Unexpected

I am sitting in a waiting room, in the old halls of Sick Kids. Josh is down the hall being tested for all sorts of things, all of them falling under the heading 'neuropsychology'. His psychologist spent the morning taking with me, and for the first time i have been given a reason for Joshua's speech delay, the mystery is over, the guessing game is finally done and finally I have something concrete to blame. This brings a freedom that I cannot explain in words, but I will tell you that the relief of finally knowing the root cause of his delay caused me to cry. She didn't offer me a solution, there is no magical cure, so I am not really sure why the knowing helps so much, but for now it gives me something I can grasp, something to blame, something to fight.

Josh's stroke was on his left side. Most of language is centered in the left side of the brain up to and including sentence structure. Vocabulary however can come from both sides of the brain. According to the doctor it makes complete sense that Josh is struggling in the areas that he is struggling with.

The bigger question of overall development won't be answered today, I will have to wait for the results. Intense speech therapy recommended and hopefully a meeting with a social worker to follow up on how to find the funding for it.

I came today anxious that she would only tell me all that is wrong with my son, I never dreamed I would leave with hope.

God is good... I still don't know when or if Josh will ever talk and communicate normally. No one can answer that for me, but I know what I am fighting now. I know what I am praying against and the statistics are on Josh's side. Our day is not over, will be here all day, I will likely hear things I don't like, things that hurt, things that frustrate. However more important than anything else is that I am also leaving with hope and with someone here who I can call on for help.

Not at all what I went into today expecting!