Alyssa loves everyone, is willing to do anything to help, and brings a smile on everyone's face, but she's also extremely sensitive, and cries about everything and anything. Her teacher, last year, said she cried at least once every day.
Alyssa also has Syringomyelia.
She was born October 14, 1997, and seemed to be a perfectly healthy baby girl. She developed at an average progression, and was walking at 13 months, although she did seem to fall quite often.
The "falling pattern" continued, even at 5 years old, but we thought she was just clumsy, and getting in a hurry. Then, some of the members of our church noticed her foot turning in slightly. So, just to be on the safe side, we took her to our family doctor.
He had a son that had a brain tumor, and apparently had some of the same "symptoms" as Alyssa, so he suggested she have a MRI. This was in September of 2003, and that's when they found the syrinx.
At first, they determined it was a mild case of Anencephaly, which is what my first child died from. I started searching the Internet, but could never find a "mild case", so I called the neurologist to check the spelling. She spelled out "Syringomyelia". A little confused, I asked her what that was, and she explained that it was in the same category as Anencephaly, with the Anencephaly being the worse case scenario, and the Syringomyelia not being nearly so bad.
In continuing my search, Dr. Frim's name kept coming up, so we decided to go to him for a second opinion. He confirmed the SM diagnosis, and WE decided he was definitely the doctor for Alyssa. He has run many tests, but has yet been able to determine the "cause". She continues to see Dr. Frim on a regular schedule, with a "wait and watch" approach.
As far as Alyssa goes, she doesn't know much about her condition other than she has something wrong with her spine, and she has way too many doctor appointments. Her symptoms at this point are daily pain, and she continues to fall a lot.
As of now, James isn't showing any signs or symptoms of Syringomyelia, but since research has determined that it can be hereditary, we will continue to keep an eye on him.
I'd like you to meet my daughter Alyssa, a very bright 6 year old.
She competed in a National Math Pentathlon Tournament during her kindergarten year, and was reading at a 3rd grade level by the end of the year. She can also write and count to 1,000.
To look at her, she pretty much looks like a normal 6 year old. She loves crafts, singing, books, and kitty cats. She even tried her hand at Karate, but her balance is just too bad. However, that doesn't stop her from picking on her little brother, James.
