Fairfax 10-year-old has brain surgery
By LISA M. BOUCHER
St. Albans Messenger Correspondent
Monday, September 14, 2009 Publication
FAIRFAX — Maria Redding appears elfin with her large brown eyes, pixie hair cut, and red and white striped pajamas. The pretty and charming 10-year-old flashes a friendly smile.
Maria is still in her pajamas in the middle of the afternoon, because she has recently undergone brain surgery to relieve neurological symptoms from a condition she was born with called Chiari (key-are-ee) Malformation (CM).
This is a structural defect in the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls voluntary motor functions, balance and muscle tone.
The cerebellum and parts of the brainstem normally rest in the lower part of the back of the skull, above an opening to the spinal canal called the foramen magnum (fore-ay-men). A CM occurs when part of the cerebellum falls into the foramen magnum.
A CM develops when the opening is abnormal, causing the cerebellum and brainstem to be pushed downward into the foramen magnum and into the upper spinal canal. The pressure that occurs on the cerebellum and brainstem can affect their functions and block the flow of cereteroptttal fluid (CSF), the clear liquid that provides a cushion for the brain and spinal cord.
"I was having dizziness, weakness, and I wasn't able to get up and play," said Maria about the symptoms she experienced prior to surgery. "I was having headaches and sharp pains and numbness in my arms. I think that was pretty much everything." She nods and; shrugs as though this were as common as getting out of bed in the morning.
"I had back pain too, which I think was from that," she added the fourth of Vince and Mary Beth Redding's six children. With three older siblings and two younger, Maria shares the middle child spot with an, older brother.
Maria wasn't diagnosed with CM until age seven though she was born with it and had unknowingly exhibited symptoms as a toddler. According to Redding the young Maria would walk around and bob her head from side to side, something her parents initially mistook for a game and have since realized the young girl was probably feeling dizzy and was attempting to shake it off.
"Maria has had health issues her whole life," said Mary Beth Redding, the girl's mother. "She was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when she was very young. We knew something wasn't right because I had, had three other children and there were certain actions and repetitive movements, something just wasn't right."
Around age six Maria started not feeling well, she had frequent belly aches, didn't want to eat and was subsequently diagnosed with Celiac Disease (CD), a digestive disorder where sufferers are unable to tolerate foods with gluten.
She was very ill with the CD to the point she was unable to walk or do many things by herself.
According to Redding, the diet change improved her health, her hair and nails began to grow again and Maria started feeling better, but discovered a problem with delayed gastric emptying called gastric paresis.
It was at this point she was seen by a neurologist for migraine headaches. An MRI scan showed the CM.
"She just kept getting worse. She was starting to feel better from the diet change, but was now, all of a sudden going backward again," said Redding. "I just kept after the doctors. I'm a pretty patient person, but after awhile, we really needed to do something."
CM don't always cause symptoms. It depends on how far the cerebellum descends into the brain stem. Maria's protrudes approximately 9 mm. A protrusion of 3 mm likely wouldn't produce any symptoms and one of 15 mm would cause the inability to walk.
Initially her doctor treated her medically until which time the treatment had reached the limit. The Redding's felt it was time to look into a surgical option, although it held no guarantees of symptom relief.
"Fortunately, we home school and because of that, Maria was able to continue with her schooling," said Redding. "But if she had to be in the (public) school system there is no way (she could have done it), she was down so much."
Less than two weeks post surgery, Maria is up and about looking chipper, smiling and mostly symptom-free. It could take upwards of six months for the numbness and pain in her extremities to go away. She reports having a headache, but that's likely due to the four-inch midline incision on the back of her head.
"I wasn't scared," said Maria of her thoughts before the August 20 surgery on her brain. "I was ready."
The Redding children recently were enjoying the last vestiges of summer. They will be starting their school studies a little later than usual. The schedule is a bit behind this year with all that was happening at the end of August.
As for Maria, she will be starting school at the same time as the others, but likely for just half day sessions at first, according to her teacher.
