MRI Results :-(

Dr. Fieu and Dr. Osgthorpe came in and told us the MRI result. The said he has severe involvement of the white matter in the brain. It is involving several different places in his brain and even into his brainstem. The called it cytotoxic inflammation in the brain (toxic effects in the cells are causing the swelling). It is extensive and severe but young brains are resilient and adaptable. There is also swelling in the brainstem however this is the tissue around the cells are swelling (this explains the posturing) so that is more likely to be reversible. There currently is no abseses that are visible that the antibiotics could not reach but they will probably do weekly MRI's to monitor that. It may be 4-7 days before he shows any improvement and he possiblly could worsen a little before we see that improvement. The infection, has proven to be very sensitive to the antibiotics even to the point he believes it may be completely dead but the reason he feels that the MRI is so impressive is because the organism was so aggressive and there was so much of it. There is no way right now to tell what this all will mean down the road. Young brains have better ability to heal and reorganize than our old used up ones.