Doctor Visit Update

I had informed the wife that I had sent the link to her blog to a few of my friends and that she should update it.  She informed me, in only a way a loving spouse can, that maybe I should do it myself.   Since she was very eloquent in her directive - here goes.

We met with the developmental doctor on Friday the 6th and he explained to us in further detail what he saw on Madi's MRI and how he came to his conclusion.  Below is an image taken from the MRI. 

Here is an image of what a normal brain (I hesitate to use that word because I know a lot of people that  have a fully developed brain but would not consider them normal) would look like.

The cerebellum in Madi is severely underdeveloped.  It looks like a piece of string.  The pons is also not as pronounced as it should be.  Note: the gray matter on top is there, but this was the best image I could find that showed the pons and cerebellum clearly together.

Those two characteristics are what led the doctor to his diagnosis - Pontocerebellar hypoplasia.
Hypoplasia by definition is the underdevelopment of an organ.  He was very surprised when he saw this, because she's not as impaired as the images alone would lead you to believe.   Her occupational therapist was equally surprised at her diagnosis due to the fact that Madi has made good progress in her therapy.

We continue to work with her everyday and count each time we are able to do so as a blessing.