Hello. A few days ago I had my 14 month old daughter at the pediatrician.I worried she has had something wrong for months.Mainly her right arm. Things like not pushing her arm through her sleeve when I dress her,keeping her hand in a fist,she has only ONCE held her bottle with 2 hands(the other day),it is always with her left. The last week she seems to be more aware of her right hand and does try to pick things up,etc.
She doesn't walk yet,but she does walk while holding onto furniture. When she "cruises around , or when I am holding onto her hands walking her , the right foot is on tip toe,although she can put her foot flat too. The ped also mentioned about possible surgury in the future, if needed , to lenthen the tendon in her calf.
The pediatrician says she has hemiplegia.He said with PT(possible a brace too), by the time she starts school she will most likely NOT have any limp.She will have OT on her arm which is affected from the elbow down.
Thank goodness , mentally she seems fine.
But I am a bit confused.I know CP is not cured, but the ped says she probubly won't have a limp, and with OT will have better use of her right arm. I want to feel happy about that , but I can't find anything on the internet about babies getting "almost full use back if they have CP."
Now I am wondering if he could be wrong.Could it be 2 separate problems.At one time I thought she could have erb's palsy. I'm so confused.
Can anyone give me any advice.
Oh another thing,the doctor mentioned a cat scan ,but didn;t recommend it for her age as she would have to be sedated , and the meds they use do do that is not safe as it only "works" 9 out of 10 times. So I can't find out (for sure)that way ,if there is any damage to her brain.
Last edited by autumnsky13; 07-24-2004 at 10:29 PM.
Well, I don't want to go against what your doctor tells you, because I don't know your daughter and I am certainly no doctor myself, but I find it hard to believe she would not have any limp at all. I've had PT, braces, casting and surgeries and I still walk with a noticable limp. I definitely think PT and braces will help your daughter though.
It never hurts to get a second opinion. The first doctor my parents took me to said I had some rare neurological disease, but the second doctor they took me to got it right. He's been my surgeon now for almost 17 years.
The pediatrician says she has hemiplegia.He said with PT(possible a brace too), by the time she starts school she will most likely NOT have any limp.She will have OT on her arm which is affected from the elbow down.
Thank goodness , mentally she seems fine.
But I am a bit confused.I know CP is not cured, but the ped says she probubly won't have a limp, and with OT will have better use of her right arm. I want to feel happy about that , but I can't find anything on the internet about babies getting "almost full use back if they have CP."
Now I am wondering if he could be wrong.Could it be 2 separate problems.At one time I thought she could have erb's palsy. I'm so confused.
Can anyone give me any advice.
Maybe the doctor thought that your daughter's hemi is so mild that it's symptoms can be made invisible if the treatment is efficient enough. I've heard such thing is possible. But anyway it's *not* guaranteed that her gait will be perfectly normal.
Anyway, I would highly recommend that heel surgery if your doctor suggests it someday. Those surgeries usually produce very good results. But such surgeries can only be done to children who are at least 6 years old, so you have a lot of time to observe the situation.
Your post sounds familiar. Your daughter's symptoms seem to be similar to my daughter's. She is 2 1/2 now.
My daughter was initially diagnosed with Erb's palsy after she was evaluated by Shriner's when she was one year old. This past January after she turned two, a pediatric neurologist said she had spastic hemi cp after reviewing her MRI results.
I would suggest a referrel to pediatric neurologist since they are more experienced with these kind of cases. My daughter's ped neuro knew she had cp just by watching her gait and arm movement, but of course he ordered an MRI to see the injury site.
And she was sedated for the MRI. But I think the affects of the sedation depend on how your child is. My daughter is alert and very aware of her surroundings. The hospital put us in a waiting room with other patients waiting for x-rays, so at times there was lots of commotion. After two hours she finally fell asleep. Needles to say, I was very angry at the hospital for not giving us a private room for the sedation to take affect.
I don't know if a child can get full recovery of affected limbs, but I know there can be improvements through various procedures such as therapies and surgeries.
I would go with JellyRJFan's Advice and get a second opinion. It's sounds very strange to me for a pediatrician to throw all this kind of information to you when there is no MRI or cat scan to prove a brain injury. Your daughter is still young. My daughter's ped never attempted to diagnose her condition and definitly never spoke of any possible surgeries until after the ped neuro made his conclusion. She simply gave us a referrel to the neuro to be sure.
Thank you all so much for your replys and advice. A couple people I know who I have told of Sarah's situation , have mentioned I should get a second opinion,as they have known (1 personally with her own child) who has dealt with the same pediatrician,who diagnosed her son with something which ended up not being the case at all.
I think that is what I will do,get a second opinion. I also have an appointment in August for her , for an assessment at an early childhood developement center.
In the meantime , we should be hearing from the pediatric therapist , and I am assuming that he will have alot of input on this as well.
She definately has stiffness from her elbow down to her hand. She can move her hand and open it and reach for things although awkwardly.
With her leg it is in her calf area,as she walks sometimes on tiptoe with this foot.
I am going to just hope that with therapy she will be ok.
I know I have a lot to learn about this,but I can only continue to do the best I can do for my baby and have hope that she will overcome this.
My heart though tells me that this is what it is. She had a hard delivery( was postier , I was also told by the doctor her heart rate went down (during delivery), and I had to hurry and push her out,or would have to get a cesearean, she also had the cord around her neck,her apgar was 3,and she had to be resusitated,and was on oxygen for 8 hours. At about 8 weeks she started getting tremors in all her limbs , which lasted just for a couple of seconds,maybe about 15 times a day,for a few weeks. She also cried alot for the first 3 months of life. I should mention , she is my forth child , and my other 3 never "acted" this way.
Thanks all again.
Tammy
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Last edited by autumnsky13; 07-25-2004 at 11:11 AM.
Confused a Little.Is this REALLY CP? 
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