Apr. 29--RIVERTON -- Two days before Andrew Felsted's fifth birthday, he fell down, hit his head on the floor and began to cry inconsolably. Doctors initially found nothing wrong.
But a scan eventually revealed a mass the size of a golf ball in his brain. By then, it was late on a Saturday night at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City. Surgeons removed the cancerous tumor at noon the next day.
Thirty days of radiation, 56 weeks of chemotherapy and a lot of heartache later, Andrew, now 8, recently pulled on a pair of goggles at the hospital's new outpatient clinic in Riverton and watched the movie "Up" while an MRI machine whirred.
Being a sick kid is never
fun. But being able to watch a blockbuster while being checked for cancer helps.
"I like how you can just pretend you're in a movie theater -- that's cool," Andrew said. "You can pretend nothing's happening."
Access to scans made easier by the distraction goggles, as they're informally called, is one of the boons for south valley residents with the November opening of Primary Children's Outpatient Services at Riverton. Primary has had the goggles for about four years, and the goggles are used in both locations every day.
The goal is to help calm children who need to remain still for as long as two hours during an imaging scan. Using the goggles -- which cost about $43,000 per pair -- also helps transform a serious exam into a more positive experience.
One alternative -- sedating a child -- requires the child to show up at the hospital with an empty stomach, and recovery can take hours.
"Sedating is fairly safe, but it's not completely safe," said Darin Day, the director of medical imaging at Primary Children's. "The parents have been very happy [about the goggles] -- they can take their kids home really quickly."
Even with the goggles available, many of the youngest children, typically those under age 7, remain unable to stay still and must be sedated. But those who do use the goggles love them.
"I think it would be very helpful in the adult world," Day said.
Sedating her son meant adding more medicine and all its potential side effects to his already-compromised body, recalled Melissa Felsted. Hours were spent preparing and waiting for Andrew to come out from behind sedation's curtain.
Now, with every scan, his mother's confidence grows. With the goggles, the experience is so much simpler. His mom typically buys a new movie or rents something her son has never seen.
"It's taken away all the side effects and you're only doing a test," she said.
Once done every six weeks, then every three months, now Andrew only needs an MRI every six months.
The past few years have been scary for the Felsted family, but Andrew -- who is thriving in school -- always knew everything would turn out fine.
"I knew it would all work out," he said. "I could just feel it."
And, one day, if all goes well, he'll never have to wear those goggles again.
jlyon@sltrib.com
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