Andrea Dunlop

But that qualifier of the state of evolution is doing more heavy lifting than I originally realized.

Because the injury Vega observed, he told me, didn't even really match with an incident right before 911 was called.

Because Nolan was still breathing when he arrived at the hospital.

And then there was trying to track just how compromised Nolan had been after the first injury, since the caregivers were a bit all over the place about what Nolan was able to do in the time between his first seizure on Friday and the second one on Saturday.

Child abuse medicine is, in many ways, like any other field of pediatric medicine,

with one big exception.

When the evidence clearly shows, as it did in Nolan's case, that a child has been abused, you can't put as much stock in the caregiver narrative as you otherwise might.

And the dissonance between a caregiver's narrative and the child's injuries can in and of itself be a piece of evidence.

Dr. Smith and I talked about John's insistence that Nolan walked whenever that might have happened.

John, you know, in his original conversation with the police, which was recorded, you know, John describes her putting him on the floor, but he couldn't really put weight on his feet and her sort of like propping him up to take a couple steps.

So sort of like attempting to walk, but not being able to is what it sounds like.

does that sound plausible with Nolan's injury sort of to be moving at all like that?

Yeah.

I mean, you know, and the accounts sort of shift and vary and mostly, mostly the three of them report him being asleep.

You know, the other thing that we were trying to get to the bottom of was whether or not Nolan ate or drank anything in between the two, sort of throughout that timeline, where we know he was suffering from some kind of catastrophic injury.

And it sounds like at most he took in some fluids that he immediately vomited up.

Does that piece sound like it fits with...

the progression of this injury.

Like actively holding a sippy cup and drinking versus someone trying to get him to take it.

Winter was long this year, but spring, my favorite season, is finally here.