Friday, February 1, 2008

Finally Some Answers

I am so sorry it has taken me this long to post results of Wyatt's MRI. I literally just spoke to Wyatt's pediatrician last night. Pretty much everything seemed the same as his original MRI. The white matter loss was of course still there, but had not progressed so that was good. I assume and am praying this is something that will remain static. He had delayed myelination in his earlier MRI and now he has the myelination of a 6-month old. He was a little over 8-months old when the study was done. This is pretty consistent with his developmental milestones and as long as he keeps progressing then we're not worried. As I have heard others say, we look to the child for his prognosis and he's doing very well. What caught my attention, and the reason I didn't post until I spoke with the pediatrician is the radiologist noted "loss of periventricular white matter bilaterally is as seen in periventricular leukomalacia or PVL". This was what bothered me the most because this is the first time I've heard the words PVL in regards to Wyatt. I believe it is usually associated with brain bleeds and we concluded with MRI #1 that Wyatt didn't have a brain bleed. What I am reading more and more says that PVL can also be caused by lack of oxygen in utero, which we know Wyatt was a victim of due to the poor blood flow in his umbilical cord. So, I don't know if he actually has PVL or if this radiologist felt that the white matter damage is similar to what's seen with PVL. The pediatrician cannot really answer this, so we decided our next step is a neurology consult. All in all the pediatrician said she does not consider this a bad report. We will see the pediatric neurologist at the end of the month, which certainly won't change anything, but my hope is it will help us gain a better understanding of what has occured with Wyatt's brain and how better to tailor any therapies he may receive.

Thank you again for all of your prayers and encouragement.

1 comments:

Matt and Amy Snow said...

I'm so glad to hear this report!!! I bet this week has been an anxious one as you're waiting to talk to your pediatrician. I continue to be amazed at how wonderful he's doing!
amy