Surgery Date

Well, it took nearly a week but Allison was finally successful in getting the right people at the right time to give us some dates.

Oct 22nd we will go back to Memphis for another MRI. We will have this done outpatient and the scan will be using different kinds of software.

We will then go back on December 13th for the brain mapping process, and surgery. We could be there as long as two weeks which leaves us coming home on Christmas Eve Please keep these two dates in your prayers as we start to gear up for this frightening event. Allison and I believe that God led us to Memphis and these specific people for a reason. If you could only see the way this all came about you would have to agree. We also feel that this surgery will give Dawson his best shot as a seizure free life. God has instructed us to follow, and leave the details to him.. That's what we are trying to do.

Once again, we do not yet know how big of an area they will be removing.. This next MRI should provide those answers and ( in my own mind) have compiled a list of questions 3 miles long that I will try to cover with the surgeons over the next coming weeks.

In the meantime, something very very interesting has happened. His neuro in Memphis looked at the levels of seizure meds in his system and suggested going up on his Zonegran. We did, and Dawson has not has a seizure in five days. I cant even begin to tell you the last time we had one single day with no seizures.. much less 5!!

The downside to this is, is that this increase in Med seems to be having an extremely adverse effect on Dawson's quality of life. Since day one of the increase he has been different. Those who have followed this blog for the past 3 years already know of the aggression and behavioral issues. If this is a side effect of a drug, then Dawson usually reacts 10 fold.

He is having these horrible fits all day long, very aggressive and intentionally trying to hurt people. Not a good thing for a 3 year old. Point is, he is just not happy. As a matter of fact this increase seems to have made him pretty miserable. While we are excited about him not having seizures ( after all , this IS the goal) this is not a good alternative. As bad as it sounds, I would rather see him mostly happy having seizures, than no seizures and him being like this. There has to be a quality of life!!

We have called the Neuro and reported this and they want us to try giving the entire dose at night instead of twice a day to see if that helps. Well give it a go but if this keeps up were going to have to go back to the dose he was on prior to us coming home from Memphis. SIGH!!!!!


So, once again, a couple of specific dates to start praying for. We'll keep you posted.

We have also added a Paypal donate button. Prayerfully consider this and if you can... well you know... It's hard for us to ask this of people but even with insurance, were looking at quite an expensive ordeal. Co-pays, staying in Memphis for two weeks, food, gas and not to mention all the things that insurance is not going to cover.. Im just guessing brain surgery is pretty expensive.. Anyway, every little bit adds up and every penny donated will go to cover his medical expenses.

Thanks for your prayers and we appreciate all of you

Jeff