As he continues to grow

Everyday I continue to be amazed by my beautiful boy. His first birthday is coming up in the next couple of days and he continues to progress in the treatment he is receiving.

Spencer has had a follow up surgical consult with Dr. Janelle and Dr. Saran at Shriner’s Hospital in Montreal. After conversations that took place in French–me trying to follow to no avail–it was concluded that he will require an MRI C-Spine for his nerves. They want to have a look see at the Brachial Plexus area. Then he will have a Shoulder Ultra-sound to have a look see at the joint area. Spencer continues to make improvement and for the most part has strong elbow and wrist flexion, but there are concerns about the shoulder. Then they want to have a look see at the Diaphragm, so they are doing a fluoruscopy of the diaphragm. She explained to me why they need to do this–but at this moment I’ve forgotten why :-S

We will find out next week hopefully when he will go for these assessments. This will not be done at Shriner’s Hospital but at Sainte-Justine Hospital Centre. I suspect this will be a full day event. They will do all three tests together instead of coming in for each assessment. Once those have been read over a plan of action will be put in place.

I continue to have mixed emotions about the whole process. With his birthday fast approaching I am going through an emotional roller coaster of rage and bliss. I am angry that this has happened to him but I am very much impressed with how Spencer continues to grow and develop.

I read a lot of personal stories and medical literature on Brachial Plexus Birth Injuries–I feel it’s important to have the support from other parents who have come through this process and I also feel it’s important to be informed of the various treatments and keep up to date on different medical approaches. However, through reading the personal stories and different medical texts I become frustrated because it seems like everything is always negative. I know there are various degrees of injury and each case is different so I need to keep that in mind. I want people to know that while there are some issues that come along with Erb’s that not every case and development is bound to be so delayed.

We continue to move forward and I continue to be totally amazed at Spencer’s development. He’s been walking for weeks now–both my kids are early walkers (my daughter was walking at 11 months too) and I am noticing that he is starting to string sounds together that sound like words and sing songy sentences. Spencer is a very clever boy–there is no fooling him with guessing games or any of the other hide and seek games. He see’s right through them.

Anyways–On Saturday he turn’s 1 and we will celebrate this milestone quietly and reflect on all that has happened to us over this past year. We will love him and hug him and celebrate the small and big steps he has achieved.

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