MRI Results

We met with our Neonatologist to discuss more details of Koby's MRI and EEG tests from a few days ago. Our Neurologist was probably slowed down by the winter storm that hit yesterday and they didn't want us to wait any longer to hear the results.

In the MRI they could see that there is damage to the basal ganglia and thalamus part of the brain. (I had to ask the doctor to explain all of this a couple of times because I didn't pay close attention to biology in school). This is right in the middle of your brain. It appears to be an acute injury, or there would have been more widespread damage. It appears that the lack of oxygen was short and not something that went on for an extended amount of time. We still don't know and probably never will what caused Koby to be in distress. We do feel by some miracle Sharalee's body knew Koby was in distress and needed to be born then, even though her body wasn't ready for labor that early (evidenced by the fact that the placenta didn't come without a D&C).

Here is a picture of what has been damaged due to the lack of oxygen. The red part is where Koby has suffered the most damage.






















So what does that all really mean and what does that mean for Koby? The damage is to the part of the brain that controls your motor skills, cognitive skills, vision mainly. They think that these episodes that appeared to be seizures are just myoclonic which is just involuntary muscle movement typical of primitive nervous system.

The doctor said it is hard to accurately diagnose what the brain "damage" will mean for Koby throughout his life. He might never walk, but he could be a strong runner. He might never eat on his own, but he might be a heavy weight hot dog eating champion. We won't really know until he approaches the typical times kids reach different milestones like crawling, walking, talking, if he's going to be able to do those or not. We sense that he'll be able to do many things but we will need to work hard with him to achieve it.

So how do we take this news, that little fire cracker Koby has some damage to his brain to overcome? Well I can tell you how we took this news. You would think it would have been super devastating to hear this. I'm sure we might shed some tears in the future as we see what challenges might come his way but so far we feel a tremendous amount of strength from him. He is a trooper. If he doesn't know how to walk at the usual time kids do, we will just have to work at it until he can. If he can't talk, we'll find a way to help him communicate.

He's going to learn to be amazing. He might have to work harder to do certain things but that is totally ok. He has five older siblings at home that will do everything possible to get him to keep up with all of the commotion that happens at the Nabrotzky home. We know that he came to our family the way he did, with a strong and valiant spirit, for a purpose. There is great goodness in him. Many who have been around him can feel it. We love him so much and are willing to do whatever it takes to help him experience a full life in every way we can.

So the next step in Koby's journey is to get his G tube which will be surgically placed this Monday. We are hopeful this will allow him to put his energy into healing so that we don't stress him (or ourselves) out trying to force food before he's ready to master his suck/swallow/gag reflex.