Tag: perinatal stroke

A belated post. SDR: It’s On!

Leave a comment

Let me let you in on a little secret: when I take a little break from Solly’s blog, it’s usually because I’m so anxious about something that I am struggling to put an experience into words. While we’re currently in the hospital with Solly recovering from SDR (spoiler!), I wanted to document our entire experience with this potentially life-changing surgery. So before I write about the actually surgery, this post, which I started writing over a month ago but never finished, picks up where the last post left off – our SDR consultation.

When Solly and I walked into Dr. Park’s office at the end of February, I was convinced that the appointment would be short, that, on the negative, we’d quick a quick “no” that would allow me to cross SDR off our list of possible interventions, and, on the positive, we’d finally – finally! – get some clarity around the type of cerebral palsy Solly has. Continue reading →

Gaining Perspective After Our Last Intensive Therapy

Leave a comment

In the three months since we got home from our four week intensive at Virginia Tech (you can read about this intensive here: week one, week two, week three, and week four), I’ve been ruminating on what I learned throughout this intensive. Here are the top three things that have really stood out to me: Continue reading →

Roanoke, Week 3: Finding Balance

Leave a comment

Hello from Roanoke!

img_2193.jpg

Yep, we’re still here. Three weeks down, one more to go.

This past week had us feeling a bit more like locals. We now no longer need to use GPS to get us to the local ADA accessible playground, we have a favorite breakfast spot, Bea and I have explored the Roanoke River Greenway several times, and Ziggy is now a regular at a puppy play center. We’re finally getting into the swing of things just as we’re starting to pack our bags to leave. Continue reading →

Advice for a Family New to a Pediatric Stroke Diagnosis

Leave a comment

Originally published on October 16th on the American Heart Association Support Network blog.

1

No one expects to hear that their child has suffered a stroke. When a stroke diagnosis is given to an infant, child, or teenager, often the first thought is: “…but, wait, strokes only happen to the elderly. How can my child have had a stroke?” The first hours, days, and even months following that diagnosis can be overwhelming, confusing, and downright scary.

I should know. My son had three massive strokes at birth.

I’m now four years into my journey of parenting a perinatal stroke survivor. After a year of living in a pretty dark state of mind, I dusted myself off, dove into researching how to best care for my son, and have transformed myself into a confident caregiver of a child with special needs.

As part of my transformation, I’ve found myself helping other parents through this uncertain journey. When I’m approached by a family new to a pediatric stroke diagnosis, here’s what I tell them. Continue reading →

Verbal Or Non-Verbal, That Is The Question

Leave a comment

Is your child verbal?

How would you answer this question when you can understand the handful of words that your “non-verbal” child has and know that he can answer yes and no questions with 95% accuracy? Man, oh man, I struggle with this.

Sol’s language center was completely wiped out by the three strokes he had at birth. We’ve always firmly believed that he is not cognitively delayed and that he understood everything we said to him, even though his expressive speech was severely delayed. He started to have words after we did our first round of hyperbaric oxygen therapy and his expressive speech has exploded since we did stem cell therapy back in March. To date, we figure that he has somewhere between 20 – 30 words, has just started stringing 2 words together, and, like Bea, will speak in his own language. (Sometimes I think Bea understands him as I will frequently find the two of them conversing back and forth.) Continue reading →