Kaleb's recovery is going great!!! We had a couple of hiccups during his incubation period, but other then that he is doing very well. We are scheduled to leave for Dallas on December 4th for his December 5th appointment with Doctor Fearon.

I'm sure everything will go smoothly since Kaleb looks and is doing great. We have seen a huge improvement with Kaleb's head banging, I would say at least 85% better. So we are thrilled!! Hopefully we continue to see these improvements with no problems. We got some very interesting news from Kaleb's neurosurgeon from Dallas. Dr. Swift told us that Kaleb's Chiari is unique and gave us a little perspective of what is going on with him. Usually when the brain herniates into the spinal column, the right herniates down the right side and the left herniates down the left side. Kaleb's right and left side of the brain are herniating down the back of the spinal column and what makes this a problem is that the fluid that we have to protect our brain, he is missing in that area in which he is herniated.

So if Kaleb ever got a bad blow to the head, twisted neck injury or a hard hit to the head/neck area, you are not so much talking about a brain injury but a brain stem injury. Kaleb has no fluid there to act as a shock absorber. So we need to get not just regular MRI scans but flow studies done. The flow study scans monitor the fluidity of brain movement and fluids. Something we learned that we did not know before is that every time the heart beats, the brain pulsates.

So they want to monitor Kaleb's brain and make sure it's not coming into contact with his brain stem. For it can cause a brain stem injury that way as well, if his brain is rubbing and pulsating against his brain stem. This was a big eye opener for Brian and I, but we can't live in fear. We just have to make the appropriate decisions that are in Kaleb's best interest and just breathe. I'm sorry we are  just sharing this information now but we just wanted to concentrate on getting him recovered and one thing at a time. We know it's going to be hard and challenging at times.

We know Kaleb is not going to be able to do the same things that other kids can, but he is here and he is alive. So we focus on nothing but the positive and go by our motto that we have always gone by, TAKE ONE DAY AT A TIME AND JUST BREATHE...

Kaleb's flow study with be scheduled sometime in January. We will let everyone know for sure, so please keep him in your thoughts.

Category: General

Posted by: lisabishop