Sunday April 30th
Greetings from the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of Summer Memorial Hospital in Sacramento:
The last few days have been rough. After Kyler's surgery we have had one or both of us by his bed round the clock trying our best to help him be as comfortable as possible. He is in a lot of pain and does not like being in the hospital anymore. His grandpa Haskins spent the night with him on Saturday and Kyler was begging him to get him out of there.
The successful removal of the tumor has been a great relief to us and we can't thank you enough for your prayers during his surgery.
The follow-up MRI on Friday was positive confirming the doctor's visual inspection during the surgery. We are still waiting for the results from the lab to find out specifically what the tumor was. That information will determine the course of treatment for the future. At first we were thinking, "Great - tumor gone. Problem solved." Apparently it's not that simple. There will be some combination of radiation and chemotherapy in the days ahead. One doctor indicated that it might mean six weeks of radiation every day (except weekends). We just don't know what's ahead.
Additionally, the tumor created a condition called hydrocephalus (water on the brain) that we are waiting to see whether or not it will go away on its own or require a permanent shunt to drain off the excess fluid and keep the pressure at the appropriate level. If he has to have the shunt it would mean he couldn't play football or wrestle.
He is still seeing double. He has to wear an eye patch and switch it to the other eye every two hours. We don't know if that will fix itself or if that will require a medical procedure.
On a positive note, since his surgery they have had to drain less fluid every day from his brain and they have raised the pressure threshold and he has been able to handle it. He has also been able to keep just about all the food down that he has eaten. They have switched him to morphine because the last medication wasn't quite doing enough. The down side is that the morphine increases nausea and can make you itch. This prompted them to add benadryl for the itch and something else for the nausea. I can't hardly believe how many drugs can go into one little body.
By far the best medicine for him has been his big brother, Kendrick. Kyler comes alive when Kendrick arrives. They talk and look at Pokemon cards and play with the army of stuffed animals at the foot of his bed. When Kendrick is gone, Kyler wants to know when he is coming back. Kyler likes having people around. When all the grandparents and mom and Kendrick left the night I stayed with him, he wanted to know why we were alone and where everyone had gone. I made the mistake of stepping out of the room one time without telling him I was going to answer the phone and that I would be right back (the nurse was in there with him at the time). When I got back he was crying because he thought he had been left alone.
Please continue to pray about the results from the biopsy, the hydrocephalus, and the eye problem.
Things are not getting any easier yet. As I was finishing this e-mail, my mom, who is here with me, just got a phone call that her mother-in-law (my grandma Haskins) has about two weeks to live. She has leukemia and her body can no longer handle the blood transfusions so they are going to just make her as comfortable as possible. Our family is really going through it right now. I'm relying on all of you to continue to pray for us. I don't know how we would be able to handle it otherwise.
Again, please feel free to forward this to others you have gathered to partner with you in praying for us.
Blessings,
Darrell Haskins
Lead Pastor
The Foundry
The last few days have been rough. After Kyler's surgery we have had one or both of us by his bed round the clock trying our best to help him be as comfortable as possible. He is in a lot of pain and does not like being in the hospital anymore. His grandpa Haskins spent the night with him on Saturday and Kyler was begging him to get him out of there.
The successful removal of the tumor has been a great relief to us and we can't thank you enough for your prayers during his surgery.
The follow-up MRI on Friday was positive confirming the doctor's visual inspection during the surgery. We are still waiting for the results from the lab to find out specifically what the tumor was. That information will determine the course of treatment for the future. At first we were thinking, "Great - tumor gone. Problem solved." Apparently it's not that simple. There will be some combination of radiation and chemotherapy in the days ahead. One doctor indicated that it might mean six weeks of radiation every day (except weekends). We just don't know what's ahead.
Additionally, the tumor created a condition called hydrocephalus (water on the brain) that we are waiting to see whether or not it will go away on its own or require a permanent shunt to drain off the excess fluid and keep the pressure at the appropriate level. If he has to have the shunt it would mean he couldn't play football or wrestle.
He is still seeing double. He has to wear an eye patch and switch it to the other eye every two hours. We don't know if that will fix itself or if that will require a medical procedure.
On a positive note, since his surgery they have had to drain less fluid every day from his brain and they have raised the pressure threshold and he has been able to handle it. He has also been able to keep just about all the food down that he has eaten. They have switched him to morphine because the last medication wasn't quite doing enough. The down side is that the morphine increases nausea and can make you itch. This prompted them to add benadryl for the itch and something else for the nausea. I can't hardly believe how many drugs can go into one little body.
By far the best medicine for him has been his big brother, Kendrick. Kyler comes alive when Kendrick arrives. They talk and look at Pokemon cards and play with the army of stuffed animals at the foot of his bed. When Kendrick is gone, Kyler wants to know when he is coming back. Kyler likes having people around. When all the grandparents and mom and Kendrick left the night I stayed with him, he wanted to know why we were alone and where everyone had gone. I made the mistake of stepping out of the room one time without telling him I was going to answer the phone and that I would be right back (the nurse was in there with him at the time). When I got back he was crying because he thought he had been left alone.
Please continue to pray about the results from the biopsy, the hydrocephalus, and the eye problem.
Things are not getting any easier yet. As I was finishing this e-mail, my mom, who is here with me, just got a phone call that her mother-in-law (my grandma Haskins) has about two weeks to live. She has leukemia and her body can no longer handle the blood transfusions so they are going to just make her as comfortable as possible. Our family is really going through it right now. I'm relying on all of you to continue to pray for us. I don't know how we would be able to handle it otherwise.
Again, please feel free to forward this to others you have gathered to partner with you in praying for us.
Blessings,
Darrell Haskins
Lead Pastor
The Foundry
| 10:57 PM
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