Birthday Celebration!

Hello everyone!! Thank you to all of you who helped make Dylan's birthday celebration SPECIAL!! We really enjoyed being able to see everyone! Dylan was a little less than happy that day...he was a little cranky....but we still had a lot of fun! As you can see in one of the pics, he fell asleep for most of the party :) He also cried, a lot, when we sang Happy Birthday :( Maybe he will enjoy his 2ND birthday a little more! Nonetheless, a good time was had by all and we were blessed by everyone who joined us for the celebration!! Dylan was also blessed with enough presents to last him for AT LEAST the next year!! I was overwhelmed with the outpouring of gifts--THANK YOU!! You guys definitely spoiled him :) If anyone has any pictures from the day, please email them to me, I would love to have them!

We love you!! Have a great weekend!

Love, The Praskins

Day +116....never a dull moment around here

Hello!! Well, we saw a specialist on Monday and he verified that Dylan definitely had glaucoma. The only problem was that he could not check the pressure in D's eyes because he is a wiggle worm :) So we scheduled an appointment to get the pressure tested under anesthesia. That brings us to today. I DREAD anesthesia days. They are not fun, especially for Dylan. But, he was a trooper as always, and did VERY well with not eating for 6 hours. He really does make me so proud :) After checking the pressure in Dylan's eye, along with examining it, the doctor found some major concerns. Dylan's glaucoma is bad. He said that his right optic nerve is severely damaged. He told us that it like his eyeball is a computer and his optic nerve is the computer cord. He can have a perfectly functioning computer, but if the power cord is damaged or broken, then the computer cannot function properly. Dylan's "cord" is not doing so well. His left optic nerve is also damaged, but just not as badly. We now have D on two sets of drops. These drops minimize the pressure that is in his eye and will hopefully bring it down below normal levels so we can avoid surgery. There is no way to tell how his damaged nerves are going to affect his eye sight just yet. Only time will tell. The doc said that we will not know the extent of damage until Dylan is 3 or 4 years old. Most of the time, the most damage is done to the eyes peripheral vision. One good thing is that in some cases, the damage can be slightly reversed with treatment. THIS IS OUR PRAYER! Please pray that the drops are sufficient enough to bring down the pressure and that his optic nerves have a chance to re-coop and get strong. In cases where adults get glaucoma, the damage is irreversible....but kids are a whole other story, and for this, we are truly thankful!! We are not going to stress out about things that are beyond our control-I HAVE NO CONTROL!! (I have to repeat this to myself quite often! ha!) We are trusting that the Lord is going to keep D in His arms and will take care of him. On a GREAT note, we also went to Tucson for Dylan's monthly appointment on Wednesday! ALL GOOD NEWS!! All of his levels are great and there are no red flags.............YAY FOR GOOD REPORTS!! They had a little birthday party for him at the clinic and he was able to see his girlfriend Abby!! Abby is doing really well now too! She went through 10 sessions of radiation and it killed all of the intruding cancer cells! Now she is under strict watch to make sure they do not try to come back and make a home in her cute little body. She LOVES Dylan! It is quite hilarious!! She will do anything to touch him, grab him, or squeeze him! I love seeing those two together! LIFE is such a blessing, and when I see Dylan and Abby together, it is just an amazing picture of what God can do! AMAZING! Two little ones who, statistically, were not expected to be here today.........God is AWESOME!
Tomorrow, our little guy is going to be 1!! Is that even possible? Although there were days this year that seemed like they lasted a month....this year has really flown by! To think that one year ago today, I was on my way to my 36 week appointment with Erik.....only to find out that we were going to meet our little boy in less than 24 hours........WOW! He is such a blessing and has changed our lives FOREVER!! Thank you for your continued prayers and support. You guys are an amazing support group and we are forever thankful for you for journeying with us! And just when we think everything is going to be smooth sailing....SURPRISE!! The journey is not over yet! I hope everyone has an amazing weekend and we look forward to seeing everyone at Dylan's birthday bash on Sunday!! We love you!

Loving life, no matter what the obstacles,
The Praskins

Day +211....a little bump in the road

Hey guys! These are always the posts that I do not like writing; bad news posts. This past week Dylan's eyes have been 'leaking' almost all day long. This has been something that we were used to, but it seemed to get worse this week. Along with the extra tears, came redness in his eyes. We attributed these symptoms to allergies, because it seemed like everyone's allergies were out of control. Then, yesterday, his left eye seemed to get worse....really red. I put him down for his afternoon nap hoping that it would go away a little bit and tried not to make a big deal of it. When he woke up, it was worse. I called Dr. G and told him about the redness. I only got worried because that is how Abby's leukemia came back. And it started as a redness in her eye. He told me to try to get an emergency appointment, just in case anything was going on, but he did not think that it could be anything bad. I called down to the pediatric opthomologist and told them about D's past with cancer and they promptly got me to see the doc for the last appointment. I really believe that the Lord gives mothers an intuition that only he could give. Before his nap that day, I was not really worried or even too alarmed at his red eye. But then everything changed...and I FREAKED OUT! And I know that was at God's prompting...maybe NOT the freaking out, but the wisdom to get him checked that day!
When we got to the doctor, we had no idea what he was going to find. These days, we never know what is going to happen. The only words we were yearning to hear was....ITS NOT CANCER. After his examination, he had a very concerned look on his face and I held back the tears as much as I could, even though they were already streaming down my face as kissed Dylan's head over and over. Then the words came, "It's NOT the Leukemia!"....PRAISE GOD!!! Well, if it was not the leukemia, then what WAS it? Why was he so concerned? He then began to tell us that he believes that Dylan has Glaucoma, and severe nearsightedness. Glaucoma?? I never even knew kids could get that! Glaucoma is caused from pressure in the eye, causing it to swell. He described Dylan's eye as a tire that has been pumped up to the max. If it goes untreated or is caught too late, then it can cause blindness and also severe nerve damage. We are still unsure if Dylan has had this from birth, or if it is a side effect of the steroids he has been on for 7 months. The steroids can cause the eye to swell, but he has been on very small amounts for the past 2 months, so they do not know if that is causing it. The doctor that saw us was not a glaucoma specialist and he did not have the tools to measure the pressure in his eye, but he was convinced by what he saw and Dylan's symptoms that glaucoma is the diagnosis. We are going to see a specialist this week and will hopefully be able to get some more information on what we need to do to help Dylan. They may have to put him under anesthesia (nothing new to D) in order to get the measurements they need, and get a final diagnosis. At this time, nothing is for certain and we do not know specifics. We hope to get more answers this week. Please pray for us as this is just another setback in our efforts to "live a normal life". We know that the Lord has a plan in everything, and He is leading us and with us, on every step of our journey. Please pray for our family as we take this little detour on our road to recovery. It is hard not to think ahead of what 'could happen' or 'worst case scenarios'. We need to focus on today, knowing that God will take care of tomorrow. Please pray for baby D that he is not in any pain or discomfort. We thank you all for continuing this journey with us and we will update as soon as we find out any new information! We love you guys! Oh, and one more thing.....Dylan is going to be a year old next friday!! CRAZY!! We are so excited to celebrate with everyone!

Walking by faith,
The Praskins