We had our meeting with Dr. Duffy, Ella’s epileptologist, yesterday. We hadn’t seen him in a year. He seemed pleased with Ella’s progress although I came away with somewhat mixed feelings. As I suspected, very slow development would indicate something is wrong with the remaing half of the brain. That’s something of course, that we don’t want to hear or consider. And if there is something wrong then there is nothing to be done anyway as it is the only part of the brain Ella has, right? Dr. Duffy did point out that if we were to know more about the remaining hemisphere it would give us a sense of what to expect. In any case, whether we want to know or not, he recommended getting a current MRI and a “beam” EEG. At least the MRI will tell us if there is anything up with the cyst that Ella still has in the brain that was not removed by Dr. Black.
Ella’s progress on standing remains to be slow moving (at about the speed of glacial advance these days) but I think in alertness, vocalizing and certainly in eating there is more. Ella is starting to drink from a juice box with a straw! She is eating like a horse so the nurishment must be going someone. Hopefully, it’s going to the brain.