Tuesday, August 4, 2009

hez in ur brainz

8 comments:
 
Today R2 and I went to the neurologist, for a follow-up visit for his last seizure, 3 or 4 months ago. The neuros name is Dr. Jean Baptiste LePichon, and that name is RULE. I usually sing a little Le Poisson in my head whilst I wait. Le Poisson, le poisson, how I love le poisson... and so on. Dr LePichon is great. He seems to be on a continual quest to find out what is going on in Richy's brain, literally.

I love the hospital here, the doctors, the clinics. It's all just world-class and everybody seems to want to help R2. This is amazing, because in Houston we had kinda settled into maintenance mode, only dealing with issues on a crisis basis. So here, they are testing for all kinds of stuff, plus we got the new eye last year, just in general being very proactive. I heart it.

So, as usual we wait in the waiting room, which is always an interesting experience. We shared the room today with a very, very large boy in a wheelchair and his fairly large granny, also in a wheelchair, and various other family members, not in wheelchairs.

People are so interesting. All 4 adults kept Caleb pretty busy rolling around the waiting room to make space for more patients...he was pretty longsuffering, and barking at Caleb might be pretty much par for the course. Most of the time, you don't know what's wrong with someone, and you can't ask. (although, when R2 was little, rude people would frequently say "What's wrong with him?" in the checkout line at the grocery store. I always wanted to answer, "what's wrong with you?")

And then we waited in the office, gave the same ol' info to the decoy doc, and then finally Jean Baptiste LePichon came in for his turn. He is such an interesting guy. He talks to Richy with such kindness and warmth, and then he is much more reserved with me. Today he was doing his exam, and was kinda hanging out at the left eye, when I mentioned that it was prosthetic. He was so interested, and then he went and got a resident and brought him in for a pop quiz. "Don't tell him anything!" he told me . So the resident examined him and then said that the left eye didn't move quite right, and the pupil was non-responsive. I was laughing, and Dr LP congratulated him... it was great because I used to be cohorts with doctors in the NICU, and it was fun to do that again.

Just to contribute to the overuse of the word "interesting" today, I'll say it again. He suggested something interesting- that possibly R2's seizures, and physical issues are a genetic abnormality, rather than cerebral-palsy based. It's something he wants to explore, since his study of R2's brain scans don't show clear reasons for his issues.

So we went down to the lab and had blood taken, and that was traumatic, so we went and had a Happy Meal, and then he laughed all the way home. That's why they call it a Happy Meal.

8 comments:

  1. someone I know that was diagnosed with breast cancer last week said they took blood to see if it's a genetic abnormality. What does that really mean? I understand 'it's genetic' but a genetic abnormality I don't get.

    I could look it up, but you like questions, and maybe someone else wants to know.

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  2. i like that a happy meal makes him happy :o) :o) :o)

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  3. Did they ever do the sleep study?

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  4. this post made me laugh the whole way through. what a great blog!

    i have missed your posts lately.

    i thought i should tell you.

    i look for them every day, and i am so, SO disappointed when they do not appear.

    no pressure.

    but i will say that this was a nice make-up blog, you know, for all the days you missed.

    and in relation to josh's question, does the possibility of r2's condition being some sort of genetic abnormality open up a possibility of alternative remedies? or is it just fun for the doctor to research on him?

    have you ever seen mystery diagnosis on the discovery channel? maybe y'all could be on that show some day. i like that show.

    i'll stop talking now.

    i'm really glad you wrote today.

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  5. This post made me very happy. I smiled the whole way through it. Mostly cause I could see your sweet face, and R2's handsome face, and I pictured Dr. Whatshisname's face in my head. And well, It just all made me happy, and I didn't even get a happy meal.

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  6. You may be onto something. You know about Dad's condition. They said a mild or borderline epilepsy. Worth looking into for sure. Have a happy meal day! love you all so much. Mama

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  7. It is just great that the Lord has taken you to place that has such care for R2. Just goes to show you that God never forgets any details and knows what is close to our hearts.

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  8. a "genetic abnormality" is, I believe, the new PC term for birth defect

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