![\"ten](\"http:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/ten-months-old-98-of-13.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nShe is a doll. \u00a0A doll with a vibrant, confidant, affectionate, opinionated personality.<\/p>\n
She stole our hearts from the very beginning, but the last two months, she’s squeezed places we hardly knew existed. \u00a0We watch her consciously and unconsciously, laughing at her antics and analyzing anything that seems amiss.<\/p>\n
The first weekend in December a cousin friend of mine showed me neurologic things she noticed with Zara based on her own experience with her daughter who had a stroke before she was born. \u00a0The way Zara didn’t clap symmetrically. \u00a0Her right hand clapped. \u00a0Her left hand tilted down and lagged in movement. \u00a0The way you could feel resistance in her left arm when you lifted both at once. \u00a0The way she bent her ankles instead of keeping them straight. \u00a0The way her thumbs went inside of her fists. \u00a0Our biggest concern was the way Zara had stopped rolling. \u00a0Dorcas showed me how to hold her legs in position to teach the muscles in her torso how to move.<\/p>\n I came home and called Early Childhood Development to see what was happing with her referral. \u00a0The earliest time they could see her was mid-January. \u00a0Meanwhile, I followed Dorcas’ suggestions at home. \u00a0Within twenty-four hours, Zara was rolling from her back to her tummy toward her left with lots of struggle, but giggling hysterically at her new accomplishment. \u00a0Within days she could roll independently either direction as long as she was nudged in the right direction. \u00a0That and other arm exercises seemed to loosen her muscles and the resistance in her left arm diminished then disappeared.<\/p>\n Did she have Infantile Spasms, was miraculously healed, and had only a few tiny neurologic deficits? Did she only have a musculoskeletal issue that needed loosening? If so, why did it suddenly start? We’ll probably never know.<\/p>\n Does she still have spasm type issues? Occasionally. \u00a0Ninety-nine percent of the time, they don’t involve any arm raising anymore, but there are still occasional head and shoulder jerks. Are they benign? We don’t know. \u00a0There are times when she suddenly throws her left arm backward, stiffens for three to four seconds, then lets go. \u00a0Is it something to be concerned about? We don’t know. \u00a0There are times when she is crawling and suddenly collapses as her right side gives way. \u00a0She lies on the floor for a few seconds, gets up and crawls again, only to have it repeat a few strokes later. \u00a0Is she just playing or is something sinister going on inside her cranium? We don’t know. \u00a0There are times when she crawls with her left fist tightly clenched. \u00a0Is it her being silly or a neurological sign to notice? We don’t know. Perhaps the most frightening was the night she woke crying with a strange jerking and strange breathing pattern. \u00a0Was it a nightmare or did she have some type of seizure activity happening? We don’t know.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n