Update

I know it has been awhile since I updated. We are all doing well. Bryan had his last chemo treatment last Monday, which was exciting. Starting in December he will take a pill for 6 months. Then he will go off all meds and see what happens. Tomorrow he goes for another ear programming. He is hearing much better now, and continues to get better each day. It is stil hard to hear somethings, but much improvement.

He will go for a CT scan in December. The dr wants one done every three months. They do not intend to find anything but have to make sure. He is doing great as far as the illness.

We have been having a great time this fall playing outside and enjoying getting ready for the holidays. We already have the tree up and gifts wrapped. We are all looking forward to Christmas this year.

I will update hopefully later this week about the ear appointment.

A courage strains after the corpse.

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Update

Well it has been a long few weeks. Bryan is doing great! He is getting better and better at hearing, and it is wonderful to be able to talk to him like this again. He is learning to adapt to loud and soft environments. He goes for his next chemo this Friday and then only one more after that. Also he will have his next ear programming on Thursday. I took him to the dentist for his jaw the other day and turns out it is a damaged tooth, so he gets to have a root canal on thursday as well. Yuck! We had a meeting with his rehab last week, and they are going to try and keep him for as long as possible so he gets the full benefit which is great! Also we say the nuerologist and the ctscan showed no new activity which is good. He will have another one in 3 months. So over all Bryan is doing great.

We went to the pumpkin patch this last weekend with some friends of ours, and had a blast. Bryan got to watch Frank play and have a good time, which of course there is nothing better. The three of us are really enjoying our time together. It is great to have all this time together. We carved pumpkins that night, which was fun, although Frank fell asleep on us. He had a big day.

Unfortunately I have been in battle with insurance and all the benefits Bryan had through Brookshire's. Turns out we paid for things that really had no benefit to Bryan. Good advice to everyone ask for the fine print information to all benefits you are offered. Turns out Bryan will not recieve long term disability due to the policy Brookshires chose to take out. So we will only have social security, and of course we are having to pay all insurance out of pocket. So i had to go through all benefits and weed out some. Also i am taking Frank and i off our current insurance and finding more affordable insurance. It turns out that some of our coverages are actually cheaper individually than they were thhrough Brookshires for the exact same plan. So turned out good for some, but frustrates me that all this time we were paying more than we really had to. So as of right now we are waiting for social security to kick in, and Brookshires pay has stopped. But I think I have it all figured out and have all benefits lined out. Hopefully no more surprises will be thrown our way. All of this is just overwhelming, and frustrating. But we will get through it.

Other than all of that we are doing great. We have Bryans appointments this week, and then things slow down for a while. Thank goodness.

Thanks again for all the prayers and thoughts. We love all of you!

Great News!

Bryan can hear!!! The implant is on and working. He still has to work on figuring out how to hear the tv, radio, and on the phone, but he can hear in person. It is awesome.. He was so excited to hear Frank!

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!

Great Weekend and First of week!

Well we are currently sitting in the hospital room waiting for the chemo treatment. I thought I would update on how the weekend went and last night went.

We had a blast on the trian ride. It was raining, but we still were able to enjoy the ride and the stockyard events. Frank loved the train! Bryan need absolutely wonderful walking around everywhere. It is great seeing him getting around so much better now.

Last night we had an awesome time at the Rangers game. We sat right behind Nolan Ryan. And we were so close to the field we could almost touch the players. Bryan was able to get autographs from Nolan Ryan which he loved. And his team won so that was good. The rain held off the whole game so we didn't get wet. It was a wonderful time. Thank you again Mrs. JoAnn for sending us the tickets. You are the best!

We saw the vasculitis dr this morning. He said everything looks good. The rash Bryan got was not due to the vasculitis it was allergic reaction. He thinks seafood caused it, so no more seafood for Bryan for a while. He said however that it is normal in the cooler weather to see the vasculitis rash often times. It is nothing alarming and doesn't mean anything will happen. So that is alot of relief to me. Bryan will go back next month and get another chemo and also a flu shot.

Also I am waiting for a call from the nuerologist to set up a ct scan. They can no longer due MRI 's because of the implant so this is the next best thing. It is just to make sure there is no new activity. And then he will have a follow up with that dr.

And as you can see by the ticker count down, Bryan will get his implant turned on on Sept. 22 which is next tuesday. So very exciting and he is ready.

I will post later this week with pictures and more info if I have any!!

Big week!

Well things are going pretty good. Bryan went to his first post op appointment last Wednesday. The dr said everything looked fine but he wants to leave the stitches in for another two weeks. When Bryan goes back to get the stitches out he will turn the implant on. This is a week early, so very exciting!!! However, Bryan had an allergic reaction to the glue that was used in surgery to put the gauze over the incision. So for over a week now he has been itching and dealing with the rash. It is slowly going away. Then on Thursday he produced another rash on his bady that itches that I believe is an allergic reaction to something he ate possibly. So Bryan has not felt well at all the last two weeks. He is slowly getting better and I believe he will be good to go back to Rehab on Monday. He has his next chemo on Tuesday morning, so hopefully that goes smoothly.

Also tomorrow we are going on a Train Ride in Grapevine. We are taking the grandparents and Frank. Frank is so excited and so are the grandparents. This will be the first time Frank and I have been on a train I know. We will be going from Grapevine to the Fort Worth Stockyards. It is going to be a blast. Then on Monday Bryan and I will be going to the Rangers Game, this is going to be so much fun. Bryan has been looking forward to this for awhile now.

So we have a busy week ahead of us and an exciting one.

I will post pictures from all events sometime next week, so be looking for them!

Surgery is Over!

Tuesday went very smooth. We got there early and they were running early so he went back before the time set. His surgery took about 1 hour. He is doing very well. He has been in pain today, but this evening seems to be doing much better. He got to take off the bandage today, and he wanted to take pictures of the spot. he said he is glad it is all over. If he is feeling good in the morning he will return to Rehab, otherwise he will stay home through the weekend. Here is the incision picture.

Our mini Vacation

When Bryan had his pre op appointment, we decided we would take Frank with us and make it a mini vacation. So we went up the day before and had some fun. We went to the Grapevine Mall and Terrell Outlet. We took Frank to the Rain forest Cafe, which is was terrified of at first. Also he got to ride on a carosel and train. Bryan was able to walk the whole outlet and mall. He found him some cool shoes, and some shirts. So it was a good trip. We had lots of fun as a family. Frank loved the elevator in the hotel, it was glass so he could see while we went up and down. The appointment went fast and easy which was nice. That way we had more time to have fun. Here are some pictures from our trip!

Surgery was today!

We are home of a long day of surgery. Everything went great! He is doing wonderful, very sleepy but not in much pain at all. He has ate a little food and drank liquids. He will have to leave his bandage on for a week til he goes for his 1st post op visit next week. I think he is going to heal wonderfully.

Thanks for all the prayers

Schedule of Events coming up

Well we are on the 8 day count down til surgery. It is getting close. I am both excited and nervous, and Bryan is as well. But I know everything will go great because Bryan and I have faith in God. In order for Bryan to be ready for the big day he has a pre op appointment on Wednesday of this week. They will do all the paper work and blood work needed for the surgery. Since his appointment is early in the morning we decided to go ahead and go up the night before and stay in a hotel. It will be our 3 year anniversary on Tuesday. So it will be fun. Plus we are taking Frank with us and we are going to go to the Magic Time Machine Restaurant. I think we will have a blast. Then his appointment should only take an hour they said. And then we can go find something fun to do as a family for the rest of the day. We will not know the time of his surgery until the day before, the drs office told me that the hospital is just so over jammed with surgeries right now that they are just not able to book times as far in advance as they wish. But that is ok. It doesn't matter what time the procedure is at wee will be there whenever. If he does have a morning surgery we will be going to stay with my parents the night before so that we can drop off Frank at my grandmothers on our way to Dallas that morning. That way Bryan gets to see Frank before he has surgery. And Frank will be able to play with his best bud Trevor the whole day. My mom is going to ride up to Dallas with us so that will be a big help to me on the way back for sure. I believe I have everything planned out to the minute for this to go smooth, and get Bryan taken care of and make sure he is as comfortable with it as possible. I am imaging, since I have seen his list of meds for after surgery, that he will probably miss rehab the day after due to recovery. But you never know he could just bounce out of it and be ready to go. We will see. He will have his first post appointment on the 9th. And I am hoping if the spot is healing properly they might try and see if it will work. But we will have to see. In most cases it takes a full 4 weeks before it starts to work. But it would be awesome for him to be able to hear when we go to the baseball game the week after that. I know he would be excited about that. Also his chemo will be on the 15th this month, due to the fact that his ear has to be completely healed before he can have the medicine. So hopefully it is healed by then. And from now on every month the chemo will be in the middle of the month instead of the first of the month. Also he is suppose to go in September to have another MRI but they are trying to figure some things out with the fact he will have the implant, that make MRI's a little more complicated than usual. So once I get that date I will post it.

This is going to be a busy month for our family. We have Bryan getting his implant, Frank starting Mothers Day out again, and starting his Kindermusik again. And I am about to start my second class. So we will stay busy but have a blast at the same time.

Please pray for Bryan and pray that everything goes as smoothly as planned. He has a wonderful team that is working on him, and I have worked with the wonderful staff as well as the dr to get to this point. I have complete faith in his dr and his team. I know they will make sure my sweetheart is taken care of when he is under there care, and I know God will be sitting next to Bryan the whole time. I feel very good about this. And Bryan is ready. So now all that is left is for us all to send God praise for the good he has done and will do, and pray for fast recovery.

Update on how to get email of updates

Ok I have done some research and it seems that I had the wrong application on here for everyone to get emails when I update. So Now you will see a bar with SUBSCRIBE in it, if you will roll the mouse over the bar it will pop up a screen, you can subscribe through many things including your email. Just follow the steps when you click on what ever you want to use. If you have any problems please send me an email and I will email you. Thanks!

Bryans monthly Meeting

Yesterday Bryan had his monthly meeting at the rehab facility. It went very well. And was not even close to as long as the others have been. They said that he is doing alot better with his memory. He is doing really well with remembering what he does on the weekends when asked on Mondays. Also he is doing better at remembering what they do there from day to day. They said he is doing great at remember different signs they use to talk with him. He doesn't seem to want to use them at home, but at home we have kinda made up our own signs for things. It is good though that they are able to have a way to communicate things with him without having to write it out. Physically he is doing great. Still some balance issues but most of the time he is able to self correct and catch himself. Also he is starting to remember what he needs to do in his fitness workout sessions and just goes straight to working without prompts which is great. He has been moved to a new group. The group he is in now works with more complex cognitive skills. They said he is doing really well in the group.

Once he gets the implants they will start auditory therapy with him to get the implants working. The therapy will reteach him how to hear sounds and develop words out of the sounds. This is going to be great for him.

Other than that he is doing great this week. Seems to be really getting good at using the computer. He is using yahoo messenger alot. If anyone has a screen name you should add him and talk to him sometime on there. His screen name is bryanlm68.

Thats all for now!

Fun over the weekend!

On Saturday we decided to have some fun outside. Bryan got on his swim trunks and I put Franks on and they got in the pool together. They had so much fun splashign around. It is so great to see Bryan be able to do this with Frank. Such a simple task for most, but for Bryan this is such an accomplishment from even a month ago. I know Bryan had a blast playing with Frank. Frank loves it when Bryan comes outside with him. and thank goodness we have so much shade in our backyard that Bryan is able to spend alot of time outside. Here are some pictures from the afternoon of fun. Enjoy!

Hello To All!

I decided that I would start a blog for Bryan. I think this is a great way to now communicate with everyone and to update everyone. This will give anybody who wants to know what is going on in Bryan's life a chance to get information. Also eventually this will give Bryan a place to update people on how he is doing when he can. I encourage everyone to subscribe to this blog, that way everytime there is a update you will get an email. Also please feel free to leave comments on updates to Bryan. I am going to save this page to his computer that way anytime he wants to get on and look at it he can.

Thanks to everyone again for all the prayers and thoughts you are sending our way.

Jennifer