9 Months - Big Head

At Graham's 9 month check-up with the pediatrician we discovered that Graham's head had grown rapidly since his 6 month check-up, which was concerning. The pediatrician contacted the neurosurgeon and they scheduled Graham for an MRI the following week. They were concerned that fluid might be gathering in the brain due to the stenosis (narrowing) at the top of his spine.

Today we took Graham for the MRI. It was a quick scan and so he didn't have to be sedated. We met with a new neurosurgeon afterwards. The other neurosurgeon we met with originally left Duke since we were there last. The MRI looked the same as the one done in May. There is no issue with the brain... Graham just has a big head! We are very thankful that no immediate action is necessary. The new doctor had a slightly different philosophy on when to do surgery. She thinks babies do great with the surgery and that delaying surgery when the stenosis is delaying development is not beneficial. I think she would be ready to do the surgery right away except that Graham just had heart surgery in March so she wants to give his body as much time as possible to recover before another surgery.

We go back in 6 weeks (Aug. 20) for a CT scan and neurosurgeon appointment. The CT scan will give a better image of the bone than the MRI. The doctor is not sure if the stenosis is being caused by the C1 vertabrae or the base of the skull, but thinks it's the C1 vertabrae. Surgery would involve removing the vertabrae which apparently is not needed for stability or anything else. The surgery will take about an hour and the hospital stay will be about 3 days. Graham's long term prognosis is great. He shouldn't have any future problems but shouldn't be allowed to play collision sports like football, boxing, or wrestling... but those were already probably ruled out because of the heart. I guess Graham will have to run track or be in the band or something!