August, 2010 Posts

Sunday, August 1, 2010 12:02 PM, EDT

Hello Everybody: 

I think it has been about 2 weeks since I updated this, I am sorry.  My family and I have been spending a lot of time together enjoying ourselves while we can, and there has not really been much news to spread. We had the 50/50 raffle drawing on 7/17/10 and the grand total that we received was $1,239!!!!  

WE WOULD LIKE TO ACKNOWLEDGE AND THANK EVERY SINGLE PERSON that helped make this happen that day, especially for having to go out and wait in the rain!!!  God has been a huge blessing to us by providing such wonderful people around us to help in our time of NEED!  

Our family has been swimming several times over at our friends’ house; Dylan loves this because he actually gets to do something outside!  Dylan has had several friends stay the night at our house which keeps him from being so bored, and he has tried to play outside a few times, but he does not last long because of the insane heat.This past week we went with our friends to their house at Claytor Lake, and spent the night.  The kid’s had a blast!  We went out on the HUGE speed boat and went tubing, Dylan tried it and was having fun at first, but then he had to get out because his back started hurting where he had the recent lumbar puncture.  The most exciting time for Dylan was when he got to drive the boat; he still keeps talking about it!!  My hubby and I went tubing several times and Jada swore she was NOT going to get in the water, however, once she got on the tube, she would not get off it, she said she felt like she was on a roller coaster on the water!  Her throat still hurts from all the excited screaming and laughing she did while on the tube.  Our family had so much fun; it was so relaxing, and a nice break from reality!  We wish we could have stayed longer but my husband is still working until we leave for UVA, so we had to come back. : (  (more pictures will be coming soon)

NOW THE LATEST NEWS….. 

First off, Dylan has been feeling fine.  I talked with Dr. Packer last week, he is the Pediatric Neurology specialist from D.C., he had the slides of the biopsy tissue from the tumor in Dylan’s brain reviewed and retested by 2 other doctors, because he was not 100% sure of the diagnosis.  When he called me he told me that the other 2 docs came up with the same findings as UVA…”the papillary tumor of the pineal region”, so there is no question now what the tumor is.  Dr. Packer also agreed with the radiation treatment that Dylan will be starting soon. I also called the Ronald McDonald House in Charlottesville to follow-up on our family staying there.  To my surprise, I was told that we CANNOT stay there now because we have 5 in our family, and their max per room is 4!  I even tried to explain to the lady on the phone that we have a baby, and she said per the Fire Marshall we can only have four bodies in each room.So for the past week or so I have been trying to find appropriate lodging in Charlottesville for a family of five.  I finally found a hotel that is considered long term stay and they had a Queen Suite available for us.  It is like a small apartment, with TV, internet, full kitchen, (including all utensils, pots/pans etc that are needed for eating & cooking).  There is also a pool and exercise room as well as a breakfast buffet everyday. Unfortunately, we will be paying for this lodging for 6 weeks minimum, which is the amount of treatments Dylan will have while at UVA this time.  I have tried and tried to find something else, but I have not come up with anything, so we are taking it for now, and I have faith that GOD will provide a way for us to pay for that lodging! This Tuesday we go to UVA for Dylan to be fitted for his radiation mask, and we are going to go by the hotel, just to make sure we are getting what we were told on the phone.  I was also told by Dylan’s doctor that he will be having another CAT scan on Tuesday, just to check the size and formation of the tumor again before treatment begins. 

UPCOMING FUND RAISERS: 

1)     SATURDAY AUGUST 7TH: The Cut - A - Thon will be from 10am-6pm, All hair cuts will be $10.00. Located at Hollywood Hair and Nails, 1328 W. Main Street, Salem, 540-375-3626; across the street from Kmart, in the same bldg as Movie Starz on the side facing Awful Arthur’s.  We look forward to seeing everyone!!!!! Appointments are advised! 

2)     SATURDAY AUGUST 14TH 8:30-4:30: At Biscuits and Bubbles, 109 W.Main Street, Salem, 540-378-5200, so bring your doggies out and give them a bath!! It's only 10$ for 25lbs or less; 26lbs-75lbs is only $15; got a really big dog? it's only $20!! If you don't want to get dirty just add $10 and we'll do the dirty work!  In addition, they will be having a Bake Sale in front of the store 

3)  SUNDAY AUGUST 15TH: Will be the drawing for the Raffle Tickets that everyone has been selling; I am not sure on the time or location of this yet, but the winning ticket does not have to present to win.  

~~WE WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND SOME MORE THANK YOU’S~~ 

There are hundreds of people we would like to recognize and THANK:

All the families and co-workers that have given us cards with money and Kroger/Wal-Mart cards, as well as local churches, schools, friends, family, employers, etc.  A HUGE THANKS GOES OUT TO ALL OF YOU!!! (From our family to you and yours----GOD BLESS YOU) 

A BIG THANKS TO:  that have made monetary donations into Dylan’s Benevolence Fund!!!
Thanks goes out to several helpful and caring neighbors, as well as, Miranda Adkins for the newspaper article, and Michelle Craft and WendyTrail for organizing and putting together all the local fundraisers for our family.  Words cannot express the amount of appreciation and thankfulness that our family feels about so many people surrounding us and helping us in this great time of need, GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!!  

--Our WONDERFUL CHURCH family, Fellowship Community Church, for all the help and support they continue to give us! --The Chance Crawford Fund and The Salem Jaycees for donating money to Dylan’s Benevolence Fund!!

Thanks to all of you

anonymous people

That being said, we hope everyone will join us with the upcoming fundraisers that are planned.  We will DEFINATELY NEED the money for travel, food expenses, medical expenses, and especially OUR HOTEL since we have to pay for that now for 6 weeks!

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Wednesday, August 4, 2010 11:22 PM, EDT

Hello, 

I know everybody is waiting to hear about yesterday, and I am sorry about the delay.  We did not get home until 9pm last night because we were looking for a different place to stay after Dylan’s appointment. I will update you on Dylan first.  His appointment went well; he starts his radiation treatments next Wednesday, August 4th, however, we were told he would only have 28 treatments, and yesterday they told us it would be 33 treatments.  So his last treatment date will be September 24th, if everything goes as planned.During his apt. he laid on a machine that looks like a CAT scan machine, then the mask was placed on his face, and it had to stay on there for 15minutes to help it form and dry properly.  Dylan did get upset and scared during this process, so I went in the room with him and held his hand and talked to him.  The netting on the mask had to be very tight on his face so his eyes and lips were closed while the mask pressed down onto his face. Apparently is a little claustrophobic, 

WHO WOULDN’T BE?????????? 

After the mask was formed properly the doctor had the radiation therapist cut out a hole around Dylan’s mask and then tape it down.  Dylan did not get upset when he put the mask back on once the mouth was cut out; he said he got scared because it was hard to breath the first time. When the mask was complete he had to put it back on for about 10minutes so the doctor could get a contrast Cat scan, basically the nurse placed an IV in his arm and put contrast fluid into the IV which spread throughout his body, it made him feel a little warm, but that was it.  Then he went back into the machine for the second scan, the contrast makes things much more visible for the doctors, so they can set up the radiation rays at the exact angles for his treatments.The doctor had the therapist make a second mask for Dylan to bring home and practice wearing so he won’t get scared or upset during the actual treatment. 

When the radiation treatments start, he will be able to listen to his MP3 player while wearing the mask and the actual treatment supposedly only takes 15minutes, so I think he will be fine.  The radiation does not hurt and he will not feel anything during the treatments.I put pictures on this sight so everybody can see the mask he will be wearing for every radiation treatment.  During the treatments he will lay on the same machine with his mask on, and once he is pushed underneath the big circle part of the machine, it will send little tiny radiation rays all the way around his head 360degrees.  All of the rays will be going into the tumor of his brain, and the goal here is to get rid of the cancer cells and shrink the tumor.  Overall, Dylan did great and he even got to get a prize from the prize box when he was done. Now….we had a suite reserved at a long-term stay hotel in Charlottesville and we decided to go look at it yesterday, I am so GLAD we did that!!! 

What we expected to see was a good sized suite with a full kitchen, living room area, a big bedroom with queen bed and a bathroom, (the internet made it look GOOD).  Well, as soon as we walked in the room, the so called kitchen was directly to the left and it was the size of a closet, the living room was a long narrow space that we would trip over each other in!!! Then the bedroom was to the left through a door, it was ok, but not much extra space in there, the bathroom was ok.  Basically we would have been standing right on top of each other, not to mention Dylan would not have any quiet space for him to rest and relax after his treatments.  So, I have literally been on the phone since 9am this morning trying to find a furnished apartment to rent for 45 days for our family!!!  That’s why this post is late coming.Finally, after A LOT of phone calls and leg work, I was able to get us a fully furnished 2 bedroom, 1 ½ bath apartment for the entire 45days!  It comes with washer/dryer, TV’s, and all utilities included.  It is only 10minutes from the hospital and Kroger’s, and the best part is we are only paying $93 more for the 45 days than we would have paid to the hotel! 

That was definitely GOD’S work, thank you God!!  Anyways, we get to move in on Wednesday the 11th, same day as his 1st treatment. Once we get there we can stop by the apartment and pick up the key before Dylan’s treatment and afterwards we can move in.  I should be getting the address of the apartment tomorrow, and I will post it on this sight for anybody that would like to mail cards or Kroger cards to help with groceries.Now, I just have to figure out the best way to pack for a family of five for 45 days! Please continue to pray for Dylan and our family through this process, specifically that the radiation will take away the tumor completely, as well as the cancer cells, with as little side affects as possible. Thank you all for your concern and support and don’t forget these upcoming fund raisers!!   

UPCOMING FUND RAISERS:  

1)     SATURDAY AUGUST 7TH: The Cut - A - Thon will be from 10am-6pm, All hair cuts will be $10.00. Located at Hollywood Hair and Nails, 1328 W. Main Street, Salem, 540-375-3626; across the street from Kmart, in the same bldg as Movie Starz on the side facing Awful Arthur’s.  We look forward to seeing everyone!!!!! Appointments are advised! 

2)     SATURDAY AUGUST 14TH 8:30-4:30: At Biscuits and Bubbles, 109 W.Main Street, Salem, 540-378-5200, so bring your doggies out and give them a bath!! It's only 10$ for 25lbs or less; 26lbs-75lbs is only $15; got a really big dog? it's only $20!! If you don't want to get dirty just add $10 and we'll do the dirty work!  In addition, they will be having a Bake Sale in front of the store:

3)  SUNDAY AUGUST 15TH: Will be the drawing for the Raffle Tickets that everyone has been selling; I am not sure on the time or location of this yet, but the winning ticket does not have to present to  win.

We have opened a fund account:

The Dylan Prater Benevolence Fund at:

THE SALEM VA CREDIT UNION and ANYBODY can deposit donations into this account at any time, if they would like to. 

God bless everyone, from our family to yours,

THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP AND SUPPORT!!!!

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Friday, August 6, 2010 9:35 AM, EDT

JUST A QUICK UPDATE........

We will be leaving Salem on Wednesday 8/11 and moving into our new temporary apartment in Charlottesville after Dylan's first radiation treatment.  This will be our new mailing address affective 8/9/10:  

                            The Prater Family

                            Stone Creek Village

                            1250 Pebble Brook Lane, Suite 304

                            Charlottesville, VA 22902-1525  

Anybody can send Dylan cards and any donations or gift cards to this address.  We will have a local phone in the apartment with an answering machine, but we will not have that# until we move in.  Once we know that I will post it on here for anybody that would like to call us.

One more thing, I forgot to put on the post the other day.....Dylan will need some hats for when he loses his hair.  I have talked to him about this and he said he would like any Tennessee Titan, Nike, or Virginia Tech. hats;

that's going to go over REAL WELL in UVA country!!! : )

THANKS TO EVERYBODY!!!!!!

Hope to see some of you at the fund raiser tomorrow!!  

I probably will not post anything else on here until next week once we get moved in.

Thanks and GOD BLESS!!

The Prater Family

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 7:18 AM, EDT

THE DAY IS FINALLY HERE...... Thanks for everything!!! 

The Prater Family 

Just wanted to let you all know we are finishing our last minute packing at our house today, and we will be leaving in a few hours headed to Charlottesville! 

Dylan's first radiation appt. is today at 230pm.  When we get to Charlottesville we are going to go by our apartment and get our key, then after Dylan's appt. we should be able to move in.

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers for our safe travel and please pray that radiation goes well, takes the tumor and cancer cells away and that they NEVER come back!

We want to say THANK YOU to everyone that showed up and participated in the Hair-Cut-A-Thon this past Saturday at Hollywood Hair and Nails in Salem.  It was a HUGE success, we were able to deposit $2000 into Dylan's Benevolence Fund and we also received about $300 in gift cards to Walmart and Kroger and baby clothes for Kaylee!!!!   THANK YOU ALL!!!! This will all come in handy when we get to Charlottesville today.

I will send out notification and an update to everyone probably Thursday to keep everyone informed and let everybody know how Dylan is doing with radiation. 

GOD BLESS YOU ALL AND YOUR FAMILIES! 

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Thursday, August 12, 2010 3:01 PM, EDT

Hi Everyone, 

Just wanted to let everybody know that we made it safely to Charlottesville yesterday and Dylan went to his first radiation treatment.  He was nervous to begin with, but he did fine and he told me he is not worried about hid breathing while wearing the mask anymore, because the doc. showed him how to cross his arms over his shoulders in an X and breath through his nose.  He is at his 2nd treatment right now and so far he is doing great, no changes yet.  Yeah!!!  We are still not unpacked yet, Mike and I had to lug all of our stuff up 3 flights of stairs (35 total), we got a nice workout doing that!!!!!!  The apartment is BEAUTIFUL!!!!! It is the perfect size for our family, very comfortable and lots of room.  Dylan and Jada sleep upstairs in the loft, they each have a twin size bed, they have lots of room to play, and there is a half bath up there.  Everything else is on the main floor.  The hospital is a 10minute drive from us and there is lots of things to do here, but the next couple days will be spent unpacking, and swimming in the pool.

We want to say a HUGE THANKS again to everybody that is and has been helping us with gift cards and monetary donations, that's the only way we were able to get into an apartment.  It really MEANS A LOT to be able to have our whole family together during this difficult chapter in our lives.   

FUND RAISERS:   

1)     SATURDAY AUGUST 14TH 8:30-4:30: At Biscuits and Bubbles, 109 W.Main Street, Salem, 540-378-5200, so bring your doggies out and give them a bath!! It's only 10$ for 25lbs or less; 26lbs-75lbs is only $15; got a really big dog? it's only $20!! If you don't want to get dirty just add $10 and we'll do the dirty work!  In addition, they will be having a Bake Sale in front of the store:

 THANKS TO EVERYONE AND GOD BLESS!!!!!!

The Prater Family  

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Sunday, August 15, 2010 3:17 PM, EDT

Just want to let everybody know, Dylan has 3 radiations treatments under his belt and he is doing great!! Doc says he can do whatever he feels up to doing. We have all been swimming and we went to the local mall yesterday. It's very much like our mall in Roanoke, with just a couple different stores, and Dylan got a new hat to add to his collection. Dylan says hi to everybody and we ALL want to say a CONTINUED thanks for everything! : )

Sincerely,

The Prater's : )

I was told that the fund raiser in Salem at Biscuit and Bubbles yesterday went very well!  We appreciate everybody that made the fund raiser happen, including all the volunteers and everyone that participated and donated to help our family.

WE GREATLY APPRECIATE ALL THE HELP, TIME, AND EFFORT!!!!!!!!

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Saturday, August 21, 2010 10:27 AM, EDT

HERE IS THE LATEST.........

Hi Everybody,Well Dylan has made it through 8 radiation treatments so far!! He recently has had a couple small side affects, he is sleeping more and his stomach was upset the other night during dinner....he got the runs, but it only lasted that night., thank God! This past Thursday he had to go to the ER at UVA because him and Jada were goofing off and Dylan fell over Jada and hit the back of his head on the edge of the table. He was screaming when it happened, but he did not lose consciousness, he just had a HUGE goose egg with a big cut in the middle and a massive headache, he said the pain was a 10 on a scale of 1-10. So, just to be safe, I called his doctor and they told me to take him to the ER to make sure he was ok, based on everything that is going on in his brain. We sat there for about an hour-an-a-half and he was seen by a doctor and a specialist, after their exams, they said he was fine and wanted to send him home but they had to ok it with his radiation doctor first.. The radiation doc said it was fine to leave but to keep a close eye on him for a couple of days. Dylan has been acting fine and continuing with his treatments.We have been to the pool several times, here at the apartment complex, the kids love this. Yesterday we walked around a little bit of the Downtown Shopping Mall in Charlottesville. All the shops are outside, we stopped at a few of them and looked around, they are VERY expensive! We went into this popcorn shop that sells all kinds of different flavored popcorn and puts it in a divided tin. We ordered white cheddar, maple & brown sugar (best one), & kettle corn, then Mike picked out the Redskins NFL can to put it in. The kids got on the Merry-Go-Round and rode it a few times, we got some pictures, then we went back to the apartment, everybody was beat!Our family is doing well, the kids get so easily BORED, (mainly Jada), so she has written a couple of letters to her friends in Salem, and I have printed her some activity worksheets from the internet to keep her busy. She would LOVE to have letters or things to do, mailed to her, because she feels a little left out of things since most of the mail received here is bills or cards for Dylan.questions, please let me know!!!

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR ALL THE PRAYERS AND SUPPORT!

The Prater Family : )

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