Head Catscan Results

Ben's head catscan went smoothly this morning. After his appointment with the neurosurgeon, we learned that his enlarged ventricles weren't any larger than his last scan, so we don't need another one for a year (unless we have any complications in the meantime). We were thrilled with that news. The doctor also had time to pull up his previous catscans and MRIs to show me in detail the lack of changes. That gave me an opportunity to fire away some questions. For the first time since Ben's birth, I feel like I have a good understand of what's going on with Ben's brain. I will try to do my best to explain.

Every spot in a skull has to be completely filled with something. If it isn't brain matter, then fluid or something else must take up that space. Ben's brain is a little smaller than a typical child, so Ben's enlarged ventricles are simply filling up the center space in his brain - but not applying any pressure to his brain. If there was pressure, they would need to put a shunt in to relieve that pressure (which is why Ben is followed so closely - just to make sure the ventricles continue to just fill space, not press on anything).

I also learned that Ben has a small cerebellum. There is extra fluid around that part of the brain just to take up the space the cerebellum isn't. The cerebellum is responsible for trunk tone/strength, coordination between the right half and left half of the body and balance. This makes complete sense because these are the main issues Ben struggles with. Balance is first and foremost controlled by the semi-circular canals in the ears. If you don't have all of the semi-circular canals, you might as well not have any because the balance mechanism won't be able to work properly in the ear. The cerebellum then realizes that and over a long period of time, will eventually take over and control balance. Because Ben is missing semi-circular canals and his cerebellum is small, walking/balance is going to be a big challenge for him (one I do think he will overcome, just will take him a really long time - that's my gut instinct anyway). This also explains why his hands tend to mirror each other (if he itches his head with his right hand, the left hand does the same itching motion in air).

So that's Ben's brain in a nutshell. He definitely has his work cut out for him... but I have faith in his determination.