Moving up Oliver's MRI??

Oliver's next MRI is on September 14th, however, his speech has drastically gone downhill. It's very difficult to understand what he is saying now and sometimes sounds like he's slurring his speech. Just within a matter of two weeks, it's gotten worse. Ed called his doctor down in Iowa City to try and move up his MRI date, but we haven't heard back yet. We just are at a loss for what to do right now. It's so difficult watching his health slowly decline.

I've been wanting to call Hospice because I heard that they're a good resource for different things throughout the medical journey and not just the end. They provide counseling and other things as well as palliative care. We'll talk with them and start meeting with them as well as talk to the doctor and see what he has to say.

**I had a dream about Oliver last night. We were at the airport and then at Disney World, but he wasn't with us. In my dream he had recently passed away. I saw large posters of pictures I'd taken of him lining the walls at the airport and then it hit me that he wasn't there to enjoy his trip with us. It was such a real dream. Too real.

Yesterday Ed and I had Jaren and Phineas with us for lunch at Culver's. I was looking around the restaurant and realized that other people had no idea that we were talking about what to do about our dying child. End of life care... etc. This is our life. This is real and it makes me ill thinking about it. Maybe hospice could provide information about what to do with regards to cemetaries, headstones, funeral services, etc. I just have no clue about all of this and don't want to think about it. One thing I have learned is that you need life insurance for your entire family. No one ever dreams that their child with die before them, but it happens... it IS happening. Make it a priority to talk about it with your spouse. It's nearly 10,000 for a funeral. We only have 2,000 dollars for health insurance. I don't know if there are other ways financially to receive help or not. Maybe hospice would know more. No one wants to think and plan for these things, but you just HAVE to.

Anyways... we'll keep you posted on what we hear from the doctor. As it stands now, September 14th will be his next MRI date.