Let me begin by saying that the reasons behind this blog are many. I am a very proud mommy of 3 beautiful, brilliant, loving, funny (I could go on and on) little women of God. One of my angels, Jackie, was born with ACC or Agenesis of the corpus callosum. It is a rare birth defect in which there is a complete or partial absence of the corpus callosum (the band of tissue that connects the two hemispheres of the brain.) Jackie was not diagnosed until right before her 11th birthday, following a seizure and terrible fall down a full flight of stairs on a very early morning as we were getting ready to go to school. Most of her injuries were superficial but included a horrible cut right above her eye. After a trip to our local hospital and then her dr's office, because the hospital neglected to stitch her, we were sent to Dupont in Wilmington, DE where they specialize in pediatrics. Her physician felt that she should undergo further tests to get to the bottom of why she had the seizure. After a very long day, a lot of blood work, x-rays, and finally a cat scan, we were referred to a neurologist. That is how we found out, a few days later that Jackie was born with ACC.
Now to the very beginning...Jackie was born at an absolutely gorgeous 7lb 9oz. I was blessed with a VERY short hard labor, but the dr did have to use forceps because my pelvis was just to narrow. Jackie screamed almost immediately and nursed just as quickly. "Not bad for the first time" I thought and imagined the perfect little baby in my arms, sleeping peacefully at home and smiling up at mommy all day.
Our short hospital stay was without any red flags, Jackie ate and gained weight her first two days, like a champ. They sent us home with some diaper rash cream and a free bag and told us to put her in front of the window for at least 3 hours a day for her jaudice. Once home, I spent the first 9 weeks holding her and rocking her, with neither of us getting any sleep. After several visits and phone conversations with the pediatirician, it was determined that my milk was not filling her and that we should put her on formula. Although that seemed to fill her a little bit, her fits of unconsolable screaming did not stop. We then realized that she was not having normal bowel movements and was in constant pain. My 3 month old was constipated! We tried every different formula on the shelf with no relief until finally it was recommended that we try medicated formula for colicky babies or babies with digestive troubles. Finally, that seemed to bring some relief. Of course, by this time Jackie was used to be held by mommy and was not about to give that up! Or that is what we were told and believed at the time. It took everything in me to get through each day but I was so crazy in love with this little girl that I didn't care that I had to walk the halls all night or take her outside in the cool air to distract her. Jackie was never above 75% on the growth chart but rolled over, sat up, walked and talked on time, if not early!
Our first couple of years were filled with a lot of smiles and laughter, MANY sleepless nights, trying so hard to introduce her to solid food and some more smiles! The doctor always told us that she would eat, it might just take time. Right around Jackie's 2nd birthday she ate mashed potatoes and corn, yay! I was so excited! Everything else until this point was a bite or two at best. Now the doctor told us that her body knew what she needed and she was fine. I did not know any better as a first time mom and she seemed happy most of the time, when she wasn't banging her head on the floor in a tantrum or screaming in the middle of the night. :) Jackie's bottle was about the only thing that could console her when she got to that point so as you can imagine she was still taking one at 2 years old (bad mommy!)
I always chalked up Jackie's tantrums as just being stubborn and the doctor's said that she was so smart that she didn't want to nap or sleep at night because she was afraid she would miss something. She spoke well for a toddler, I thought and loved everything! People, animals, books, the park...looking back now, it seems that she was happiest when we were out and about.
Her sister was born in 2000 when Jackie was 4 1/2. Jackie adored her and doted on her day and night. I was very fortunate that Danni slept through the night from just about the beginning and loved her 4 hour naps in the middle of the day. At this point Jackie was in preschool and doing well. I still had many sleepless nights but somehow it didn't seem to effect her, she was a very energetic 4 year old. There were some concerns about Jackie's fine motor skills, cutting with a scissor, holding a pencil etc. but she was left handed and always seemed to get it eventually. It wasn't until her early years in school K-2 that I really noticed a difference between Jackie and her peers. And then the headaches started...
Jackie was seen by a pediatric opthamologist and given glasses. At this time we were told that Jackie had ambyopia in her left eye and she started patching for 45 minutes a day. Later an abnormality of the macula in her right eye was found. I spent these early years struggling with school, trying to explain my concerns where speech and reading were concerned. I also noticed that she did not interact with her peers the same that other children her age did. School repeatedly told me that her slowness was due to her need for perfection and that she was shy. In 2005, at 8 years old, we saw a CHOP pediatric opthamologist only to find that her vision was 20/40 in the right and 20/125 in the left. She also had left astropia, and high hyperopia. We began patching 4 hours a day and her prescription was changed. This seemed to finally help with the headaches.
Meanwhile, Jackie's smile and enormous heart for people and animals lit up every single room that she walked into. She was always drawn to younger children or children that suffered from their own handicaps. Looking back now I believe that even though I knew Jackie was not the same as her peers and her now 4 year old sister, I was crazy in love with my girls and easily blinded. Not to mention, the doctors, school therapists, teachers etc. never seemed to validate my fears in the end, so who was I to be so worried? Jackie played soccer from the age of 4, never complained during physical activities and we studied hard from a young age to keep her at grade level. Everyone loved Jackie for exactly who she was.
Jumping ahead...the headaches and now dizziness once again became a constant complaint (even though Jackie still smiled!) Her presciption for her glasses was changed every six months when we went to the doctor, with very little relief. Other than that though, Jackie was the healthiest of my now 3 girls. Her youngest sister was born in 2004. Jackie never even had a cold. Watching the 3 grow up together the differences were obvious at times but nothing ever screamed out at me.
As Jackie got older, her low muscle tone and strength became evident, her speech became a greater issue, it wasn't necessarily the way the words sounded but how long it took her to put together her thoughts. The social differences between Jackie and her peers were more obvious although Jackie was never bothered by it at all. She was still drawn to younger or learning disabled children. As she moved up in grades, schoolwork became very challenging. Every teacher loved Jackie to pieces but was concerned about her ability to comprehend the information. There were many of nights that we were still struggling to understand homework at midnight but even frustrated, Jackie never gave up!
October 2007...blood curdling screams from the bottom of the steps, I run to find Jackie horrified and covered in blood. Two nerve racking days to follow as we pace the floors and pray after seeing the neurologist and having a cat scan among dozens of other tests. All we prayed for those two days was that whatever was going on in her little body, we did not want to lose her but most important we certainly did not want her to suffer. Finally the call...my heart pounded as the doctor asked me to sit down. He started off by telling me that it was very important I understood what a miracle my Jackie was. That after years of pediatric neurology it seemed almost impossible that the results of the MRI could belong to the same almost 11 year old girl he met just 2 days before. I was petrified! "The good news" he says, "is that it is not fatal" "the bad news is that it is not curable" and he continued on to explain what ACC was and how impossible it was to predict her future. All I heard, even as I took notes, was that we were not going to lose our baby! I cried, for so many reasons. One being that for the first time in almost 11 years, some things finally made sense. Our conversation lasted a while, I asked questions, he explained that although he may not share our Christian faith, Jackie definately had angels, and had we not perservered and pushed her, who knows how many more difficulties she could have. I explained that although we may not always understand, God obviously has a huge plan for her life and I could not wait to see what it was.
She was immediately seen for more tests but more importantly Mommy started digging and finding everything I could on ACC, most importantly anything that could help me help her! That same week through the Angels Around the World website, I found information on teaching children with the same disorders and handicaps (eyes and all) and Jackie. What a blessing! and answer to prayer! It was only the next day that I brought copies to the school and explained her diagnosis and we started working on an IEP. I kept digging and kept sharing the information. School became easier almost immediately, she was able to understand more and they moved her seat so that she could see, they stopped using green and red on the board, since we found that Jackie didn't see those colors and began a program reading with the dogs. I could not be happier! We continued to search for ways to make things better for Jackie at school and she progressed well academically through 6th grade. I had my struggles as a mom, when I felt like the school was slacking off a little but a visit and/or phone call and we seemed to get back on track. Unfortunately, Jackie's peers became an issue. As I said earlier, she was never at the same level socially as other children and this made her a target for "bullies". A certain few seemed to begin targetting her and no matter what the school or I did, it didn't seem to make a difference. Of course, I thought more could be done. We started looking outside of the district and in 7th grade, Jackie and her sisters started going to a local charter school.
Jackie was suffering from "silent" seizures at this time and more headaches and dizziness but through it all continued to do well in school, play soccer, be on the youth leadership team at church and love (most of the time:) her sisters. As I said, the stiffness in her muscles? became more evident, her toes and fingers started to curl, she began losing her hair and once again, eating certain foods became an issue. We continued seeing her neurologist and opthamologist every six months and through it all Jackie continued to be the light of our ever single day. Even her sisters will agree that Jackie is the one they go to for love, referee an argument, play a game, you name it. Jackie began having mild tremor seizures in 2010 and was put on Lamictol to attempt to keep them under control. The worst part of them seemed to be the migraine headache that followed. During this time Jackie also went through puberty and started menstruating, which is very hard for her to understand but God bless her, she never complained more than saying it was a pain in the butt! :)
On that note, I am going to go play with the girls but before I do I want to go back to the beginning and share my reasons and inspiration for starting this blog (which for those that don't know me, is a huge accomplishment, as I am not very advanced when it comes to the internet or computers in general, for that matter, and I am certainly not a writer :) I have come to realize recently, as Jackie's medical issues become more complicated, that it can be very lonely at the end of the day as a parent of a disabled child. Especially a parent of a child with ACC, as it doesn't seem to be a very well known or understood disorder. So my first intent is to share our story with other loved ones of someone that suffers from this disorder. I have learned from and been lifted up by other mom's out there on several occasions and only pray that I might do the same for someone else. My other hope is that there are other parents, doctors, therapists that might share insight with us as I continue to blog and share our story. This past year has been a rough one (details will follow...) I also pray that by sharing and connecting, together we can help to make the world a little bit more knowledgable about what our little angels go through. I know for us, we are still trying to find a specialist locally to try to make a little more sense of Jackie's different diagnosis's. As of today, she has been diagnosed with cheiroarthropathy, PCOS and scoliosis. We are still waiting to see the GI doctor in referrence to her trouble swallowing, and follow up orthopedic doctor to read her MRI of her foot and her back.
Thanks for reading, PLEASE feel free to share any information, stories, words of encouragement, your struggles and triumphs or anything else! May God bless you and the angels in your life!
