Wait & See

Abby took a field trip for one of her therapy sessions this week! We went to the play place inside the mall. Her therapists and I thought it would be a great place to go now that she is crawling and climbing so well. Our plan was to get there early before the mall opened to avoid other kids and their germs. But to our surprise, there were already a ton of kids there! Crazy moms. Why do you take your kids to the mall so early? It was actually really neat to see Abby in there. She even made a friend! There was this cute little boy who kept following us around and cheering Abby on. When her PT helped her climb up the steps to the slide we all praised her and this little boy joined right in and said, "Wow! She's a good climber!" He was too cute.

I could have gone off for some retail therapy after the stores opened, but then we wouldn't have captured this little gem... a Good Job kiss after she crawled through the polar bear tunnel.

(I know her outfit is hideous. Please don't judge me! She needed to wear stretchy pants for maximum mobility and these were the only ones she had that fit. But the shirt that goes with them is still too big, so I had to improvise and this is what I came up with...ick!)

Here is a picture of Abby at the same play area from July 2010 (1-1/2 yrs old....and no hair).

And here she is now, in the same tunnel (with tons of hair!).

And here is a random picture of her standing against the wall by our front door. Have I mentioned how much I love to see her in an upright position?

About a year ago we banished this princess car to the garage because Abby wouldn't stop standing on it and jumping off. But we brought it back in the house the other day to give her a ride. I think she liked it. She immediately grabbed onto the handlebars and started pushing the music buttons with her thumbs - over and over again, the way she used to.

We had a big appointment this week. I took Abby in for an MRI and an appointment with the neurosurgeon that she has been assigned to follow up with out here (since her original surgeon is in San Diego). Several weeks ago I contacted her original surgeon to ask his opinion about Abby's progress, or rather, lack of progress. I explained that we have seen progress in every other area except facial movement and speech. He suggested that there may be something wrong with a specific nerve that controls all the facial movements, appropriately called the Facial Nerve (or Cranial Nerve VII). I did my own research and found out that this nerve controls facial expressions, swallowing, and movement of the tongue up and down. Those are all of Abby's problems. She can't smile, laugh, or cry (although she can form a few tears). She has difficulty swallowing. And if you can't move your tongue up and down or move your cheeks, then you can't talk. I was so excited to finally be pointed in the right direction! We now knew the root of the problem, and only had to find out what was wrong with it. Had the nerve been damaged by the bleed? Or was it just being pinched by some of the swelling that has yet to go away completely? If it was damaged that would be bad because there is really nothing you can do to fix it. But if it is only being pinched, a drain could be put back in to relieve that pressure. I was 100% positive the problem was just swelling and we could drain out that extra fluid and get her smiling in a month. But when the doctor went over the MRI with me, I wasn't too happy about the answers I got. The good news: there is no obvious sign of damage. Her brain looks very healthy. The other good news: her swelling has gone down significantly, and her ventricles are continuing to get smaller, meaning that extra pressure is not the problem. So where is the bad news? Well, I went in to this appointment expecting to find a solution and I didn't get one. This is all I got: "We'll just have to wait and see."

Wait and see

Wait and see

Wait and see

Wait and see

Wait and see

Wait and see

If one more person tells me to wait and see.......

This doctor has told me before that you typically see patients getting back 90% of what they will regain by 9 months following the injury. After that, progress is slow. He very delicately mentioned it again this time. But I am choosing to ignore that statistic. I don't care what it takes - Abby will smile and laugh and SPEAK again. Somewhere along the pathway for that nerve there is a roadblock and it just needs to be cleared out.