It's all in Joan's head

Sorry no new picture - that part of the site has crashed.

Joan's hand. Where to start.

Doctor's appointment was productive, but saddening. Turns out, she's nost likely had a mini stroke. Typically, this happens in utero, though she had a particularly violent birth, so there's a chance it happened then, too.

She said baby strokes are a whole different thing from strokes in the elderly. It doesn't mean she's going to keep having them. It would have been a one off thing, caused by some set of circumstances, that won't happen again. They don't know what those circumstances may have been. It shouldn't affect her mentally, because there's so much brain development happening. the brain compensates for it. If an area is damaged, the neurons will just form elsewhere.

We discovered it in a typical way. Parents think it "appears" around 6 or 7 months, but in reality, it was there all along - it's just becomes obvious around that time, because that's when they start to sit up and play with stuff.

Lucky for us, it's currently an area of study at Mac right now, so there happens to be all the resources right in town.

So now, we begin a long process. Because it's being studied, the doc has to follow a prescribed course of action. First is a set of bloodwork, largely to rule out any genetic abnormalities. She's pretty confident that she's clear of those, because we'd see a dramatic developmental delay by now. And although she is delayed, it all seems to be physical, probably because she's in effect missing an arm. Mentally, she seems all there, and on track. That bloodwork starts right away. I have to take her to the hospital today to get that ball rolling.

We and the results will be sent to a hemotologist. She said something about testing for possible blood disorders, and there's a remote chance this could be the first of many strokes, so I guess that's what that doctor does.

Then she needs an MRI of her head, to see where the stroke took place, and what kind of damage it caused. She said typically, they find a very small scar. But there's a chance it may have caused extensive damage. They won't know anything until the MRI is done. She'll need to be put right under for the procedure, so we need to see an anesthesiologist ahead of time, and the day of the test will probably be very stressful. I'm thinking I'll hire a sitter for John that day. I'll have enough to fret about without wondering what John's up to.

Then we start months and months of physiotherapy. They'll probably build a little tiny brace to hold her hand open, and go from there.

Obviously, there's a time issue involved, which we all know about, so there's no need to discuss it here. The doc is aware too, and said it should all happen very quickly, so not to be too worried. She's going to have a full medical team taking care of her, and they'll do what they can to make sure all it all happens as seamless as possible. The family doctor said that pediatricians have a special status in the hospital. They tend to get what they want, when they want it, so hopefully, it really will move fast.

She said just from watching her, the chances of a full recovery are quite good. She does have good function and tone in her arm. She does use it - it's just a matter of bringing it back on par with a typical hand and arm. It will never be her dominant side - she'll stay a lefty. But she thinks her functon could be pretty close to 100 per cent. I have noticed her use it much more in the last few weeks. She's using it to feel things now. She strokes things, which she never used to do. And she does use it as a supporting hand to hold heavy things, and while we were in the office, she passed her health card from her left hand to her right, which is quite a triumph for her! So I think it could all end up being fine. It's never good to start out life with a scarred brain. But I guess what's happened has happened. Now it's just getting her the best care we can.