The Big American dream....

Everyone who goes to American has this dream of making it big, but my dream was to see my son getting alright. If I went to the US, I thought I would be told, this is what is wrong with your son and this is what you need to do and we would do that and Yatish would be fine. We had sent all the medical records before hand and our first appointment was scheduled on the very next day we reached, thanks to the botched up visa process. Severely jetlagged and sleep deprived Yatish and me were in bad shape and there was this anxiety about what awaited us. Added to this was the cold winter. Unlike in India, car seats are mandatory in US and you are expected to have a pram for your kids. Thanks to my sister-in -law’s forethought and awesome planning abilities, she had made sure everything was in place and we settled in well and quick. No amount of praise can do justice to the way she and my brother took care of us. She was studying at the time, pursuing two masters’ degrees simultaneously and working part time. She had already done all the ground work and flawlessly worked out our appointments along with her own schedule. I am ever so grateful to both of them.


We had an early appointment; my brother dropped us at the Hospital and we walked in with lots of hopes. Our very first appointment was with Dr. Coulter, the paediatric neurologist.

http://children.photobooks.com/directory/profile.asp?dbase=main&setsize=5&last=coulter&pict_id=1746404


He did the mandatory weight and head circumference checks.

http://www.infantchart.com/infantheadage.php

He did a neurological examination checking his hearing, vision, muscle tone and reflexes.

http://www.neurologychannel.com/neuroexam.shtml


Based on all the initial assessments he did, he drew a plan of action and the specialists we would have to meet and all the tests Yatish need to undergo.

Mind you, as an international patient, the fees charged are much higher and the robust American economy at that time made sure it squeezed every rupee out of us. Each appointment cost us an average of 800$, so you can as well imagine.

First we had to go in for the blood and urine tests, based on which the doctor would undertake metabolic studies. The first blood report showed that his lactate levels was very high, which gave us some anxious moments but then we reasoned out that, due to long hours of travel and fatigue, the high lactate acid level build up might be a possibility. So we were told to repeat the tests again.

http://health.yahoo.com/blood-diagnosis/lactic-acid/healthwise--hw7871.html


We had already sent the MRI scans and Dr. Coulter had showed these to Dr. Joseph Volpe, who is a world renowned Paediatric Neurologist and Chairman of Neurology at Boston Children’s Hospital. He said that the scans were indicative of neonatal bilirubin encephalopathy, which means that this disorder was due to the jaundice he had after he was born. In fact, in Dr. Volpe’s book “Neurology of the Newborn”, there is a picture on page 540 of a child with same problem. The MRI in that picture looks like the MRI that Yatish had.

http://www.childrenshospital.org/cfapps/research/data_admin/Site169/mainpageS169P0.html

But Dr .Coulter wanted to make sure that there was no other cause for his disability. So this time he wanted us to undergo MRI Spectroscopy....

My pillars of strength..... Seema and Girish