2004-07-14 MRI Results

So, I finally spoke with a neurologist yesterday about Emily(not even her neurologist, just one in the same department) and got the "final" resluts of her MRI.

As it turns out, she does not have a neuron migration disorder, which is of course nice to hear.

The only bad thing? She has something that they can not describe and have no idea what it is. Great.

In a nutshell, she has and I quote, "an abnormal signal in the white matter of her brain."

What is the white matter?

Here is a quick definition from www.medterms.com.

"White matter: The part of the brain that contains myelinated nerve fibers. The white matter is white because it is the color of myelin, the insulation covering the nerve fibers. The white matter is as opposed to the gray matter (the cortex of the brain which contains nerve cell bodies). "

They do not have an official name for whatever it is she has, nor do they know whether or not it could be genetic, if she could develop any other conditions as a result, if her seizures were as a result of this abnormality, or if she could outgrow the seizures.

I honestly think I liked the other diagnosis better.

At least it was more definitive and from my reading about neuron migration, I was able to determine how lucky she was to only have seizures as compared to the many other more serious problems she could have had as a result. I had even discovered that it could be genetic and while this was not comforting in anyway, at least I knew something.

As it stands now, we know nothing...nothing expcet that there is something abnormal. That just isn't good enough for me, not that I have any choice.

She will have to have another MRI in 6 months...maybe then we can get some answers.