Update on Eli
Eli is continuing to make good progress. We went to see Dr. Kojic, his neurologist this week. She was very impressed with how well Eli was doing. He is such a fighter and very determined, this has been very helpful for him given all the things he's had to fight in the nearly three years of his life! Dr. Kojic put it well when we walked into her office Tuesday: "Of all the children this could happen to, why did it have to be our Eli!" I agreed completely...none the less it did happen and now we must 'walk through it' literally.
The good news continues to be that Eli will recover fully from this condition. The not so good news that we learned on Tuesday is that this might take much longer than we originally expected. The two to four week prognosis we were given was apparently for Eli to simply be feeling better and not 'sick and achy' any more. It will take much longer for the repercussions of this to resolve. Dr. Kojic said to expect anything from a few months to as long as a year for Eli to be fully recovered.
This is a big set back because in this time it will be hard for Eli to continue to progress forward as he needs to. But we will keep working and keep trying and keep fighting. Eli is already in therapy and this will continue. This will surely help him to regain the strength and coordination that he needs.
The reason this is such a long process is this: The way his immune system responded to the virus was by attacking the cerebellum. This caused inflammation on his brain, concentrated in his cerebellum. The virus has most likely left his system, but it is the inflammation that will take so much time to resolve. Until the inflammation is completely gone, Eli will not be able to have the coordination and function that he needs. The two largest areas this effects are Eli's ability to walk (among other gross motor movements) and Eli's ability to annunciate his words clearly.
Thankfully Eli is able to function quite well. He is walking now, but it is still unsteady. He looks a bit like Frankenstein when he walks, a combination of that and a baby when they are just learning to walk. He can get around now which has provided much relief for us both. He still tires easily and has to take breaks and rest regularly but his stamina is continuing to improve.
We have had to alter our days and adjust how we spend our time. We play with bubbles a lot and the tent filled with balloons has remained a favorite playtime activity. Eli tries to walk down the grassy hill near our house but has since discovered the delight of rolling down the hill--a great activity that he 'can' do now since walking down it is very difficult for him, as he discovered the hard way.
Eli has continued to be filled with joy as he usually is. He definitely has his little Eli charm and personality back which I am more than grateful for. So here we are now, just 'walking this out' literally one step at a time...this has proven to be a very good pace for us in the past three years...
Thank you again for your continued prayers for us in this season... And thank you Lord for continuing to provide for Eli and me everything that we need. Thank you for this good work of healing you are doing in Eli's body and are continuing to do in our hearts. May Your Kingdom continue to come and Your Will continue to be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
Labels: Eli, medical, Post Viral Cerebellitis
posted by Kellie # 8:11 PM (1) comments
