We recently had an MRI for the Munchkin because his eye doctor was noticing some vertical drifting of his eyes. The doctor has always noticed that he had the horizontal drifting but the presence of vertical drifting at this age was alarming. There were two possibilities of what it could be. One is that it was always there and they just never noticed it because he would never cooperate for his appointments. He would scream and wiggle and they would be forced to do their testing quickly to get it over with. The other possibility is that some thing is attacking the 4th nerve in the brain causing this. I was told that whatever is attacking it would most likely be benign. Not exactly what a mother wants to hear about her child.
We went for the MRI in Loma Linda. He had to be sedated for it. After it was over we went over to recovery. It was a long day! We left our house at 7:45 and didn’t return until 4:00. His doctor called me the next day with the good news. “There is no new damage and no changes. The only damage is what he has had since birth from being premature.” This is what we were praying for that the problem or 4th nerve palsy was always there. However, I was reminded of what a precious miracle this child is. The damage that has been there since birth is that when he had a stroke in the womb, 60% of his right parietal lobe didn’t form. There is fluid in it’s place. There was a time when we didn’t think he would or they (his twin) would even make it out of my body alive. Then when they came out and spent 75 days and 105 days in the NICU, they struggled daily to survive. Then as the Munchkin got older and we got the diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy and they told us “He might be able to walk one day”. We have been to more therapy appointments than I wish to count but he is doing amazing!
Two years ago the Munchkin fell from his booster chair at the table and had to have a CT scan. The doctor was surprised to find what we already knew was going on in his brain. And was excited to inform us that his left brain was enlarged because it was compensating for what was missing. The doctor said “If he continues at this pace, in 15 years you won’t even be able to tell he ever had anything wrong with him.” This child is a miracle!
He used to have to use a gait trainer to help him learn to walk. He hated it! When he got his new hinged AFO’s (leg braces) he started walking. That was October of 2009- he was 3 years-old. A couple weeks ago he has begun actually pedaling his bike. He never could before because he couldn’t get his left foot to cooperate. He can also ride his sister’s scooter!
On Monday we are going to Loma Linda so the Munchkin can have a Botox injection in his left leg. The muscles are so tight and it hurts him so badly when we stretch him. The Botox will relax the muscle so we will be able to stretch him and he can put the left foot flat on the ground. Yeah! Having the injection will ward off having to have surgery until he is older. If he doesn’t have the injections or surgery, the muscle is so tight that his leg can’t grow properly. I am excited for his leg to relax!
