We have just passed 13 months since David first entered the hospital, and it seems like 20 years have passed. We have learned so much, but we still have so much to learn.
A quick medical update first: David had a doctor’s appointment last week. This was not an official MRI visit, but they asked him to participate in a research MRI to study the levels of sodium in his brain. They believe there may be some correlation between active tumor growth and the sodium levels. It’s a painless procedure, and David wanted to participate, so he did. We were told only that there was “nothing aggressive” looking at this time. We’ll take that, thank you very much!
His doctor also told us that David’s results to date were presented at a medical conference just recently. She was very pleased to be able to present those results, and it sounds like he is doing better than most everyone else. While I wish this vaccine was something that just magically worked on everyone, we are beyond thankful that it is working on David, and we prayerfully hope that they will figure out why it has been helping David so they can figure out how to help others.
David is about 10 months into the vaccine at this point, and it is a two year study. So we are very happy with his progress, but we have a substantial way to go. Please pray that he will continue to respond so positively to the vaccine and that they will be able to use this as a jumping off point to bring this vaccine to others who are suffering from this disease.
David did have a minor set-back after the last vaccine. He always has a little fatigue, but this time it seemed a bit worse and was accompanied by a fever. He only attended school for a few hours on the day after the shot, and then had to go to his dad’s and rest. After a nap and some Tylenol/Motrin, he felt much better and his fever disappeared.
We had thought we would be staying in Virginia with him and Austin since he wasn’t feeling well, but by 4:30 pm, he said he felt great, so off we went! We had a really fun time in Miami, FL with them – in spite of a fair amount of rain. We bought some new school clothes thanks to money their grandfather sent them, and we went to a small zoo. They had some cool hands-on time with the animals, and went back to Virginia with some cool pics to share. (Pics are on Facebook if you are interested.)
They also got to attend the opening reception of the Apple Specialist Marketing Corp’s event. Lots of our friends from work haven’t had a chance to meet David & Austin, so it was fun to be able to introduce them. It was also nice for them to see friends that they met in past years. Most couldn’t believe how grown up David and Austin are now!
The kids have re-named their brain tumor research organization. It is now called “Spotless Mind”. Same kids, same cause, just a new name. They have a logo contest running through the end of October, so if you know any artsy kids, please encourage them to enter.
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