This is me at 5 months!!!     Hi!  My name is Carrie.  I was born on April 6th, 1994.  I weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces.  I was 21 inches long.  There was never a dull moment for my Mommy, Daddy and Family, after I was born!
    I had to be delivered by an emergency c-section because I was in distress while inside Mommy's tummy.  I didn't cry or respond well after I was delivered.  My pediatrician took me and put me in a warm incubator with oxygen.
    Approximately 6 hours after I was born, something started happening to me.  I started having seizures.  My doctor couldn't figure out why I was having them.  I was put on anti seizure medications to make my seizures stop.  The day after I was born, an ambulance took me to the I.W.K. Children's Hospital in Halifax, to see if the doctors there could help me.
    I don't remember a lot of what happened during this time because of the medication I was on, I slept all the time.  (It was the only way my doctors could stop my seizures.)  My Mommy and Daddy (and all of my family) were very scared and prayed for me a lot at this time.  The doctors told them that I might not live.  IF I did live, I might be severely handicapped.  I might not ever learn to eat, talk, walk.  They said all kinds of scary stuff.  I proved them all wrong!
    When I was about 2 weeks old, the NICU called in a wonderful doctor.  She is an endocrinologist.  Well, she was one smart woman because she took a lot of pictures of inside of my head, blood tests (ouch!) and urine tests.  She concluded that I had Septo optic dysplasia, Optic nerve hypoplasia and hypopituitarism.
    It was a long, hard battle, but I made it!  My mommy and daddy had to learn how to give me all of my medications (Cortone, Eltroxin and DDAVP).  They also had to learn how to give me a special needle, in case of an emergency (Solu-cortef).  Just to prove that they knew how to give me a needle, they practiced on each other (but they practiced on an orange first)!  A nice nurse from the NICU gave them Saline solution, needles and taught them how to do it.  I wasn't allowed to come home until they could do this procedure.  My mommy and daddy wanted me home so badly, that they practiced all one weekend when they were up visiting me!
    I came home on May 16th, 1994.  It sure was a long time to wait to come home!
    I did well when I got home.  Though I used to throw up my formula a lot!  My mommy switched my formula.  I liked it a lot better--or should I say, it liked me a lot better!  I didn't like eating food very much.  Sometimes I used to gag until I threw everything up-yuck!
    A month after I turned 2 years old, my endocrinologist noticed that I had wasn't growing very well, she put me on growth hormone.  Boy did I get tall, fast!  She now calls me panhypopituitarism because I need all of my hormones replaced.
    I gave everyone a bit of a scare on January 3rd, 1999.  My mommy and daddy always get nervous if I sleep in late (because it's not like me to sleep late ;o))  When mommy came in to check on me, she found me laying on the floor, under my bed.  Mommy and daddy thought that I was having adrenal crisis.  Mommy gave me my needle (Solu-cortef) and took me to the hospital.  After we got there, my pediatrician came in to see me.  They thought that I did have an adrenal crisis.  My pediatrician asked me to stay in the hospital for a couple of hours so the nurses could keep me under observation.  (Just to make sure I was ok.)  My mommy and daddy said that I was having a nap when they thought that I woke up.  When I woke up, I had a seizure.  My mommy, daddy and little sister (Erica) were so scared for me.
    My pediatrician said that she had suspected that I had a seizure when mommy had found me under my bed that morning but she couldn't be sure.  Well, she was sure now!
    I had to have a CT scan and an EEG.  My endocrinologist told mommy and daddy that I have epilepsy too.  I'm on Tegretol for that.
    On March 2nd, 1999, I had to go see my endocrinologist for a check up.  When we were there, the endocrinologist scared mommy and daddy again because she told them that I have an arachnoid cyst.  (They saw it when they did my CT scan for my seizures.)  I have to go for more tests to figure out what they are going to do about my cyst.  They might just leave it alone and see if it grows.  We aren't sure of much on this topic because we are still learning about it.
    I just turned 5 years old and I have surprised everyone!  For a kid who was "going to be" so handicapped, I turned out pretty good!!!  I do have my visual impairment to deal with.  I'm blind in my right eye, I have some vision in my left.  With vision only in one eye, I have a hard time with depth perception (seeing where steps are or holes in the ground, that sort of thing).  I was a little bit late learning how to do some things (crawling, walking).  I still have other things to learn.  But I'm learning!  I LOVE to learn!
    My mommy and daddy and ALL of my big family, are VERY proud of me!  They all love me so much.

Here is a picture of me (on the left) with my little sister, Erica!