Relief and Fairies!

Well, it's high time I gave an update on the 'ole boy! David is doing much better since the last post. I didn't give him any pain meds yesterday. He is complaining about pain much less and farther apart. I finally got the nerve to remove the bandage on his chest this morning. The wound looks good and clean. Everything seems to be healing nicely!

I hope you enjoy these pictures of David preparing for his 3rd surgery! I finally remembered to get the camera out when Dr. Neimat came in. We are very thankful for such a great and personable doctor! Dr. Neimat makes us feel very at ease and confident. David seems to relax when he walks in the room.

Cleaning Fairies!

I didn't know there was such a thing as cleaning fairies until Monday night! They really do exist! As I started putting things up when we got home Monday, I kept noticing unusual things, like folded up blankets in the den, vacuum marks on the carpet (a very unusual site in our house!), a clean kitchen floor! But the biggest shock and give-away was my bathroom! I just about fell over when I walked in and saw it! That's when it really hit me that fairies do exist! OK. I know they weren't real fairies but some wonderful, caring friends. How blessed we are! (and VERY embarrassed!) Thank you, Lord for such friends!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, in case this is the last post before Thanksgiving, we hope you have a very wonderful Thanksgiving! Let us give thanks not only to those we love and appreciate, but especially to the One who made us and loved us and sent His Son for us.

"All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above,
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for His love, for all His love!"

(from All Good Gifts by M. Ryan Taylor)

In His Grace and Joy,
Dayna

Not a Happy Camper!

Hello friends,

We have been home now since Monday night. Everything went well with the surgery and I finally got some pictures with Dr. Neimat. But I will say that as of this morning (Wed. around 9:30), David has been in a lot of pain. He keeps pointing to his underarm and yelling. I'm not sure yet if this is something I should call the dr. about. Please keep him in your prayers. I will update again soon and put up pictures.
Thank you!
Dayna

Happiness Is...

A Special Card!

David has been delighted lately receiving many cards from friends! He grins from ear to ear! Thank you so much! I think it has really helped him feel like he is not forgotten by his friends.

Venturing Outside These 4 Walls!

Last night I took David to the Special Dance for a little while at the Pickering Center. He stayed home from the Masquerade Dance last month since Grandad and Aunt Wanda were here and it was too close to the string of surgeries. But now that we are nearing the end we thought it would be ok to get out in public for a little while. So many of his friends from school came up to him to see how he was doing! They had been very concerned. I think it was good for them to see that David is fine. Next week we plan to take him back to church. We are also planning one of his favorite past times - a movie! Anyone who has been around David for any length of time has probably been shown his list of movies he wants to see. He has written the list out on his AlphaSmart keyboard. It says that he needs to go "every Sat. at 12 noon". That's wishful thinking for Dave. We make it about once every 4 - 6 weeks.

Dear Friends

Thank you to many who helped out with meals while we were out of town for the Big One. Special thanks to my Care Group at church. Thank you for the phone calls and emails asking about David. Thank you for stopping me at church to ask about David and to get a little explanation of his surgery. Thank for the Blockbuster gift card. Thank you to my sweet friend who got my pansies in the ground that I bought from John's concert choir almost 2 months ago!

Coming To The End Of Surgery!

We leave once again for Nashville Sunday afternoon for David's 3rd and final surgery. His appointment is at 8:00 Monday morning. This one is an outpatient surgery so we should be back Monday night. They will put the battery in his chest at this time. I heard from friends on the Dystonia board that, for some, this one is the most painful. So far, David has done great! He hasn't tried to touch and pick at his staples or incision much at all. And he hasn't had much pain. (Thank you God!) So we would appreciate your prayers for:

1. Safety to and from Nashville.

2. The least amount of pain and discomfort.

3. Safety during anesthesia.

4. That we would be a light and witness for Christ.

5. John and Aaron as they hold the fort again. (John- no unforeseen"sickness" that would keep him from school, getting to bed at a reasonable hour, you know, that sort of stuff)

Once again, thank you for following David's journey of DBS with us! We appreciate you !

In His Grace and Joy,
Dayna

Finally Home!

It is now Sunday and I am finally getting a chance to update you . As many of you already know, we didn't go home on Thursday but stayed another night after all. David was having a hard time staying awake and being alert. I'm sure that was due, in part, to the strong pain meds they had him on. Here are some pictures of David all ready to go home. He had many wonderful nurses. I only thought to take a picture of the last one, Joey, while we were waiting to be released on Friday. Then signing the release form. Next week I'm going to try hard to remember to take a picture of Dr. Neimat. He really puts us at ease and seems to be a great doctor.

Are You The Brain Surgeon?

Speaking of Dr. Neimat, I wanted to tell you about a funny thing that happened. Not long ago we told David about the funny clip from Monty Python in the 70's (?) about the man who walks into the surgeon's office and asks if he is the brain surgeon. The surgeon says, "No! No! I'm not the brain surgeon!" Then after thinking about it for a minute he says, "Yes! Yes! I Am the brain surgeon!" David thought that was so funny. So when Dr. Neimat walked in to talk to us as they were prepping David for surgery, David pointed to his head, grinned, and said in his slow speech, "Are you the brain surgeon?" We all laughed!

We arrived home around 5:00 on Friday evening. David has gradually been getting back to his old self, watching his shows, playing computer games, and his gameboy. His appetite is also slowly coming back.

Our next trip to Nashville for Stage 3 will be on Mon. the 16th. We will be leaving next Sunday afternoon.

Thank you so much for all your prayers. It means so much knowing that there are a lot of people out there thinking about David and praying for him.
Until next Sunday!
In His Grace,
Dayna

Sleeping Beauty at Vanderbilt!

Well, it's high time to give an update! The surgery went very well! In fact, it didn't last quite as long as anticipated. It took 3 1/2 - 4 hours instead of 4 - 6. This was probably because David was asleep. Thank you so much for praying about the specific things during surgery! I talked to a few people after we talked to the anesthesiologist who gave us a scare. I guess by law they have to tell us certain things about what could happen. He said that because of some of the medicine David has been on for the Dystonia, he could have a serious reaction to the anesthetics. He said he would know in the first 10 min. Everything went well though because we didn't hear any more from him and Dr. Neimat said David did fine with the anesthetics. Dr. Neimat was very pleased with the CT scan and said the leads look like they are placed in the very spot needed in his brain.
Recovery Room and Beyond


We were able to go into the recovery room around 6:30. David was pretty unhappy until the nurse was able to give him some pain meds after the CT scan. After that he was a happy camper and even asked for a hamburger in between dosing off. What usually is about a 2 hour stay in recovery turned out to be about 7 or 8 hours of waiting for a room to become available! The night shift (Dad) took over around 11 when we realized how long it was going to be. I (Mom) went back to the hotel to get some sleep.


I relieved Marshall around 8 this morning . David has been in and out of sleep and hasn't complained of pain since 5:30 this morning (at which time the nurse gave him meds for pain). Dr. Neimat came in right after I arrived and said everything looked really good and David was responding well. At noon they will come back and let us know whether or not David can go home today.

Once again, thank you for following along with us! We really appreciate your prayers. I rest in the fact that we have a loving and all powerful God!

Dayna

The Big One!

It is Tuesday morning , Nov. 3rd. We will be aiming to leave around 3:00 this afternoon to go back to Nashville for Stage 2 , the lead implantation. The actual surgery is 2:00 tomorrow.

As with many major decisions, once we make the decision we have peace. But over time as the event gets closer, we start to doubt. I think, for me, the more informed I become with all the positive results, I also hear the negatives and then I start to overthink. But we really do believe the Lord has brought us to this decision for David.

Home-bound

As you may know, we've kept David completely home-bound that last few weeks. For the most part, he has done well and he hasn't caught the bugs going around. But he does miss his friends. He missed the special Masquerade Dance last Friday and was rather sad about it. I've also kept him home from his once a week Special Olympics Bowling on Mondays. Yesterday he wanted to go because it was his friend Katherine's birthday. I'm leading up to something here. David would probably love a phone call or 2 over the weekend, and I know he would love a card. Although he doesn't communicate much or well, he is fully aware.

Prayer Requests

Certainly a major praise is that David has not been sick. Also, things have been pretty calm around here. Once again, I am so thankful that Aaron is living at home right now. Although, at 17, John is quite capable of holding the fort, getting himself up and to school, and getting to bed at a reasonable time. Right? Hmmm.

Here is how we would appreciate your prayers :

1. Please pray that the doctors would place the leads in the exact right spot in David's brain. Most of the time the patient is awake and can do simple commands like "lift you right leg" to help the doctors know they've hit the right spot. But they felt like it would be better for David to be asleep and they are confident they can do it right.

2. Please pray that no infection would set in and that he wouldn't catch anything from being in the hospital.

3. Traveling safety.

4. John and Aaron.

5. Harmony and good communication for Marshall, David and me.

6. The the Lord would be honored in our lives and we would be a light for Him.

Thank you so much for joining us in this journey! We appreciate you!

Dayna