It's Gray Area

A quick update following Cara's neurologist visit on Tuesday (10/7/08).
We met with Dr. Maddox to review the radiologist's finding from the MRI. Initially, the MRI was ordered to check for any abnormalities which could explain Cara's speech delay as well as to check for any fibromas which would indicated neurofibromatosis. The report was very positive! The radiologist found no lesions, tumors or blockages in Cara's brain. He reported that her ventricles had decreased in size though the left was still a bit larger than the right, showing that she does, indeed, have hydrocephalus. There was some scar tissue around her shunt, but that was to be expected. The only "helpful" thing that we discovered from the report was that Cara has a very thin corpus callosum, the large bundle of nerves (essentially) that separate the two hemispheres of the brain. The corpus callosum allows both sides to communicate with each other and the thicker it is, the better the communication due to the more nerves that exist. If it is thinner than normal, there is a potential for communciation between the left & right sides of the brain to be slowed. This could(there is no way to be 100% certain) explain Cara's speech delay.
So, while we breathed a big sigh of relief after hearing the mostly positive report, we are still left to wonder what is truly causing Cara's lack of speech and also, if she does indeed have neurofibromatosis. For now, we will continue with her speech therapy and also stick with our appointment to see a genetic counseling team in December. It will be their job to decide where we go from here.