Neurology Follow-Up

On January 29 (the Friday before we left for New York) we saw our Neurologist, which had been a year since the last visit. To remind everyone, she was the one that gave us the bad news of the bleed when Lucas was in the NICU, and the one who gave us the bleak future. I love going to see her! She was soooo excited to see Lucas and he did awesome at all her "tests". Everything she'd ask him, it was like we'd rehearsed the answers with him because he'd answer every one perfectly. I honestly don't think she expected him to actually "reply" to half her questions. My favorite one was when she said "how old are you now Lucas?"... but she was saying it more to herself as she searched for his birthdate on her paperwork. As plain as day he answered her, "two!" She laughed, the look on her face was priceless. Bran and I were smiling ear to ear. I have to give my typical disclaimer again here... yes, these are very typical 2 year old things to do (and he doesn't yet have as much comprehension or language than his 2 year old peers)... to be quite blunt, there was a day that she thought he'd be institutionalized. You have to put it into perspective. The fact that he was sitting there understanding her, answering questions, and building blocks on her table and laughing as he knocked them down... its just pretty remarkable.

The best part of the appointment was when she pulled up his recent MRI. She said, "I see why he is doing so well." She could see the development of myelin sheath (which is what surrounds the nerves, aka connections, within the brain). I know, its a lot to understand, now I wish I had paid more attention in my high school biology classes! She said they look to be developing normally and connections are being made properly in most of the brain! She said the level of connections that she can see "suggests a typical 2 year old brain." Wow! It was cool to hear someone actually confirm this fact with a brain scan... not measuring his progress by milestones and "should-be's" ... but cold, hard, indisputable data of seeing connections in the MRI! I love it! She said, "of course the area on the right will always be gone and will continue to cause challenges, but I'm so pleased that there is so much healthy activity occurring in the rest." She said she can also see that the area in the back of the brain with the damage from the stroke is slower to make connections, but she sees that they are starting to happen. She feels this is why his vision has improved so much over this past year.

She ended the appointment by saying, "its obvious that as his parents you are doing so much for him, for him to be improving like this... so congratulations." That was nice to hear. I know that it is not entirely us, it has a lot to do with his wonderful nanny, his nutrition, stimulation from the kids, and all the therapies he receives... but it is nice to hear validation that the decisions you make as a parent may have been the right ones. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't question if I'm doing the right things or doing enough to give him the most opportunity.