Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Back to Neurology!

Quick update:

Today we had our appointment with Neurology at Phoenix Children's to go over our little guy's brain MRI report with our excellent neurologist (he is a treasure).

We had an excellent time, barring a miserable beginning. They were super-late getting us in, and in the meantime, our little one (who hadn't eaten a very good lunch) got hungry. I had wanted to wait till we got in a room to pull out his dinner, as (1) there is no food allowed in their lobby, and (2) I didn't want to have to interrupt his dinner when they called us. But when we'd been waiting 40 minutes or so, I finally gave up and took our little one (who was good and upset) out into the hallway and pulled out his supper. He ate like a starving maniac and cheered up immensely thereafter. Thankfully!

Anyway, our appointment! Our neurologist says that, based on the MRI and on his evaluation:

(1) Our little one will get around to walking and talking (most likely), but not soon. Walking - not till 3 or 4 years of age, minimum. Talking - anyone's guess.

(2) He is pretty sure there is a genetic underlying cause, but the current genetic testing just isn't detailed enough. Given another 10 years of development of the testing technology, we may be able to re-test and find a cause.

(3) Arachnoid cysts are common in the population and are of no concern.

(4) There are some issues of concern with the MRI - Lower brain volume than should be present at his age, enlarged ventricles, among other things. Nothing that requires surgery, and for the rest we will just have to wait and see and hope his brain continues to develop to take care of the current abnormalities. The human brain isn't mature until 6-9 years of age, and at that point we might know more.

Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm.... I think that's about it! Basically, he said that it will just be a waiting game. Oh, and he said that it's fine to halt our search for a diagnosis - that we have turned over enough stones to ensure that we know all that we need to know about his health, and that it's okay to stop here.

So that's it for today! What's next? Hmm... I have no idea. Actually, I think we're done for a month or so, barring therapy. Thank goodness!

Good night, all!

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