What they Say about Him

Here's an example of Torran's post clinic letters... I am actually looking forward to teacher based reviews instead of medical ones! Below are excerpts of some of the letters dictated by doctors during his 2011 assessments.

From Thromobsis Clinic:
"In brief, Torran is a 3-year-old boy with several medical complications; he was a premature born with 26 weeks of gestation. In brief, he developed intracranial hemorrahage with secondary hydrocephalus requiring ventriculoperioneal shunt insertion, bilateral hearing loss, nephrocalcinosis and cyclic neutropenia. He also has a history of atrial septal defect and during his initial medical admission he sustained an umbilical venous catheter-related left portal vein occlusive thrombus in March 2008, at Mount Sinai Hospital. However, due to his history of intracranial bleeding, he did not receive anitcoagulation. His additional medical history includes the diagnosis of mild autism, mild cerebral palsy and lower limb spasticity.

Since his last visit to our clinic, Torran has been doing relatively well. He currently wears bilateral lower limb braces and is undergoing physical therapy. In terms of his previous portal vein thromobsis, his parent deny abdominal distention or any epidsodes of vomiting with blood.

...Repeat ultrasound obtained today continues to show fairly marked atrophy of his left hepatic lobe. The right lobe of the liver appears unremarkable with a homogenized echotexture and no focal lesions. The main portal vein demonstrates hepatopetal flow with patency of the right portal vein. The left portal and left hepatic artery could not be identified..."

From the pediatric development physician:
"...Torran was very busy throughout the session. He did respond to his name when the examiner called him. He was working on a puzzle initially and then walked around the room and bumped into the sink on 2 occasions and fell over. He did go to his mother for comfort during these episodes. He also played with a car, pushing that along and making noise. He would go up to his mother at times and comment on things. He was noted to pretend to cook with a bowl and a spoon and commented 'are you cooking?' and 'Torran is cooking breakfast'. He referred to himself as 'you' at times, for example, 'you may have the spoon'. He talked quite a bit, sometimes not directed to others. Some of his language did appear somewhat scripted and learned. He was noted to lick and mouth some objects in the examination room. He did not spontaneously wave back to the examiner and needed prompting to do so by his mother. He generally made eye contact with his mother but not consistently with the examiner, however this was difficult to gauge given his strabismus."