Dylan's Birthday!

Twelve years ago today we were truly BLESSED with the birth of our WONDERFUL son, Dylan Joseph Prater. He joined us at 2:10 a.m., weighing 7lbs 9 1/4oz and was 21inches long. He was so small and pink, with blond hair and beautiful blue eyes, and the sweetest smile ever!

Dylan 3 months old

                                                                                        

Dylan 1yr old

Dylan 3yrs old

DEAR DYLAN,

You looked at us and gave us a smile that was so divine,
Even in the darkness, your bright smile would shine.
Today when we look at you, the smile is still the same,
So are the lovely set of eyes, from heaven that came.
But even more than your physical beauty is your loving heart.

It's easy to see that your birth is part of God's master plan,
He is using you for a GREAT purpose.
Happy Birthday to our darling son.

We Always Love You,
Mommy & Daddy

Dylan 10 yrs old, this was taken 2 months before the brain tumor was found

Dylan today 12 yrs old with his birthday cake

Blowing out his candles HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY!

                                                                                             

AWARENESS

Month of April...................

Did you all know that the month of April is Brain Tumor Awareness month?  It also happens to be the month Dylan was born, he will be 12 on the 24th, he is getting so big, he is 5'3", and weighs 107lbs, some people don't recognize him because he keeps growing!

Dylan is doing well on his medication, we had a little set back a week ago.......he was bit by a dog!  He was in our back yard with a bunch of kids playing soccer, and he backed into a fence to get the soccer ball, and the dog on the other side of the fence was able to stand up on the opposite side of the fence, and bite Dylan in the back right shoulder.  Out of ALL the kids playing in our yard, Dylan was the one that got bit! 
So we had to call his endocrinologist, she told us to increase his meds for a few days, and we took him to the pediatrician the next day.  She said everything looks fine, and did not recommend any antibiotics at this time.  The bite does not look very bad, if I did not know otherwise, I would not think it was a dog bite.

He is doing pretty good in school, and the doctor said Dylan is allowed to play soccer.  I talked with his coach and gave him Dylan's background, and asked that Dylan NOT be put in the goalie position.  It's a little concerning to me about the roughness in soccer, however, I can't keep Dylan in a bubble, so I just put all my worries in God's hands. 

We want to THANK EVERYONE for the continued PRAYERS for Dylan and our Family!  We would also like to ask for prayer for another little boy who goes to school with Dylan who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in March, his name is AJ Leffler.  He has undergone brain surgery, and is now starting to get chemo and radiation treatments, PLEASE PRAY for him and his family as they go through this horrible life-changing event!  They also need help financially to help pay for time lost at work, the travel, and the medical bills.  There are several upcoming fundraisers listed on their FB page at https://www.facebook.com/#!/AJsArmy, they need lots of volunteers!  Please share this information with others in order to help this family.

Thank You All,

The Prater Family

Inspiring

Dylan having fun fishing 3-22-12

"What Cancer Cannot Do"

Cancer is so limited.........

It cannot cripple love. It cannot shatter hope. It cannot corrode faith. It cannot eat away peace. It cannot destroy confidence. 

It cannot kill friendship.  
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot quench the spirit.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot reduce eternal life.

Dylan has been doing well since we came back from Duke.  He is back on his normal regimen of the medication for the cortisol, and has not had any episodes.....THANK YOU JESUS! 

He is also doing well in school, hopefully we will have an uneventful rest of the school year! 

The Prater Family

Test Results.........

Dylan's endocrinologist, Dr. MacIver emailed me today and told me that the Prolactin and Thyroid labs that were ran last week on Dylan, came back normal, YEAH!  

So, Dylan only has to continue taking the meds 2x daily for the adrenal insufficiency.  While at Duke, I did confirm that there are no side effects of the drug for Dylan.  The doctors told me that because Dylan's ACTH gland in his brain is not making enough cortisol for his body, that his body needs it.  Because his body needs it, there will not be any side affects, however, the doctor did say that Dylan will have to take this for the rest of his life because the ACTH gland will shrink and stop making cortisol all together, KINDA SCARY!

I also have to carry around the emergency syringe kit if Dylan ever needs it, due to any PHYSICAL stress.

Dylan has been on his regular dosage of medication since 3-17, the doctors told me to monitor him for 7-10 days, and if he does not have any dizziness, that's great.  If he does have dizziness, I need to take him to a local ENT to check his inner ear.  I will also continue keeping a log of anything that happens, and updating the team of doctors at Duke as needed.  We will return to Duke again in six months, unless something happens before then.

We GREATLY APPRECIATE all the support, prayers, and donations, to help our family through this most recent follow-up.  May GOD Bless You ALL!

The Prater Family

Duke Trip

We arrived at the hotel around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday 3-14 evening, and we crashed.  Thursday morning I took Dylan to his MRI at 7:30a.m., they did an MRI with and without contrast, so Dylan had to have an IV put in his arm.  From there we went to his neuro-opthalmology appt., and we finished the eye exam rather quickly.  The doc said Dylan's eyes are great, in fact, better than they were last Sept.when he checked them. He said the problem is not in his eyes, that it could be a brain thing. We still don't know what the MRI results are. We are getting some lunch and then we have 3 more appts this afternoon.

We finally got done at the doctor's at about 6pm, and EVERYTHING looks GREAT! The doctors can't really explain the dizziness and vision issues that Dylan has been having, there is no fluid in his brain and no new growth....PRAISE GOD! However, they did draw more blood today to check his thyroid and prolactin glands, we were told to keep giving Dylan the meds for his adrenal gland, give it 7-10 days and see if his body will adjust to the medication. The neurologist said that the radiation may have affected these glands and that's why they are not functioning properly, BUT these are easily treatable without side affects, YEAH!

The doctors still want me to continue keeping a log of things that happen, so we can have a history or to see any patterns. The oncologist mentioned possibly the inner ear affecting Dylan (dizziness) and that if the meds don't rectify the problem to maybe see and ENT specialist locally, other than that, IT'S ALL GOOD NEWS........HALLELUJAH! Dylan will be scheduled to return again in 6 months, unless something happens before then.
We want to SINCERELY THANK ALL the prayer warriors out there that have been praying for Dylan, I will admit, I was very nervous and scared about this appt., but GOD ALWAYS KNOWS BEST!

Something else happened during our eventful trip..........while our minivan sat in the parking garage, some lady backed up straight into the back of our van! There is a HUGE dent, luckily the lady called the police and he took a report with her info, then when we came out to our van we had to call the police and do a report.

So now, we have to get our van fixed! This same thing happened to us when we went to UVA with Dylan the first time. At least we ALL have God and our HEALTH! AMEN!

We all made it back home safely Friday morning around 10am, we were ALL wore out, so we rested most of the day.

The Prater Family

Dylan.............

Well, I had to pick Dylan up again from school today, he's had 4 episodes of dizziness and headaches. I called his doctor immediately, she told me to increase his meds for the next 24hrs and when we get to Duke on Thursday she wants to run more in depth blood work on the rest of his hormones. 

PLEASE PLEASE PRAY FOR HIM!!!!

Also Miranda Beck posted this is the Salem Times for our family:
http://blogs.roanoke.com/sosalem/2012/03/update-on-dylan-prater/ 

More News....

NEWS ON DYLAN............

Dylan's endocrinologist called me today to see how Dylan is doing with the meds and she gave me good and bad news.  Dylan is doing GREAT and feels good on the meds, that is the good news.  The bad news is, because he is responding so well to the medication it means that his adrenal gland in his brain is not working.  The adrenal gland in the brain triggers when to send cortisol into the body, and since Dylan's is not working properly, the medication, which is a steroid, takes the place of giving Dylan's body the cortisol that he needs, and that is why he feels so much better.

The doctor said he will need to be on this steroid for an undetermined amount of time, and that means his body will STOP making cortisol all together. 
Sooo, if Dylan gets very sick, has to have any surgery, breaks a bone, or ANYTHING that causes his body to be under a lot of physical stress, we have to call his doctor immediately b/c the dosage of the steroid will have to be increased dramatically.  I asked the doctor if this means emotional stress, and she said no, there is a difference between physical and emotional stress.  I also asked about side affects of the steroid, the doctor said, if I were to look up the medication on the internet it would show a lot of side affects, HOWEVER, Dylan's body needs this drug, b/c he is not producing it, so he will not have the side affects.
PLEASE CONTINUE to pray b/c we still have to find out what is going on with Dylan's eyes, and of course another MRI.

Thanks for ALL your SUPPORT and PRAYERS!