Seb's Appointments
May 4, 2005 at 10:03 AM
by Ashleigh
On Monday we set off for the VUMC and wow- it is a biiiig hospital! Its a teaching hospital and really teems with people. I was quite glad I didn't have Joe with me as the walk from the tram stop was pretty far so next time I'll take the bike. Seb was a real trooper though and didn't complain about the walk at all. I think he just enjoyed having me to himself. Sometimes we forget that they like to be alone with us too - without siblings or Dad!
The appointment was pretty straightforward. We saw a really nice lady dr, Dr Pelgim who was doing her neurology rotation in paediatric neurology. She asked me a whole load of questions about Seb's medical history and then asked Seb to do some exercises with her; including things like running along the corridor, touching his nose with his finger while his eyes were closed, walking backwards. He was really pleased that he got to show off his 'Incredibles' underpants ;)
She said that he seems much smarter than other kids his age and wanted to know if we have him in a special school for gifted kids. I said that we thought that the overall experience of being with his peers was better for him in a normal school and that his teachers were great and let him do other activities while the kids were learning their abc's etc. She did say we should consider whether he is bored in normal school.
After she made her assessments the consultant came in, a Dr Smit, and he said that he believes that Sebastian has a lesion on the left side of his brain which is causing asymmetry of movement on the right side of his body. The asymmetry is mild which means it cane be helped with physiotherapy, but there will be some limitations with sports and he will have a tendency to fall often unless the right side can be strengthened with exercise to compensate. His hand and foot on the right side are also slightly smaller than the left. He is naturally right handed. His head measurement is bigger than the average for his age.
The next step in these procedures is to have an MRI which Seb is going to attempt without sedation. They think he is smart and controlled enough to do it even though most kids at 5 have to have general anaesthetic or a sedative. He can take a CD with him and I'll get him a special treat for lying still for the 30 minutes that the MRI takes. He will experience no pain (other than the injection for the contrast fluid) and all that he will hear is a loud knocking noise from the magnet. The nurse at the hospital gave us a videotape for Seb to watch which explained it all nicely. The MRI will confirm when the lesion occurred and whether it is static or developing. We are all hoping it is static.
Concurrent with the MRI he has been scheduled to see a paediatric physiotherapist dealing in children with neurological complaints for a full assessment and recommendations on a course of treatment.
After that we go back to Dr Smit for more information.
The Opthalmologist
The appointment with the Opthalmologist at the Amstelveen Ziekenhuis (which incidentally just changed its name to Ziekenhuis Amstelland) was not as informative and we are no closer to finding out why Seb gets recurrent conjunctivitis in his right eye. The diagnosis that we were given today was that he is 'unlucky'. I have to get some special wipes for his eye and try to use them whenever the eye looks a little red to try to prevent any infection from developing further. I wasn't impressed with the opthalmologist at all and in future I will ask for referrals to the VUMC rather than the Amstelveen Ziekenhuis.