Neuro-ophthamology and MRI/Neurosurgery Appointments

We are elated about Emily’s appointments today!  She passed with flying colors at her neuro-ophthamology appointment – there appears to be no damage or atrophy to her optic nerves and her retinas are nice and flat like they are supposed to be!  She does have a slight end-gaze nystagmus, but that can be very normal in babies her age.  She still isn’t in the all-clear as far as vision; things can show up later, but so far, we are some happy parents!  She will be seen again in 6 months to make sure everything is still looking good.  

Emily was a champ during the MRI!  The technicians warned me that she would cry a lot during the whole thing but she was just fascinated by the sound and only cried at the very end – I think she was just tired of sitting still.  She showed them!  I got to lay down with her in the MRI tube – I wish I had a picture of how cute she was in there.  We both had earplugs and it was still loud.  Daddy had to stay outside the room and he even said it was loud. 

Dr. Fuchs, our neurosurgeon, was very happy about the results of the MRI.  He showed us 2 images and her brain has fluffed out some!  Wonderful, beautiful brain!  There is still a lot of fluid of course, but the shunt has to work slowly so it doesn’t overwhelm the brain.  Sometimes, the brain doesn’t fluff back out or it collapses on itself, which causes fluid to spread on the outside of the brain.  Dr. Fuchs said that’s a sign of the brain not being resilient to the pressure but we didn’t see any of that.  Of course, in my true fashion, I asked a bunch of questions, in particular if the corpus callosum was there.  It is, thank goodness!  However, it is very stretched and thin, so only time (and less fluid) will tell the true story behind it.  !  We also couldn’t get a good look at any other structures for now.  But we did see fluff and folds!  The brain is still at its most compressed in the back, the part responsible for vision.  Since she is tracking objects and clearly seeing us, the assumption is that it is not too damaged. Despite all my questions, Dr. Fuchs said the pressure is off the brain and it is fluffing back out , so that’s all that really matters.  Going from seeing a sliver of brain to what it is now, is beautiful to us!

I wish we had before pictures from her ultrasound to compare.  I'll work on getting those up soon. 
The grey part is beautiful brain and the white part is fluid.

Emily's brain - still a lot of fluid but this looks dramatically less than before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Normal sized ventricles - the black parts in the middle are the ventricles

Emily's brain - the greyish part is her brain and the white is fluid

Normal brain - not the best comparison but I couldn't find an infant MRI picture of this angle