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Double Vision

Thursday, March 31, 2005 5:45 PM CST

Hello all, still experiencing computer woes. Borrowing a friend's computer for a quick update.

The good news. Dave has been feeling great since last update. Finally got bored being a house-husband/daddy and went back to work in the afternoons. Seems to be going well, and he's so glad to be back with "his" kids. The administration has been very supportive of Dave, and we're grateful he has such wonderful people to work with/for.

The not-so-good news. Yesterday Dave was fine in the morning, but by noon had double vision. This could be for one of three reasons. 1. Tumor growth. (bad, we don't want this one) 2. Swelling due to the gamma knife. (best option, can usually be controlled with decadron, but can cause lots of problems and may get worse.) 3. Radiation necrosis (not as bad as tumor growth, it means the gamma knife is killing the cells, but the dead/dying tissue is causing problems. If it doesn't get too big/bad, his body will eventually get rid of the dead tissue, but it takes a long time, and the necrosis can cause the same problems as the tumor and sometimes requires surgery to remove. This option is better than tumor growth, but less than ideal.)

So.....I came to school to bring Dave the decadron (he's been off it completely for 2 weeks), and there were three police cars in the parking lot, and three policemen in his room. Talk about adrenaline rush...I was SCARED. Turns out it was an awareness campaign about the dangers of drunk driving. Whew.

Dave took the decadron and within an hour, his double vision had cleared up. This is a fairly positive sign, far from a guarantee, but good.

We called the doc, and they brought Dave right in that afternoon for labs and an MRI. He wasn't scheduled for an MRI until end of April. Now we're waiting on results.

Man, I really HATE waiting. I'm no good at it, and I've had a LOT of practice and it's not getting any easier. Hmmph.

Love you all. KOKO and KP (Keep Praying!)

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