Follow-up...again

Last week we went to Boise, just Autumn and I, for the follow-up to Trinity's neuro-psychological evaluation. If that name confuses you a little, you're in good company. What it means is that we had a nice lady with a PhD evaluate Trinity's overall development. We have done some work with Early Intervention, which is a state-run program, but this is a little more in-depth. We spent a few hours with her over a month ago to establish some baseline values for Trinity's overall development. For Autumn and I it is always a little bit of a struggle when we go to these appointments. I think it is because Trinity's injury is still a bit of an open wound for us.

Overall, Trinity is doing so well and we really thank God that she is doing so well and that we get to be her parents. She is such a joy and pleasure for the both of us. But about a year ago she rocked our world when she went into the hospital and came out two weeks later with a brain injury. We still don't know what caused the ordeal. The MRI is super ugly and it is really no fun at all to look at it. As parents, it really hurts to see that sort of injury inflicted upon your child. So I think that, no matter how well she is doing, it still hurts to have to think about what happened. The worst part is that this is a wound that is ongoing; we don't know how or when this is ever going to resolve. That makes it hard because, as humans, we seem to like closure. We want to know that everything is going to be alright. We don't and can't know that yet about Trinity.

So when we went to Boise for our appointment here is what she showed us:

Fortunately, she explained it for us. In the middle of this normal curve, the number 100 represents normal. Standard deviation is 15, so there is a 30-point range that represents what normal is for children Trinity's age. If you can read the chart, you will see that Trinity is about normal for motor skills, fine and gross, and for receptive communication. Her cognitive and expressive communication are are on the lower side, with her expressive communication actually falling outside of the standard deviation. That means she is behind in that area.

The good news is that, despite a horrible MRI image, Trinity is only a little behind where most kids are. I used to joke that Trinity's "event" happened so that she would be more normal and not so far ahead of the rest of us. Turns out it was kind of true. By the way, here is slice of her MRI:

The dark parts are scarring. They call it a brain injury, we would know it more commonly as brain damage.

More good news: the doctor was very positive about the results. She says that Trinity's test results are very good, considering the above MRI. There is really only one area that needs work, and that the expressive language may actually improve Trinity's cognitive abilities as well, since language is so important to learning right now. She recommended intensive speech therapy for Trinity, so we are working on that now.

Overall it was an encouraging visit. As a bonus, Autumn and I were able to spend the day together, just the two of us. It would have been better if we were there for strictly recreational reasons, but it still was nice for us. Trinity could be better. But she could be doing a whole lot worse! But for now, here's a fun picture to remind us all of why she is such a great little girl:

Wait, this is the wrong one...

Okay, that's better...