Catching Up

I'm in the process of blogging about several different things that have been going on, but wanted to quickly let everyone know how Ollie is doing. We weaned him off the steroid and he was doing pretty good for about two weeks when he started struggling again especially having troubles swallowing and difficulty with his balance. We talked to his doctor about it and he is now back on the steroid. It's been difficult seeing his personality changing and that he cries and worries a lot more about small things. He's been having fun none-the-less. I've noticed more and more that he limps a bit more now and his depth perception is off. He loves shooting hoops inside and playing catch whether with a baseball or football, but he's having troubles making baskets and catching at times and it is driving him crazy and often times the anger turns into tears and frustration. We try to focus on the things that he can still do. His last treatment was February 11th and he will be having an MRI on Wednesday down in Iowa City to see if the tumor has shrunk or not. Tomorrow we are meeting the father of a sweet little girl named Sadie, who battled DIPG, the same thing that Oliver is facing right now. He has traveled to Iowa from Utah for business and will be meeting with us tomorrow night. I talked to Sadie's mom, Tiffany, on the phone about a week ago and was able to feel peace and strength from her. It's nice to talk to others who have been where we find ourselves now. We are looking forward to meeting him and asking him some questions. Please keep these other families in your prayers as well as you continue to pray for us. Each family is in a different place along their journey with DIPG and they still need our prayers to be able to find strength when the times get unbearable. I've had a rough couple of weeks so I haven't been posting as much.