Labor Day

Jack is still experiencing extreme fussiness and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. He is still struggling in school. We will be seeing his neurologist soon and will discuss options at that point. We're hoping he seems some relief soon as he is often not feeling well.

We had quick trip up to the Motherland (Ohio) over Labor Day to visit with Lisa's Aunt Dottie and her sister, Jo, in Ohio. It was a short, but very enjoyable trip. Here are some pictures.

Jack, Caylie and I on Aunt Dottie's porch

Caylie, wondering why she was tied to a post

Jack and his Great Aunt Dottie

Jack and Aunt Jolene

Jack and Scrappy getting ready for a ride in the Polaris

Scrappy decided that he liked Jack a lot

Jack got to take a ride with Aunt Jo

August happenings...

We wanted to share some memorable August events with you but also give everyone an update on how Jack is doing.

Jack has begun 2nd grade and is doing well. He has had one tough day so far but otherwise is faring pretty well. He continues to break down emotionally over little things that didn't use to bother him but I believe is beginning to understand that he can control that. If it continues or gets worse, we will talk to his neurologist about it. His new elementary school, Patriots, is great and they have been very supportive of Jack and we feel very confident that he will have a very good year.

Now, for some pictures....

Mom and Dad came to visit and Jack enjoys a little lap time while Grampy reads the comics.

1st day of 2nd grade!

with appropriate attire

Kris and Shannon's moving day. A sad day for us as Kris moves back to Chapel Hill for his 4th year of med school.

Moving that dadgum treadmill again. I thought that's why I gave it away?

Kris and Jack making their way to the big truck.

Kris and Jack

Jack ready to drive the big U-Haul

A "vacation day" for us as we took Jack to Discovery Place

I swear this child has talent on the drums although I'm not sure we want to promote this. He could be the most famous one-armed drummer of all time.

Jack got to visit with a very large iguana

Summertime....

This summer was unusual in that we didn't have much of an opportunity to have fun. But, with a successful surgery for Jack behind us, we wanted to share a little bit of fun we did have.

Maggie celebrating the 4th (she's thrilled)

Kasi and Shannon singing along with Jack

"We like to move it move it"

Kris lighting a sparkler... CAYLIE wanting to eat the sparkler

Celebrating on the deck

Soon to be newlyweds

A poster from Jack's classmates wishing him well

Another poster from the Criders wishing Jack well

Busy time of year

Sorry it's been so long since our last update but this has been a very busy time for us. I've been doing some traveling for business and Lisa has been taking Jack to a lot of therapy appointments before school starts.

Jack is doing pretty well but remains very fussy most of the time. The hallucinations have pretty much dissipated as best we can tell but he wakes crying most mornings and abruptly changes emotions frequently.

We are concerned about him starting 2nd grade with this going on but we are meeting with school administration and his 2nd grade teacher tomorrow to discuss the upcoming year. We feel confident that they will keep his best interests at heart.

We recently celebrated Shannon's birthday. Here are a couple pictures from her and Kris's visit.

Update on Jack

Not much to report on Jack. I'm home from NY finally but Lisa says that he's about the same. Still having hallucinations. He's still not experienced any seizures but the hallucinations are puzzling. They are not very severe and he can be easily diverted from them.

Otherwise, he is eating and sleeping well and generally in a good frame of mind.

Follow-up visits

We were at Duke yesterday for our follow-up visits with the neurosurgeon and neurologist. Jack also had an EEG done.

The neurosurgeon was very impressed with how well Jack is doing physically. Jack walked a few steps for him and he thought he looked real good considering his surgery was just last month.

We discussed the hallucinations with both doctors and neither really knows the cause of them. The neurologist speculated that it could be something similar to "forced normalization" where the brain reacts to the stoppage of seizures by producing a psychosis or vice versa. He also said it could be just the brain re-balancing from all the trauma of the surgery, the different medicines, etc. He was optimistic that it is a temporary thing and that he should continue to improve.

We also discussed the results of the EEG. His right side looks normal, i.e. no seizures. And interestingly, he can still see the seizures firing away on the left but since the disconnections were made, there's no manifestations of them. Pretty amazing.

And of course, the best part of all, still no seizures since June 2nd. So, we will continue on the one medication for now and hope that the hallucinations subside soon.

Well, we got home late last night, around 8:30. I am packing and heading for NY for 10 days on business. We will talk to you all soon.

Jack is improving

Jack seems to be improving each day as he didn't appear to have any hallucinations today at all. He actually slept 16 hours last night! He complained of a headache tonight but other than that had a very good day. He even did some walking for Mom this afternoon.

Jack is now on only one medication; an anti-seizure med that he has been taking for many months and tolerates well. All other meds were stopped earlier this week. This is pretty amazing considering he was on as many as 6 or 7 at a time at one point.

We're hopeful that he is on the road to a complete recovery.