremor, it can be difficult to make a definitive diagnosis. DAT scans are abnormal in patients with Parkinson’s, but normal in patients with essential tremor.
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