Greetings, everyone. This is Ellen, mom to Max, 6, and Sabrina, 4. A little background on how I got here: Max had a stroke at birth. Doctors told my husband and I that he might not walk or talk. That he’d have mental retardation. That he could have hearing and seeing problems. Basically, every nightmare you could think of.
The brain damage resulted in a diagnosis of spastic four-quad cerebral palsy. It makes talking hard for Max. Chewing, too. He has a lot of trouble using his hands, particularly his right one; even holding a spoon can be a challenge. And sometimes his legs get a little stiff.
But.
Max can walk. He can say a bunch of words (and has a speech communication device he loves to use). He sees fine, he hears fine. He’s bright, he’s determined, he’s social. He loves Lightening McQueen, chocolate milk, singing, Thomas trains, sweet and sour soup and teasing his little sister.
I wish the doctors from the hospital where he was born could see him now.
I actually Googled one of them the other day, a young neurologist who was so kind to us. He’s moved to another state. While the older pediatric neurologist and the neonatologist kept telling us the worst, Dr. P. gave us hope. He said that babies brains are malleable. He advised us to get as much therapy as possible. He showed us the MRI scan of Max’s baby brain and explained in detail just what had happened. He understood we’d just been through the shock of our lives. He was kind.
I haven’t reached out to him since 2002 because I’ve locked away the two-week period when Max was in the N.I.C.U. But writing about Max’s history has really got me thinking that doctors like Dr. P., the humane doctors of this world, deserve to hear from the patients they have helped. I’m sure he probably doesn’t even know how much he did for me, because I was such a wreck during that time.
I just took a break from this post and e-mailed him. Let’s see if he writes back.
Do you tend to get all emotional when you talk about what happened to your child? I sobbed when I wrote this post, and it’s been six years.
I blog daily over at To The Max, come visit sometime. I’ve got a lighter side, promise.