Thursday, February 23, 2012

Diagnosis day

Yesterday was our long awaited appointment with the pediatric neurologist. Riley got the referral back in August or September of last year because our pediatrician was concerned that Riley wasn't talking and that his gait was so off. He suspected that there would be a Cerebral Palsy diagnosis given.
And there was.
The doctor was wonderful. He seemed very knowledgeable and he was great with the kids.
The good news is that Riley doesn't have muscle tone problems and hopefully, with therapy, he'll improve. He diagnosed him with mild CP, likely due to PVL. He wrote a prescription for ST, OT, and PT and I have to speak with the social worker at St. Christopher's Hospital later today and try to get some services lined up. We decided to not do the MRI now because, at least right now, it wouldn't change his diagnosis. He wants to see Riley back in 6 months and if therapy hasn't helped, we'll proceed with the MRI. I want Riley to get the help he needs, while causing the least amount of trauma. The MRI would be done at St. Christopher's in Philly, while under sedation. That's something I'm more than willing to put off for 6 months if it means we might not have to do it.
So, this now opens a new world of medical stuff for us. And it's kind of overwhelming. I think I just kind of pushed all of this to the side and didn't do much research, which is so unlike me. I knew, deep down, that he probably had CP but I think a big part of me was hoping he'd just catch up. I think actually having it be official is just sinking in. Riley has Cerebral Palsy.

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