Hiya, we had the results of Patrick's latest MRI scan today and have some great news to share.
Since his last scan in March 2008 Patrick's brain has continued to develop and grow and the myeline (white matter) is developing too. This news confirms that he doesn't have a degenerative dissorder, which of course is great news. There are still questions surrounding the area of the brain that controls his functional movement, this area still isn't developing normally but we had anticipated that really as we know he's not made much progress physically in the last year. It would seem that there is damage to the white matter in that area and so his brain isn't able to send clear enough signals to control his movements. As this area is tiny and his brain is still very small it is difficult to get a clear enough picture to see the extent of the damage, we may get a clearer picture in the future.
This scan has also shown that the damage to his brain is consistent with massive trauma, or "'a catastrophic explosion" as his neuro put it! This sounds alarming but is the same as would be seen in a child with cerebral palsy who had been starved of oxygen at some point. This puts further weight on our theory that his episode in 'Status' is what has caused the long term damage rather than any kind of genetic or metabolic dissorder.
So, basically we can relax and be sure that Patrick's condition isn't going to get any worse over time, all the signs are there that he will keep making progress, he may not ever be very physically able but hopefully his communication skills etc will develop and improve with time and hard work.
His main problem now is his epilepsy and keeping that under control. He is still taking 4 strong anti-epileptic drugs but he is relatively seizure free, his last seizure was 4 weeks ago and that was a mild one. We will be weaning him off one of his drugs over the next 6 weeks (his Vigabatrin) as it isn't good for him to be on so many, hopefully with no nasty consiquences.
I hope I've explained all that in a way that makes sence, I'm a bit emotionally shattered today so may be talking gobbledygook!
