Jan., 2011 posts

January 2011

Latest on Dylan Posted on Saturday, January 15, 2011 5:49 PM Hi Everybody, SORRY ABOUT THE LENGTH BETWEEN THE LAST NOTE AND THIS ONE......I got sick a few days after Christmas and am just now getting back to normal. The kids had a WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS THANKS TO ALL THE WONDERFUL GIFTS FROM EVERYONE!!!!  THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYBODY THAT HELPED OUR FAMILY FOR CHRISTMAS! Now about Dylan....he is doing good, over the break I talked with his doctors at Duke and they said it was ok for him to return to school after Christmas break when everybody else did, however, he could only go for half days the first week.  This week he was able to go an hour longer and next week he will try to go for full days.  He still gets tired, so if he can't tolerate full days we will go back to half days for a while. He also has some other things going on, he says words and they come out all mixed up and backwards, he knows its happening and tries to fix it, even laughs about it, he keeps trying to fix it and sometimes he can, but sometimes he can’t.  He also has some short-term memory loss, including conversations, things he says, what people say to him, what he studies, etc. and the teachers at school are noticing the same problems.  So I emailed Dylan's doctor's at Duke with all of these concerns and they all agree that he needs to have a formal neuropsychological evaluation done so they can better inform us and his school how to help him cope and to provide strategies for him to be successful.  They also want to look at his radiation fields from the radiation he had done this past summer at UVA, (not exactly sure what that means yet), they seem to think most of these problems are coming from the radiation that he had done.  Which I feel bad about because if I had started researching for a second opinion sooner Dylan would never had to have gone through the radiation to begin with. Well as of right now we will be having a VERY BUSY SCHEDULE COMING UP WITH DYLAN'S UPCOMING APPOINTMENTS TO DUKE:  #1) Feb. 15th ophthalmology-to check his optic         nerves (3-4hr appt) #2) Feb. 23rd Neuropsychological evaluation (4hr appt) #3) March 3rd  Get new MRI, Re-evaluation with Neuro-surgeon, and   cancer specialist both will check his skull bone to see if healed properly since his surgery and check to see if any new cancerous tissue has tried to grow back since the surgery. (this is 3 different appt's, we will be there all day so we will have to go the night before and get a hotel room)  The reason Dylan can’t play sports or do any strenuous activities is because when the doctor did the brain surgery he cut a huge piece of rectangular skull out of Dylan’s head, so that he could get in to the brain.  That piece of skull was screwed back into place with titanium screws and it has to heal, it cannot be hit or damaged at all during the healing process because that could mean Dylan not playing sports for the rest of his life!  So at school even when he does return for full days he cannot participate in recess or gym classes. (which he HATES)  When we go to the doctor appt. on March 3rd it will be up to the Neuro-surgeon whether or not Dylan can resume regular activities based on the exam and MRI results. So we are still not out of this yet.......... PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR OUR SON DYLAN and keep our family in your thoughts and prayers. GOD BLESS EACH & EVERY 1 OF YOU!                                             “PIECE OUT PAPPY......Tumor OUT of my head”   p.s.  if anybody is interested, we recently got more bracelets in.... they say "FIGHTING 4 DYLAN", if anybody wants one just let me know  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PRAYER REQUEST Posted on Monday, January 17, 2011 10:16 AM HAVE A PRAYER REQUEST FOR A FRIEND: We all know GOD hears our prayers and even answers our prayers!  PLEASE PRAY for my friend's cousin: CHASITY, she is 28, has 2 little boys, and was just diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, she has a lot of family support but they are ALL requesting LOTS OF PRAYER SUPPORT right now! PLEASE JOIN OUR PRAYERWARRIOR TEAM and send up the much needed prayers for this family, as we ALL KNOW GOD IS IN THE MIRACLE BUSINESS!     Thank You ALL!            Kerry Prater    : )