Neurosurgeon appointment

Yesterday Avery had an appointment with her neurosurgeon, which, I have to admit, I've been quite looking forward to! Last time we saw him was almost a year ago after we had a little scare at the hospital which, blessedly, turned out to be nothing! So it was fun to be able to "show her off" to him and some of the ladies at the office who remembered her from last time, because of course she's grown a lot since the last time they all saw her. I'm so proud of her!

While we were waiting for the doctor to come in, Avery found on of those reflex hammer things (no idea what they're called) on the table next to her, so she decided she needed to "measure" her legs! So she tapped each knee twice, just like the doctor does it, and said "Okay, good!", so she was obviously pleased with what she discovered :) She also then did her feet and her hands, as well as each of the fingers on her left hand :) Ha! (camera phone, sorry!)
So obviously, this was just a check up, so there really isn't much new to report, but I did get a couple of things I've been wanting to get because I lost it, namely, her head circumference chart and a picture from her last MRI. I still have the films from the MRI she had when she was 2 months old, but they changed the system for the one she had last year so that it was all done on the computer, so I only had one single printed picture from that one, and it got lost. :( But here they are!
This first one was done on 04/19/2006, when Avery was 2 months and 5 days old - 2 months and 3 days since her shunt surgery. The light gray area is the CSF in her ventricles, and the darker stuff around it is her brain tissue. I tell you, every time I look at these pictures I am amazed all over again at the miracle that is my daughter. The black dent on the side is distortion caused by her magnetic shunt valve.
Here is what her brain looked like 2 years later! This was done on 02/28/2008 when Avery (and her shunt!) was just over 2 years old. Pretty amazing, right?? In this one her ventricles are black and her brain tissue gray, and you can see the amazing difference in how much the ventricles have shrunk and how much the brain has expanded!
As for her head circumference, you can see from the chart (you might need to click on it to see it properly) that her head size is well within normal range now, which is wonderful! She's gone from more than 5cm above the 97th percentile at birth (43.5cm) to below 90th percentile today at 36 months (50cm) Hooray for Avery!


All in all, it was a good appointment, and Dr Simonds was pleased with how much she's grown and how well she's doing. They had a very fun little conversation :) He did recommend we see a pediatric developmental doctor too, so they made that appointment for us before we left. The earliest available date is...AUGUST 21st!!! More than 5 months away! She's the only one in the area.