Neuro

We went to see the neurologist on Tuesday. Bryson's PT had noted to us that Bryson has less strength on his left side, both his arm and his leg. We have noticed this over time, but didn't really think that much of it. Then the therapist asked about his verbal skills...which are pretty non-existent. Bryson really only makes noise when he is hungry or tired (crying) a few months ago he was starting to babble and has since stopped. This was a little alarming. The therapist told us that if over the next few weeks he doesn't improve she was going to have us go back to the neurologist. I said forget that, and went ahead and called the neurologists' office. They got us in right away and we met with him on Tuesday. The short story of it all is this.... yes, Bryson has significantly more strength on the right side of his body, and yes he isn't developing his speech/oral skills as well as he should be. The doctor thinks that when he was having his seizures (in the PICU) that something happened to the right hemisphere of his brain, that is what is causing all of this. He doesn't think its anything to be to worried about, we will just follow him and hope that he can pull through like he has done so well in the past with everything else! We will continue with therapy for now and work with him at home.

The frustrating part for all involved is that there is NOTHING out there on parvovirus like Bryson had it. So no one can tell us that "yes, when your son is two years old, he will be perfectly fine." and that is what I want to hear so badly. I want to talk to a mom who has been through this, or something similar, and hear her say that her child has turned out fine. I find it so hard to believe that my little man is the only one out there that has had to struggle with this. Its just not fair. The doctor said that he wishes that he could say that he has taken care of kids like him in the past, and this is what we can expect, but he can't. He said he wished he had a crystal ball to look into so he could tell us that everything will be fine in the future, but he can't. He said that if he had to guess, he can't imagine Bryson not coming out of this rough patch fine. Its just getting him there. We are going to follow up with him in a few months, if he is still showing delays we will do his MRI then. The doctor really wants to get an MRI when Bryson is 18 months to see what it looks like then, since by the time a child is 18 months old all the neurological pathways are in their places, but he will do it earlier if we need to. He said that sometimes, when kids stop being vocal, a lot of times they are having issues with hearing, so we will be doing a hearing test later down the road too. We do our own all the time with him, and he turns his head just fine to sounds that we make, so I can't imagine it being bad. The doctor said he may just have a small amount of hearing loss and that can cause this too. That is a bridge we will cross if we have to, but I believe with all my heart that he can hear just fine.

I know this was a long post, I am just so frustrated right now. I know that things could have been worse for him and that we are so lucky that they aren't, but I just want him to be fine. I just want to walk into one of these appointments and hear "your son is going to be just fine. We don't need to see you back anymore." I want someone to tell me that he is going be able to hold his own bottle, roll over, pull up, crawl, walk, ride a bike, climb trees, run, play sports, read books and talk to us without any problems. I guess Bryson is writing his own story and I just need to be patient and have lots of faith that everything is going to work out like its supposed to. I am just getting tired of being strong, I feel like things move along so great for a few months and then BOOM...another obstacle for us.

I am going to end this post now, I have erased so much of this, because I don't think anyone really needs to read me venting and believe me, it wasn't pretty. Sorry for the length of this post!