Update from our "Busy Week"

Here's the scoop from our busy week:

Day one of tests - We (Kim, Beckham & Gwen) arrived in Iowa City in the early AM for a retinal exam. The doctors wanted to make sure that Beckham's stroke did not go into his eyes and the best way to do this is by dilating his eyes. The first set of tests went great (except for the grumpy, stingy optometrist student - come on people, don't sign up to work with kids if you have zero skills and tolerance with children) and we were sent away for a half an hour to wait for his eyes to fully dilate. While we were waiting I took the kids to the cafeteria to eat. Beckham's appetite had been lacking previously and when he finally stuck something in his mouth he immediately threw it up. I called his transplant coordinator to let her know about the vomiting (it had been happening for the previous couple of days) and she thought it was best for Beck to see his transplant doctor while we were in Iowa City and scheduled an appointment for later that day. Meanwhile, the kids and I trudged back to the Opthamologist to finish up the eye exam. He gave us great news that Beck's stroke did not go into his eyes and he is also not near or far sighted (I didn't know they could tell that in someone so small - crazy!). After that we headed to the clinic to see Beck's transplant doctor. He looked at Beck and decided that he looked really well except for his ears. We were put on another Rx and sent home (aka - Heather's) for the day.

I know that I have not mentioned how well the kids behaved during all of these appointments, but that is because I don't want to get started on that subject. All I can say is that they were much worse than I anticipated.

Day two of tests - We woke up to an ice storm which delayed our early morning arrival at the hospital by quite a bit. At least I did not have to take Gwen to this appointment (thanks again Heather). After scraping the ice and making it through traffic we arrived at the MRI clinic. The doctors had decided to just use anesthesia and put Beckham right out instead of sedation because of his past history. What a blessing this was and because of that the MRI and MRV took just over an hour. After the MRI & MRV were finished the doctors brought me out a very grumpy, groggy, and stoned Beckham to be wheeled out to the recovery area. As we waited, his neurologist reviewed the MRI results. She actually came in and showed me the scans and compared them with his previous MRI's. The results were very positive. Beckham's bleed is defiantly shrinking and the fluid around the brain is lessoning as well. This now rules out the possibility of hyrocephalis (yeah!). The clots in his brain and neck are also shrinking. They could not see the size of the clots in his brain or neck in the MRI & MRV, but they could see the blood flow around it and that is a positive sign that they are shrinking (and yes they are sadly still there). In fact, after Beck's stroke he had almost no blood flow on the right side of his brain and now there is quite a bit of flow. It is not completly back to normal but that is to be expected. It should take around 6 months for it to return to normal. As for now we will still continue with the Lovenox as Beckham's treatment for his clot and bleed.

The drive home to Des Moines was slow due to the road conditions. I debated on whether or not I should stay another night in Iowa City because of the weather, but soon decided against it. This was probably not the smartest decision because when I was about 20 minutes outside of Des Moines I hit an icy patch on the road, swerved out of control, did a 360 in the freeway, and flew into the median. I immedialy took a deep breath, placed my hand over my heart to will it out of hyper speed, turned and looked at my children's faces, and thanked my Heavenly Father that our lives were spared. After that I was able to put our SUV in 4 wheel drive and drive back onto the freeway and the rest of the way home.

The rest of the week - Nate's parents arrived on Thursday to celebrate Nate's graduation and had a great time with the kids.. It was a wonderful, exciting event for the entire family. Nate's speech went great, and his graduating class surprised us with a monitary donation and other special gifts. We feel so fortunate that Nate was able to attend such a great school with such loving, kind, and very understanding people. We can't thank them enough for all that they have done for our family. At the end of the ceremony the graduates walk up to the stage and are given a nursing pin. A family member is invited to place the pin on the graduate and as I did so (with Beck on my hip, and Gwen being towed behind, her hand in mine) I walked poor little Gwen right into the side of a pole. When we got to the stage she was bawling uncontrolably and her poor forehead was red, with a huge welt in the middle - I know, the "mother of the year" award definaly goes to me! It's alright because it all turned out great in the end.

No pics this time of our Iowa City trip or graduation (I forgot my camera at gradiation - luckily Nate's parents and much more on top of the ball than I am, and brought their camera).

Thank you for your continued prayers and support for our family. I will post pics soon!
-The family Scads