Sarah Appointments: Neurology

With much anticipation and preparation on Sunday night, we were ready to roll by 9:00 last Monday morning. We were headed to Boston at the pediatrician's recommendation to meet with a pediatric neurologist at Children's Hospital. A doctor friend told us a neurologist would probably look at reflexes and physical responses.

We saw the doctor right on time (1:00, aka, nap time) and she asked a number of questions about Sarah's development and family history. She then did some things that I think meant much more to her than to our eyes, like tickling Sarah's feet, testing her reflexes, and feeling her arms. The doctor then asked us to let Sarah pull herself and cruise around the room at will. Her conclusion was that there isn't really anything holding her back. One new item she noted was that Sarah has "weak tone." This is possibly an inherited trait, so Dave and I were poked and prodded a little as well. It does indeed seem that we may be to blame :)

Our big question, "What is weak tone?" It means that her muscles are "weak" on the scale of loose and tight, not in the same way that we refer to someone strong as "well-toned." Essentially, she will be more flexible and have less endurance, so she might one day be better at gymnastics than soccer. A little research revealed that this is also called hypotonia. I learned a little about it here and invite you to explore the topic as well. It is interesting stuff!

The expert's advice was to go ahead and make an appointment with a physical therapist, thinking that it takes about a month to get an appointment, so we'll have one lined up if she still isn't progressing by then.

Dave and I are pondering all that we have heard from the pediatrician, early intervention assessors, and the neurologist. We plan to talk to some friends with backgrounds in medicine and physical therapy and see if they agree that we should make an appointment right away or if it would be ok to give her a little while longer. The Lord has really answered our prayers in that there appear to be no major physical obstacles!

While the appointment was the highlight of the day, we filled up the rest of our off day with fun activity. On the way into the city we stopped at a big Babies R Us store to enjoy their large selection of all things tiny and fun. After the appointment we walked about a mile to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (cool locals call it the MFA...we aren't that cool yet). Normally this is an expensive endeavor, but with passes from the library we were able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon soaking up some Monet, Picasso, Renoir, Degas, and lots of Copley. We even got to see the portrait of President Washington that was the template for the dollar bill. Very cool! Sarah was a trooper through it all, though she didn't nap until we were cruising down the interstate on the way home. It was an exciting day! Even though we arrived home relatively early, around 6:30, we were all early to bed after a physically and mentally exciting and exhausting day.

Children's hospitals seem to be really fun...Sarah wasn't the only one who thought this contraption was fascinating!

Our favorite Monet.