Surgery is set!

Well surgery is set for June 10th, this is where they will open his head, remove his skull, place the grid on his brain and then put his skull back on and wrap him shut! Then on June 17th he will have his second surgery where she will have all the documentation that she needs to remove the part of the brain that is causing all the seizures! Sounds pretty simple...right? We are very excited to get this done and PRAY like heck that this is the answer to our prayers!!! Today we met with Dr. Tanaka and she is just so confident that this is going to be it! We just LOVE her and trust her!! Mitch will be in ICU from June 10-19 and then moved to a room and we hope to be home by the 22nd or so. Mitch really is taking all this news well and we are very proud of him and how honest he is with Dr. Tanaka, He really doesn't feel good and he really wants to feel better. Thank you all so much for all the prayers and encouraging words for us, we truly wouldn't be able to get through this without you all! Love you all and PLEASE Dear Lord guide Dr. Tanaka's gentle hands over my baby, let her remove the damaged brain and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let this be the last one. I want nothing more than to have my baby boy happy and feeling great!! AMEN

Getting Closer to Surgery!

This ole World just continues to go by so fast. When we found out Mitch was going to have surgery back in Feburary we thought that it seemed so far away and now Mitch is all done with his classes and ready to head to a couple Royals games in May and then here we come Columbia! They did call last week and change his appointment from May 2 to May 9, Dr was out of town on the 2nd! Then they called back the next day and wanted to get Mitch "in the books" for surgery, so right now his TENATIVE date for surgery is June 10th. This will all get finalized on the 9th of May when we meet with surgeon! We continue to pray that this surgery will be the answer to our MANY prayers and Mitch will finally feel better. Thank you all so much for the continued prayers and support you have given us through this journey. We really do appreciate them all. Last week was a whirlwind week and our hearts were broke a couple times as a couple of my cousins went through the worst days of their life. Please say a quick prayer for my Cousin Eileen Love and her family as her husband was killed in a motorcycle accident and she laid him to Rest a day after their 30th wedding anniversary. My Cousin Jaime Andrews and her husband's 11 year old son was killed on Monday. It was a week of heartache and many tears shed for both of them this week. I pray for comfort for both of these families to find peace in their new NORMAL life. Please remember life is fragile and give lots of love and hugs as you never know at the beginning of one day what the ending will be! Thank you all and I will keep you all posted on what we find out the 9th. Love you all more than you will ever know!!!!! Theresa

Here We Go Again!

We made it safe to Columbia and back home again! Mitch had a 3D MRI and a Functional MRI yesterday and then we met with the surgeon. Right now the plan is to go back and see her on May 2nd to set up surgery. Mitch really wanted to wait until classes are over for this semester before he had surgery and that was just fine with her and us. He needs to go for a functional CT scan now and that will tell her how much scar tissue he has between his skull and dera! She is wanting to place the grid higher on his head this time and she really THINKS she can get rid of the seizures but she CANNOT guarantee that, just hopes so! We continue to trust their decision and pray like crazy that this will work. Mitch is VERY disappointed but he also just wants to feel better. It is a lot different this time as we all kinda know what to expect and we all know that it must be very hard to have your head chopped on as much as he has had! We really appreciate all the wonderful words, hugs and prayers Mitch and us are getting. You will never know how much they all truly do help. So I think we are probably looking at the end of May or first of June he will enter back in the hospital have his skull removed and a gird placed on his brain and they will watch the activity for at least a week, maybe two and then they will remove that part of the brain. He will be in ICU all the time but they are very flexible with healthy visitors and we sure enjoy all we get! Thanks for all the prayers and please keep them coming. Love you all, Theresa

Here we go again!

Well we are back from another trip to Columbia. So the new plan now is for Mitch to enter back into the hospital and reopen his skull, in a different place and put the grid on in a different place and remove some more of the brain that is causing all the trouble. We just continue to pray that the Doctors can help him feel better and get rid of those darn seizures. Mitch isn't very thrilled with this news but we just continue to remind him of all the support he has and prayers that are coming his way. I still remind him that as long as they have a plan, just maybe someday he will be all fixed up and feel tons better! He will go back on January 26 to do a MRI of his brain and then we meet with the surgeon on March 21 to set up a date to do this. We are in no hurry and would love to see Mitch get done with school for the semester before we do anything. Also he is pretty pumped because he got some Royal tickets to use in April too. I am thinking it will be May or June before they do this but we will just have to see what they think! Thanks so much for the continued prayers we really do appreciate them ALL!! There are so many babies, teens and adults that need so many prayers right now and we continue to pray for all of you. Sometimes life just don't seem very fair for any of us but please everyone, remember to count your blessings, hug your babies and tell your loved ones you LOVE them all dearly as often as you can, you just never know how long any of us will be here! God Bless you all and thanks so much for hanging in there with us on this journey. LOVE YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!!!!!!!

WOW!!!!!

Well we are back from Columbia and WOW! Dr. Lanigar will meet with the team of epileptic Drs. and they will decide our next plan of action. He wonders, only WONDERS, if Mitch should go back in the hospital and have his skull reopened and put probes, instead of the grids, in his brain and they can put them deeper and find another spot that they can take out to help him with his seizure activity. Mitch is pretty bummed and he feels like we are back at square one:( can't lie I am pretty sad-scared of this whole process too! Just hate seeing my baby so sad! Dr. Lanigar really feels like the Vagas Nerve Stimulator is an option but he is afraid with all his activity he still is having that it won't get rid of it all. He really isn't sure that if we do both of these options that it will get rid of them all but he thinks it will knock out alot of them. So it will be up to Dr. Tanaka, she has been inside his head once and she will know if any or all of this is possible. We go back to the see Dr. Lanigar on January 12th and until then we will just keep praying! We lost a very dear friend this week, that worried about Mitch, and I just know that she will have a talk with God and she will tell him "Enough, Mitch has had ENOUGH"!! Rest In Peace my dear friend, Barbara Jean, we Love and Miss you so much already and I can't wait for the day when I will see you again! Thank you all so much for the prayers and please just keep them coming for a while longer! Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving and are ready for Santa! Love you all so much!

Columbia Bound!

Well it's October 12th and Mitch and I have the car packed and ready to go to University of Missouri Hospital for a week stay! We are ready to tackle whatever they throw at us and we know we have Lots of support with all of you and that helps us tons. We will know when we leave the hospital if he will have the Vagus Nerve Stimulation device or not, so that is a blessing and we are so ready for Mitch to feel better. He is kinda nervous about the testing because he is afraid with the Blue October we are in, that he may have a few more seizures and his blood pressure may be alittle HIGH! He was VERY excited today with the game and he is even more excited for Wednesday's game. He has his Royal Prayer Shawl, His Royal blanket, thanks Grandma Susie and Papa Jerry, a new Royals sign, thanks to Kayse Wiederholt, and all his gear packed and ready to go. Now if the Men in Blue can just finish this without making it such an exciting game and just go ahead and score 20 runs in the first inning, we would really appreciate it:)! I will update tomorrow when we are all settled in and please if you are in Columbia area stop and chat with us!!! Well I need to get off to bed for a couple hours so I can get up and hit the highway to healing my baby. Thanks so much for all the continued prayers and for helping us get through this darn ride we are on. Please say a prayer for a dear friend of mine and her son as their momma-grandma passed away yesterday, They miss her terribly! She LOVED the Royals and I just know she was chewing their butts, like the rest of us, and helped them win the game today. RIP Grandma Dorothy, I will miss all your beautiful crocheting you did for me and all the fun visits! Love to you all, Theresa

Six month checkup!

Well Mitch had his six month checkup today with Dr. Tanaka! She is an awesome Dr. and we absolutely LOVE her. She walked in the room with a great big smile on her face and looked right at Mitch and said, "SO Mitch, how's that Donkey Brain doing?" We just all cracked up and she told us she has had alot of fun with the Donkey Brain certificate that she made him and she even uses it in her classes:)! She proceeded on to tell us that she has already talked to Dr. Lanigar and she has seen his EEG so she knows all about the activity. The plan didn't change any and Mitch will enter the hospital on October 13th and she said plan to stay a week but she is sure that his "Donkey Brain" will get us out of their sooner than that! She will come see us in the hospital and IF Mitch needs the device than she will set it up then and she will be the one doing it, which made us happy! Mitch wasn't real excited about another surgery but she told him that it was an outpatient thing and he would only be at the hospital for a couple hours so that made it alittle better, I hope!!! Thank you all for all the continued prayers, we really do appreciate them! Love you all, David, Theresa and Mitch