May 20

The doctor put a tube in my chest so they could put the medicine in it and I don't have to have a needle in my arm. 

I am GOING HOME FOR THE WEEKEND that makes me very HAPPY. I will get to be in MY own HOUSE, in MY OWN ROOM AND be with MY SISSY, Macy.

May 26th, 

Yesterday my friends and family had a barbeque in Branson, MO. It was really nice. I played with my cousins and friends and with my new puppy. Her name is SASSY. She is a black lab. I really love her. She is so neat. Today me and my Mom and Dad will fly from Springfield, MO. to Memphis, TN to St Jude's Hospital. We will be meeting with the Doctors tomorrow morning to talk about my treatment.

May 27th:

    We met the doctors to day at St. Judes. They are really nice. We have decided to stay here for my radiation and chemo treatments. I have to have more pictures taken tomorrow and another test the next day. My treatments will probably begin on Monday. My mom and dad feel that this is the best place for me and that they have the best doctors in the nation. This is a very nice place and it is good to see all the kids around here. I'm tired now and I'm going to rest. Talk to you tomorrow!

May 28th:

I just got back to my room.  It has been a long day.  I had to have pictures taken of my head called a MRI. I was able to take a nap during the MRI.  I was not able to eat all day so when I got back to my room I chowed down on some mac & cheese.  I have to have some more pictures taken tomorrow and a mask of my head made for my radiation treatments which should begin on Monday.  Talk to you later!  

May 29:

Today was another long day.  With the treatment I am going on, the doctors have to run several tests to make sure everything is ok.  I started out the day with pictures of my knees, and then they looked inside my belly and they called that an ultrasound.  I had to make my mask today that will be used for my radiation treatments.  I got to take another nap though.  My mom said this lasted about 2 hours.  Then after not eating since last night, I finally got to eat lunch.  I had spaghetti, baked beans, corn bread, and peach cobbler.  (I kind of ate off everybody's plate)  I did have some fun today.  They had arts and crafts where I made some funny masks.  I had to go meet the doctor after that.  He said everything looked about the same and that we will begin treatments on Tuesday.  I have another full day tomorrow and then we might come home for a couple days.  I am really missing my Sassy dog.  And my sister too...... 

May 30th:

Today was a long day. I had an MRI of my spine, thats my backbone. The Dr. said the test came out great. No problems. I'm going home for the weekend and have to be back Monday for more tests. I will start having treatments called radiation and chemo Tuesday. It's supposed to make me get better. I am so excited because I get to see my Sister and Sassy and my friends. I will probably sleep most of the way home in the car cause I'm really tired. I'll talk to you next week....

June 2nd:

I am back at St Jude's today after spending a couple of days at home with my Sassy and sissy.  It was nice to sleep in my own bed.  We got up really early this morning and drove to the hospital.  I had to meet with my dr and give them some more blood.  Then I met the Chaplain Mark.  We colored some pictures and two of my pictures are taped to his filing cabinet.  Then he prayed with me, my mommy, and my daddy to ask Jesus to help make me feel better and be brave.  The dr said everything was ok and I will begin treatments early in the morning.  I also asked Jesus to help the medicine work.  Later....  

June 3rd:

I just got back from the hospital a little while ago.  We have moved into a new place down here.  It is really nice.  I even have my own room.  It is called The Target House.  Today was my first day to getting better.  I took my chemo first thing this morning and then I did my radiation after that.  I have to do the radiation 5 days a week for 6 weeks.  My mommy gives me the chemo every morning 7 days a week for up to 2 years.  They also took a lot of blood.  Mommy and Daddy tell me they need my blood so they can run tests on it so maybe it will help other sick kids.  I also got to go see a lady called a physical therapist.  She played neat games with me to help me with my balance.  I think my daddy wanted to stay there and play games.  I had a good dinner this evening and now I am ready for bed.  I have another full day tomorrow.  Thank you for all the kind words and prayers.  Good night!   

June 4th:

Just finished up with my day.  This was a tough day for me.  I started the day off by puking in my dads new truck.  I told him I was sorry and he said no big deal.  He would clean it up.  Then I had my radiation.  I take a nap during this so when I am finished I am very hungry.  I ate some chicken noodle soup.  Then I had to take my chemo.  I got choked on it and I puked again.  So I had to take it again.  I was able to keep it down this time.  Then I met with the dr to let him look at me.  He is an Austrailian named Dr. Nick.  He is really funny and I like him a lot.  While we were waiting Chaplain Mark came to see us and prayed with my family.  My Papa Dale and Grammy came to see me and stay with us for a few days.  Since I was tired and not feeling good we decided to go back to our room and rest.  I think I am going to watch some movies. 

June 5th:

Today was another one of those days.  I started the day off puking.  I did my radiation this morning and my chemo this afternoon.  I am really tired today.  The drs thought that since I was so tired they wanted to watch me overnight.  I am in ICU right now so that they can look after me tonight to make sure everything is ok.  When you do radiation it makes the tumor mad.  When it is irritated it will begin pushing on the nerves in my head making me unstable, weak, and my speech is not real good.  They have increased my steroid dosage to help with the swelling and these symptoms.  The drs say that most of the time the symptoms will get worse before they get better.  Hopefully I can go back to my apartment tomorrow.  The bad news is that I won't be able to come home this weekend for the dinner.  The drs think I should stay close to the hospital to make sure everything is ok.  I'll talk to you later...... 

June 7th:

Skyler is not up to writing tonight.  This is Ryan, Skylers dad, with an update.  We were not able to write yesterday because Skyler had to have surgery to put in a shunt to relieve pressure in his head.  This decision was made late in the afternoon due to his condition not getting better over the past couple of days.  They put the shunt in, but did not like how it was positioned so they went back in late last night to reposition it.  He got out of surgery around 1 am.  It is in its proper place now and doing what it is supposed to do.  Skyler is in fair condition today and is still in ICU to be monitored.  He has been tired all day.  He is alert at times but has trouble waking up and speaking.  They did put a tube into his stomach to give him his medicines due it being difficult for him to swallow.  We are praying that he becomes more alert tomorrow after a good nights rest.  We have had reports of a tremendous turnout at the dinner/auction this evening.  We are sorry that we were not able to be there.  We are very blessed to be surrounded by such a great community.  We appreciate all the prayers that are being lifted up for him.  Melissa and I cannot say Thank You enough to all the people that have supported us in so many ways through this difficult time.  Thank You and God Bless!     

June 8th:

I first off want to say THANK YOU to everybody that took part in and helped work the auction last night.  I have heard that there was several people there.  Thank You to all the people that walked in the Relay for Life Friday night in honor of Skyler.  There are also several other people that we want to thank for the cards and donations that we have received over the past several weeks.  We are very blessed to live in a community like we do.  Today was a better day!  Skyler was more alert today and not quite as drowsy.  He is able to comprehend and respond to what we are saying.  The drs will ask him to do something and he will do it.  He is having a difficult time speaking though.  He points to what he wants and if anything is hurting.  He has been awake a majority of the day.  They did do another ct to make sure the shunt was still in place and working properly and it is.  Tomorrow we will begin radiation again.  The drs say that it is possible that the tumor could swell some more and symptoms could get worse before they get better.  It usually takes 1-2 weeks of radiation before it should take effect and start to shrink.  We are praying that this is our turning point.  Continue to pray for a miracle.  

June 9th:

Today was another pretty good day.  It was a pretty calm day with not a lot going on.  We started off the day with radiation.  Then we met with the speech therapist and they gave Skyler some drinks of water.  Chaplain Mark came by and played with Skyler for a little bit.  They made a paper butterfly that Skyler drew on.  They have started giving Skyler Ensure to get something in his belly.  He has not ate anything since last Tuesday night.  He is in ICU again tonight but should be moved into a regular room by tomorrow.  They were going to move him this afternoon but there were not any rooms available.  Skyler will meet with a physical therapist again tomorrow to help him regain strength and mobility to his left arm and leg.  He can move them, but they are a little stiff at times.  After radiation he will have an MRI to make sure everything is going ok and that there are no major changes.  They want to make sure they have the radiation in the precise location.  Other than that the routine should be about the same.

June 10th:

Today was a pretty calm day.  Skyler had his radiation and then they did a mri.  I think mainly to make sure they were hitting where they needed to with the radiation.  We have not talked to the drs about the mri yet to see if they could see a change in the tumor.  We did get Skyler out of bed a little today and let him sit on our laps.  He really has not been out of bed for several days and is very uncomfortable.  His body is weak and tired right now.  They are giving him Pediasure this evening to get something in his stomach.  We are still in ICU, but only because they do not have any rooms available on the floor.  Once a room becomes available we will get to make the move.  I would say that we will probably be in the hospital over the weekend and then we might be able to take him back to the apartment with us.  Like I said, we have to take each day at time and go from there.  The drs think he is looking and doing better from the end of last week.  Nothing real big going on tomorrow.  Macy has been with us since Saturday morning.  Seeing her has been a blessing.  Skyler really enjoyed seeing her and she really needed to see him.  She would sit on his bedside and hold his hand and rub it.  She was walking through this ICU like she was the boss.  That's a shocker!  She left this evening to go back to MO with Papa Dean.  She put up a fight and it was very sad.  She left with tears rolling down her face saying "I want to stay with my mommy, daddy, and bubba!"  That was tough.  But she will probably be back over the weekend.  I think she is a pretty good traveler.   

 June 11th:

Today ended up being an ok day.  Skyler did try to give us a little scare this morning.  I have mentioned that his left side is a little stiff and he cannot speak real well right now. He got a frustrated and worked up and his whole body ended getting tight.  They wanted to do a ct quickly to make sure the shunt was not blocked.  The ct came back normal.  The drs are going to give him some med to calm his nerves.  He is just anxious, nervous, and scared.  Then not being able to tell us what he wants just makes him more irritated.  We went on with normal rountine after the ct.  We are still in icu and will probably just end up staying there for the weekend.  There is only a couple of kids on that floor right now so he gets quite a bit of attention.  But right now he really needs to rest.  We pray this evening that he can rest peacefully and get ready for tomorrow. 

June 12th:

Today was a pretty filled day.  Skyler met with a occupational therapist to help him with his hand coordination.  Then we went to radiation.  They found him a pretty cool wheel chair that he really likes.  I think it feels good for him to sit up.  We even took him on a ride outside and then to the ice cream shop here in the hospital.  He had a mixture of my chocolate and Melissa's strawberry.  He really liked that.  This is really his first food in over a week.  They are giving him Ensure to help build his strength back up.  Chaplain Mark stopped by again today and brought Skyler a Veggie Tale book that he really likes.  We also met with a speech therapist.  She is trying to get him to start talking again.  We have been working with him all evening.  Of course he can say "mommy" and "nano" and "sassy" and "Macy."  We're getting there and making progress everyday I think.  If anybody has any questions or want to drop us a note you can email me at rsanders@amfam.com or Melissa at sandersm45@yahoo.com.   

 June 13th:

Today was not a bad day.  The drs think that Skyler is looking pretty good.  He is better than what he was last week.  We have been working his left hand and left leg.  They are pretty weak and he doesn't have a lot of movement with them yet.  His talking is still a struggle.  He is trying so hard to talk though.  If you listen really close you can sometimes pick up on what he is saying.  We're also working on that and we'll get there.  It will just take some time, but I guarantee you I will not give up trying.  He did have some more ice cream this evening.  He loved that and we even got a few chuckles out of him.  He was laughing at me because I guess I made a funny face when I told him to open his mouth to see if he had swallowed it.  We are expecting quite a bit of company this weekend.  Right now Macy, Nano, Oppa Dean, Oppa Dale, Grammy, Adam, & Hailey are here.  Tomorow Meema, Aunt Jill, and Great-Granddad Dale will be here.  Then Sunday Grandma Bernice & Papa Gene will be here.  We are going to celebrate Macy's 3rd b-day.  People have been asking about an address to send cards to and it is: Skyler Sanders, c/o The Target House, 1811 Poplar Ave Room 501, Memphis, TN 38104.  Our prayer tonight is for Skyler to continue to improve each day.    

June 14th:

Skyler had several visitors today and you could tell that made him happy.  We wheeled him down to the waiting room where we had Macy's b-day.  He again loved the ice cream.  After eating that he was ready for a nap.  Other than that, it was a pretty calm day.  I feel that he is still progressing a little each day.  He does have 2 days off from radiation and he will begin that again on Monday.  We all need a good nights rest to try and keep up with Macy.  She has been keeping everybody on their toes but we are so glad she is here.   

June 16th:

Skyler had a pretty good day today.  He went through radiation and physical therapy.  Tomorrow will end his 2nd week of radiation.  He had a few more visitors.  Grandma Bernice & Papa Gene, Michelle, and Aunt Jerri Ann & Uncle Skeet & cousin Grant were all here to see him.  He really enjoys the company.  Macy turned 3 today.  And she made sure all of the nurses here in ICU were aware of it.  Every time she would leave the room she would come back with something new.  One nurse even made here a blanket.  Her, Nanno, & Oppa drove home this afternoon.  The drs think Skyler is doing better each day.  He has his appetite back.  I made the mistake of eating chicken strips in front of him last night, so I had to leave the room to finish.  Then Macy kept offering him Cheetos.  He's not quite to that point yet.  He is eating jello and pudding right now.  We have to wait until he gets his gag reflex back before he can go back on solid foods.   We are still in the icu room because they still do not have any rooms available.  They are not treating him like an icu patient though.  He has been moving his left leg more today as some of his strength is coming back.  Still needs some work.  I am staying with him tonight and we are watching Pink Panther.  Every once in a while Skyler will tap me when a funny part is fixing to come up and he will just start laughing.  His laughter is like music to my ears. 

June 17th:

Today is Melissa's 25th b-day.  Her friend Michelle took her out to Olive Garden for dinner.  They had a good time.  Skyler has moved to a regular room.  I think he will rest a little better down here.  In icu it was kind of loud and the lights in the room would not go off.  Skyler did not care for that one bit.  He is starting to say a few more words.  He also ate some good food today.  He had 3 cups of pudding, a chocolate shake, mashed potatoes, and macaroni.  The speech therapist is going to let him try some chicken strips tomorrow to see how he does. He is constantly saying he is hungry.  We took him outside this evening an he enjoyed watching the birds.  I tried to catch one and he thought that was pretty funny.  He had a consult with the radiologist this morning and he thinks he looks a lot better and doing good. 

June 18th:

We just got back inside.  We went out and sit on the patio for a while watching for birds.  Skyler did pretty good today.  Along with radiation today, he had physical therapy and speech therapy.  He has a special nurse that he loves to see every morning in the radiation department.  Her name is Miss Haley.  He said her name all morning long until we saw her.  She helps him take a nap before his treatment.  He feels comfortable with her.  We tried some more foods this afternoon.  His appetite is back.  His new favorite word is "I'm Hungry!"  And he wants to eat then, not in a few minutes.  He is going to have to wear a brace on his left foot to try to get it back to full strength and maybe something on his left hand.  They are trying to stretch them back out.  They are really stiff right now.  Pray that we are discharged tomorrow.  We are waiting for Skyler to be able to "tinkle" on is own.  If he can do that, they said we should be able to leave the hospital and go back to the Target House.  Pray for all the other children in this hospital as well.  Being in this hopsital you meet several people and hear their story.  We're all in somewhat of the same situation.  Going through this and being here has been an eye opening experience.

June 19th:

He did it.  He finally "tinkled" on his own.  The drs gave us a time that he had to go by or they were going to put his "helper" back in.  He cut it close.  The nurse was actually going to get it when all of a sudden he went and it shot clear to the ceiling, all over the bed, and all over Melissa.  She screamed, I jumped, and Skyler laughed.  We have never been so happy to see urine.  We tried everything up to that point.  We put him in the tub, we put his hand in water, and also his foot.  It just had to be his idea.  That was our excitement for the day, but since he went they are going to discharge us tomorrow and we can go back to the Target House.  Praise the Lord!  I think Skyler is doing much better.  All the drs think it is amazing the progress he has made from 1-2 weeks ago.  We continue to pray that he gets better each day.  One more note.  Skyler did get a little sassy with the physical therapist today.  She told him to do something and he didn't reply so she said it again and he said loudly "I'm trying!"  She said ok.  They gave him a pretty good workout today.   

 June 20th:

We have made it back to the Target House.  They let us leave today around 4:30.  We are finally somewhat settled in.  Melissa and Michelle went to the grocery store and got some food for Skyler.  All he wants to do now is eat, which is a good thing.  Not much else happened today.  We do have to run to the hospital in the morning for a check up to make sure everything is still ok.  Then Monday is our big day.  They have scheduled his 3 week MRI.  We are praying that we see good results and that this tumor is going away.  The mri lasts about 2 hours so we will be pretty anxious.  We are hoping for a relaxing, fun weekend.  

June 22nd:

We had a pretty good weekend here at the Target House.  We didn't do a whole lot except for feed Skyler.  All he wants to do right now is eat.  He will finish one thing and start asking for another.  His speech is really coming around right now.  He has been saying sentences and he never misses a beat.  He went from not talking to talking every second.  And sometimes very loudly.  Oppa Dale and Grammy came to visit and we enjoyed having them.  Melissa and I were able to get away for a little bit to go eat dinner.  It never fails though for something comical to happen to us.  It was not comical at the time and I'm not real sure Melissa thinks its funny right now.  Anyways, for some reason we decided Skyler needed a haircut to even up his hair from where they put the shunt in.  Instead of going to a barber, we decided we would go buy some clippers and do it ourselves.  After all, we were just going to buzz it.   Melissa was going to do it ( I wish I would have let her), but I grabbed the clippers and said I can do it, get back.  We will be trying to find a barber sometime tomorrow to help even out his hair.  Its pretty patchy.  Buzzing a head is obviously more difficult than I thought.  It was a little tense here at the Target House for a few minutes with me trying to fix his hair, Melissa asking me what I'm doing, and Skyler shouting he wants a banana.  We're all good now though.  We have a big day tomorrow.  Skyler has his 3 week MRI in the morning.  We pray that we will get good results and see progress being made.  Talk to you tomorrow night..... 

June 23rd:

Skyler had his mri and radiation today.  We do not know the results of the mri yet.  We have an appt in the morning with the radiation oncologist and we should know something then.  Pretty calm day other than that.  We have to drive by a McDonalds to get to the hospital and Skyler spotted the arches from a long ways away.  He said McDonalds probably 1,000 times.  But we had to wait until we were all done before we were able to go there.  The steroids make him so hungry.  All he thinks about is food right now.  The nutrionist gave us a couple of sheets of paper to keep track of what all he has had to eat.  We have used those and started our own.  We have a busy day tomorrow starting at 8 and ending around 4.  We received a package from the Henson's today with all the cards from the benefit, t-shirts, a scrapbook, and a dvd.  This was tough to look at and watch.  We all watched it in amazement.  Skyler enjoyed watching the dvd and looking at the cards.  Everybody did an excellent job with all of this.  We really appreciate receiving these items.   

June 24th: 

June27th:

I haven't updated the site in a few days.  I left Memphis late Wednesday night and came home to see Macy.  We are going to go back to Memphis early in the morning.  Skyler is missing his sister.  He told me to leave and go get her.  He is still improving a little each day.  He got his feeding tube pulled out yesterday.  That will be a relief to him and should help him swallow even better.  He also told Dr. Nick good-bye yesterday.  I think that was an emotional moment for all.  Skyler really liked him.  His time in the US is up and he is headed back to Australia to the hospital there.  He was here to train under our main dr, Dr. Gajjar.  Skyler gave Dr. Nick a little trophy so that he wouldn't forget him.  When he walked in the door, Skyler said "Don't leave Dr. Nick."  Like I said, I think it was an emotional moment.  He will be missed.  Other than that, Skyler has continued his regular schedule and the drs still feel he is getting a little stronger each day.  Ok, here is the funny story.  I do not find this story funny at all though (Melissa doesn't either).  I was heading home Wednesday night and was in some little town in AR just moving right along.  About that time Grammy Lori said, "Police."  I had no idea what the speed limit was, but I did notice I had been passing everybody.  Here he came and the lights came on.  I will be contributing some money to that fine town.  The nice, nice police officer gave me no chance to negotiate with him.  He said here ya go and slow down next time you come thru here.  I told him I would be finding a different route.  So, the rest of the trip was a little slower.  We made it home ok though.  Then after we got home, Grammy Lori and Oppa Dale had some excitement with the law, but you'll have to ask them about that.  I think this should be a pretty quiet weekend in Memphis.  We will have some family down.  I think Meema, Billy, Addie, Sherry, Matt, and Amber will all be coming down. 

June 29th:

Another weekend has come and gone.  Skyler had a pretty good weekend.  His eating seems to be a little more under control now.  It has went from wanting something every 5-10 minutes to 30-45 minutes.  We have been trying to spell out the food instead of saying the word being afraid that if he heard us say it he would want it.  I asked what would be good for dinner and Melissa spelled P-I-Z-Z-A.  Skyler quickly responded that pizza sounded great.  He doesn't miss a thing.  He might act like he is not listening or paying attention, but he is all the time.  I arrived back down here Saturday morning (without any tickets) with Macy and Billy.  Meema, Addie, and Sherry tried to follow behind, but luckily they had a GPS because we arrived several minutes ahead of them.  They left today and then Nanno & Oppa Dean left a little later.  Uncle Matt and Aunt Amber are staying until tomorrow and we are going to try to keep Macy down here with us this week all by ourselves.  And you will be happy to know that Aunt Amber fixed his hair.  It looks so much better now.  When I got back down here Skyler continually told me that he loved me and that he missed me so much while I was gone.  I'm not sure that I will be able to leave him again.  He seems to be a little better though.  We will continue our normal routine this week.  We may attempt to drive home Friday for the 4th of July weekend.  It is still up in the air at this point.  Continue to pray that he gets stronger each and every day and that he is cured of this disease.

June 30th:

Today was a pretty quiet day.  Matt & Amber got to see partly what our normal routine is like before they headed back home.  We started off the day with PT.  Skyler actually crawled thru a tube with some assistance, but not much.  He mainly used his right arm, but he did use both legs to guide himself thru it.  We are going to need to work with his left arm more.  Then we went to radiation and lunch.  And that's about it.  One of Skyler's nurses, Paula, did make him a carrot cake today.  It is amazing!  I guess she heard him talking or yelling on Friday and she asked him what he wanted and he told her a carrot cake.  We showed up this morning and one of the nurses at the registration desk gave me a post it note that said "Your carrot cake is in the pharmacy window."  It is a triple layer home-made carrot cake.  Paula, thank you and the cake is excellent!  We spent some time outside this evening and let Macy play on the playground.  Skyler went down the slide once also.  They had a good evening and Macy tries to play Miss Nurse.  She makes sure her bubba is comfortable at all times.  She even has to hold onto the side of his wheelchair when we go somewhere.  She got on to me this evening for moving the blankets off Skyler.  I had to get up so she could cover him back up.  They have really missed each other.  I think it is very good that they are back together.  Continue to pray for Skyler's complete healing.  We have faith that Skyler is going to beat this and go on touch the lives of many people.  I know that my life will never be the same.  Also, pray for a little girl named Ellie and a boy named Zachary.  We have met these families as we go throughout our daily routines.  Zachary has been diagnosed with what Skyler has and is doing well.  Ellie also has a brain tumor.  She is doing good and is a burst of energy in the waiting rooms with a smile on all the time.  Good night.........

July 1st:

We booked our flight home today.  We plan on leaving Friday morning and then returning to Memphis on Sunday afternoon.  We need to still talk to the dr to make sure they are ok with it.  I'm not real sure why they wouldn't let us.  Skyler doesn't have anything going on Friday.  He had another pretty good day today.  He raised his left hand this evening and waved to us.  It is getting stronger everyday.  His sense of humor is coming back also.  He thinks things are so funny right now.  He craved Bar-B-Q all day today.  So this evening we had bar-b-q and he loved it.  He really liked the beans.  You know what that has made him do.  He laughs every time.  We let him pick the dinner tonight.  Last night we let Melissa choose and I somehow ended up with a piece of chicken on a bun with one pickle.  It was great.  Hers was not much better.  She did have a piece of lettuce on hers though.  And it cost as much as what we could have paid at a nicer place.  She had good intentions and the kids really liked it and that's all that really matters.  But we will not be going to that establishment again.  We were driving home tonight listening to the song "Big House" and Skyler was trying to sing along.  At one point in the song it says "....big, big yard, where we can play football..." Skyler acted like he was throwing a football.  It is so great to see him start to feel good again.  He also tried to walk today.  He asked me for some oatmeal and I told him to wait a minute because he had just finished something else.  He decided he didn't want to wait on me and jumped of the couch.  He fell and hit his nose and his tooth.  It did hurt him a little, but he thought it was funny after a little while.  We are continuing to pray for a miracle and for Skyler to be healed.  Thanks again for all the words of encouragement and prayers that are being lifted up.  Skyler enjoys us reading the comments to him. 

July 2nd:

Skyler had a pretty good workout today.  The occupational therapist and physical therapist have been pushing him to the limits.  But he has not backed down and has done everything they have asked.  We are so proud of him.  He is working hard everyday to get better.  We have met 2 other families down here that have children that have been diagnosed with the same thing as Skyler.  The one family will complete their 1st week of treatments tomorrow.  They are on the exact protocol Skyler is on.  He is a 7 year old boy.  The other family completed their last treatment today.  The 9 year old girl looks as though she is doing good.  She just did the 6 week radiation and decided to not take part in the chemo.  I could not tell anything was wrong with her.  Including us, that makes 4 families here right now with the same thing.  With this rare tumor, God has surrounded us by other families going through the same thing.  It is good to know you can have sombeody to talk to or lend an ear to because we are all going through this roller coaster ride together.  Tomorrow will be a busy day.  They are trying to get everything in before a 3 day weekend.  We will meet with the drs tomorrow.  I'm not real sure when we will be able to come home for good.  I think Skyler only has 9 more treatments left.  But he still has quite a ways to go to get him back to where he was.  We had a few set backs at the start of this journey that has put us a little behind I think.  But he his working his way back to the top.  This evening as I was putting Skyler to bed, I prayed with him and I then asked him if he wanted to pray for anything.  Here is his prayer...."Dear Jesus, please, please take this boo-boo out of my head.  Please help me to walk.  I want to ride my bike.  I want to ride the 4-wheeler."  The he said again, "please take the boo-boo out of my head and help me walk. AMEN"  I actually wasn't going to write in the journal tonight and even had my computer already shut down.  But after that, I cralwed out of bed and decided I needed to put this in here.  Let this be our prayer tonight and the days to come.  Amen

July 3rd:

We will be heading home tomorrow morning for a couple of days.  We will have to be back down here Sunday afternoon.  We are ready.  We asked Skyler what the first thing he was going to do when we got home was and he said, "pet my dog."  This will be the first time that Macy has ever flown.  This should be exciting for us as well as the whole plane.  Macy has made several friends down here in Memphis.  She is not shy at all.  Skyler had a busy day today.  He started off with PT, then a dr visit, then radiation, then lunch, then Speech T, then Occupational T, and then another drs visit.  He was wore out by the end of all that.  The drs are telling us that he is looking good.  They think that he has came leaps and bounds from where he was at.  They took his steroid dosage down to 8mg per day, which is still high, but we were at 16mg.  They are slowly weaning him off those.  We are ready for that.  The boy likes to eat.  Skyler did say a couple of funny things to Macy today.  Macy thinks she always needs to be singing or humming or just making noise.  Skyler finally told her to be quiet, she was hurting his head.  Then we were getting ready to leave the hospital and Macy was getting a little anxious.  Skyler told her to be patient.  Those words are funny coming from him.  He has heard those words many times throughout the past couple of years from his parents.  We did have a suprise visitor today.  Dr Nick found us in the cafeteria.  We thought he was gone, but not yet.  He said that if he had not found us before our afternoon appt, that he would have came to that.  He is officially leaving Saturday morning.  We wish him the best and wish he was staying here.  Skyler tells us all the time that he misses Dr Nick.  He visited with us for a while and then gave the kids and Melissa a big hug.  I got a handshake.  He told Skyler that he looked goooood.  He is a funny, down to earth fellow.  We are ready to be back home for a couple of days.  I probably will not update site until Sunday evening.  I'll let you know how the plane rides and the weekend goes.  Skyler had the same prayer this evening.  I believe that his prayer will be answered.  This is the prayer of many, many people.  Thank you for that.  And thank you for all the cards, books, and toys that Skyler has been receiving the past couple of weeks.  He really has enjoyed them.  Oh yeah, the other kids are Zachary, Brogan, and I'm not sure of the other little girls name but her last name is Sanders.  Kind of strange.  Have a great 4th of July!  God Bless

July 7th:

Today was one of those short-long days if you know what I mean.  If not, I mean we didn't have much going on, but it took forever.  Skyler had OT, and then finally radiation, and speech therapy.  We missed PT due to radiation taking forever due to them being way behind.  They told us today that we only have 6 treatments remaining.  Then we will be done and hopefully get to come home.  Then we have to decide what to do next.  I think we are going to be completely changing his eating habits and we are looking into some herbal supplements to help out.  Not much else happened in Memphis today.  They did have a supper tonight here at the Target House that we went to.  Skyler asked all day long "what do you think they'll have tonight?"  They ended up having his favorite.  It was spaghetti and meatballs and banana pudding for dessert.  He did not want to leave.  Continue to write comments on the site.  You will not see them right off the bat.  We are having to review them before we submit them to the site.  That's why there has been a delay with some of the comments.  Please continue to write to us during our journey.  We really appreciate it.  I think Skyler is ready to start walking.  He told us today that he wanted to stand up.  I think he thinks there is a prize involved when he starts walking again.  No, it's not a toy or a coloring book.  He would like a trampoline or a pool or both.  We'll see.  We already assist him while he walks from the bedroom to the couch.  But I told him that the Ryan Sanders Recovery Program begins tomorrow.  He sounded thrilled.  We are just going to be getting him up more and start pushing him a little harder ourselves.  I think he is ready.  We will find out.  Pray that he will get stronger and that he is walking soon. 

July 8th:

Good evening.  Skyler had a busy day today.  He started out at PT where he walked with a little assistance from the walking rails.  He was also able to put both shoes on for the first time in several weeks.  His foot has improved since they measured it last week.  They continue to give him a good workout and he has been a trooper through all of it.  We met with the radiation oncologist, Dr. Kuhn, and he is pleased with the progress Skyler is making each week.  He only has 5 more treatments to go.  It seems like only yesterday that we started this journey.  We will hopefully be coming home torwards the end of next week.  We will probably be making this trip more often than we thought though.  At first they said we would only have to come back once a month.  Since he is still on steroids, it looks like it might be weekly until they have weaned him from those.  They are still going down with them.  We are currently are at 8mg/day, but we are going down to 6mg/day on Thursday.  They only feel comfortable taking him down 2mg/week just because of where he was at.  They do not want to take him off of them to rapidly.  The drs still feel that he is looking good and doing a little better each day.  Even a lady in the waiting room today commented that she could tell that he was looking better from a couple weeks ago.  We have met many families down here from all over.  It is interesting to hear their story.  It will be strange leaving this place and these families.  There are 3 families that have had somewhat of the same routine as us that are finishing up this week and heading back home.  One family will be back in a couple of weeks and the other 2 will be back a couple of months.  We will just continue to pray for each of them as their journey continues away from St Judes.  Hopefully our paths will cross again and we will be able to stay in contact with one another.  We enjoyed reading the comments this evening.  I know they are not posted yet, but know that we can see them and read them.  We are still working out some issues with the site.  I try to remember a funny story or saying from each day.  It seems like stuff follows us around.  But the only thing that I can come up with this evening is the while we were waiting on Dr. Kuhn (cun) today, Skyler blurted out "where is dr. cun on the cob."  If you couldn't tell, he really likes food and thinks about it continously.  We need to continue to thank God for each day as each day is a miracle.  Sometimes we let the small things go waiting for the big prize.  We have faith that Skyler will be cured from this disease and that his miracle is in the works.  Thank you for your prayers for our little Skyler. 

 July 10th:

I would like to start off by saying that we are very thankful for all of the support, thoughts, prayers, gifts, and words of encouragement we have received over these past several weeks.  There is no way we could make it through this trying time without it.  Thank you very much!  Skyler is doing good.  He is still working very hard with Miss Jen in PT.  She really pushes him hard and they have a good time.  They have a new contraption that is supposed to help children walk again.  Skyler was the first kid to try it out yesterday.  They strap and buckle him in where he can't fall.  He tested this out by raising both feet today and started swinging.  He holds on to the handles with both hands and takes off.  He used it today and kicked a ball and knocked over some pins.  Very impressive.  Miss Jen thinks he has came a longs ways from last week.  He is doing excellent.  It's a very proud moment when you see him walk across the room with this piece of equipment.  We took pictures and will get them on here soon so you can see him at work.  He is a very determined young man.  We also had speech therapy today.  Skyler likes going there because he usually gets to eat and beat Miss Latia at UNO.  I think I have spelled her name wrong, not sure.  We only have 3 treatments left.  We are trying to get everything at home set up for when we get there.  We are going to have to find a physical, speech, and occupational therapist so that he can continue working.  Hopefully we will be home by the end of next week.   Skyler was a little upset yesterday.  Dr. B is the dr that puts him to sleep everyday and Skyler has really grown to love him.  He feels safe and secure around him.  Yesterday was the last day that we will see Dr B until we come back for a check-up.  He had to have some kind of surgery.  When he was telling Skyler bye, Skyler started crying and I think there were a few other teary eyes in the room.  Skyler even woke up this morning saying that he missed Dr B.  This is going to be tough for Skyler to leave the people that help him each day.  He has come to know them and trust them in a short period of time.  What a wonderful place here though.  The drs, nurses, and all the staff are all so friendly and know you by name.  You would think that you would be a number in a large place like this, but we do not feel like that at all.  We feel comfortable here and konw this is where Skyler should be.  Please continue to keep Skyler in your prayers as we are still praying for God to perform a miracle. Gotta go for now....Skyler is soooo hungry.  Says he is starving! 

 July 11th:

What a day we had today.  It was an excellent day!  Skyler had a smile on his face all day it seemed like.  He started off in PT, where Miss Jen made him work.  We have been measuring his foot to see if we have been gaining any ground with his new foot brace to get his foot flat again or  back to 90 degrees.  We hit it today.  Skyler's foot is flat again and he can bend it normal again.  Praise the Lord!  Then off to radiation (only 2 left!).  They also have a dentist down here and they wanted to check out his teeth before we were sent home, so he had to have an x-ray of his mouth.  It went really quick.  We'll have a dental consult one day next week, along with an eye exam, and nutritionist visit.  They have it all here.  Then came his favorite time of day...lunch.  We ate and then when we finished up we had some very special visitors.  The youth group from our church, First Baptist Forsyth, had been at church camp in Florida and decided they wanted to stop by.  Someone mentioned while on the bus that they would be in Memphis in so long and I guess it rang a bell for someone that Skyler was in Memphis.  They were on a charter bus and the driver can only drive so many hours a day.  The driver gave them the option to eat lunch OR skip lunch and stop by St Jude.  They all voted to see Skyler and seemed thrilled to be there.  Skyler was so happy that he could hardly control himself.  There was 31 youth and probably 10 adults.  Skyler had 41 visitors in the main lobby of St Judes.  Skyler talked with them a while, told them some knock-knock jokes, and even sang his favorite song, Big House, to them and with them.  It was very loud in the lobby.  After all the singing everybody in the lobby clapped, even the security guards.  Then as they were leaving they each hand delivered him a card they had made.  I'm telling you, this made his day and made him feel very special.  It was an emotional time for them and for us.  We have a picture of the whole group that we will get on the site soon.  Our day was over so we walked out behind them.  We passed the bus in the parking lot and gave them a honk.  They texted me and told me they were all praying for Skyler right then.  Amazing group of people!  Thank You for stopping by and making Skyler's day.  You don't know how much that meant to him.  Then his day got even better.  His kindergarten teacher, Miss Sproul, drove all the way to Memphis to see him today with her sister.  They met us at the Target House and we all had a good time visiting.  We told her she needed to stick around because Skyler would mind what she said.  She had him really using his left hand.  She brought him a Build-A-Bear monkey decked out in Cardinals gear.  He loved it.  It was a great day today and you can tell Skyler really felt good and special.  We asked for a schedule for next week to see when we might be able to come home.  His last radiation treatment is Tuesday.  Wednesday and Thursday we have therapies and appts.  Pretty slow days though.  Then Friday is our big day and we need all the prayers we can get on this day.  He will have his MRI this day.  We are praying that this boo-boo, to be honest with you, is gone.  Completely gone.  Then we should be able to return home for a week or so before coming back down here for a few days for a check-up.  As we hit this final stretch of our long stay in Memphis, we are asking for as many comments, words of encouragement, and prayers that we can get on this site.  We know a lot of people read this site daily.  We are asking for you to take a moment and drop us a line.  Skyler would really appreciate this and would greatly enjoy it as we leave our security blanket and head back north.  Be on the lookout for more pictures throughout the weekend.   I will end this long entry tonight with some of Skyler's jokes.   I bought a knock-knock joke book yesterday because I thought he would like it.  It just gave him ideas.  I would only get a courtesy laugh when I would read him a joke.  Here are only a few of his (remember he likes food a lot)  After each joke he laughs so hard he can't hardly catch his breath:  

Knock, Knock......who's there?......spaghetti.....spaghetti who......spaghetti and meatballs... 

 Knock, Knock.....who's there?.....peanut butter.....peanut butter who.....peanut butter and honey... 

 July 13th:

 I am going to begin this entry by asking for you to pray for some of our friends we have met here.  They are Sydney, Zachary, Ellie, Brogan, Kate, Marit, Amber, & Dustin.  These are some of the bravest kids that I have ever met.  They are all going through their own challenges and all have been outstanding and strong.  Please add them to your prayer lists and continue to pray for them along with all the other children here at St Jude.  Here are their websites if you would like to drop them a line.  www.caringbridge.org/visit/sydney98, www.caringbridge.org/visit/zacharydievendorf, www.caringbridge.org/visit/ellie1, www.caringbridge.org/visit/broganruppert.  Skyler still seems to amaze me everyday.  We tried to make this a fun weekend for him as it will probably be our last in Memphis.  Yesterday we took him to a movie and watched WALL-E.  Nanno & Oppa Dean went with us.  Skyler enjoyed it and got a few chuckles out of it.  We started the movie off with Macy spilling Skyler's whole box of Raisinets.  So, we got another box for him before they caused anymore comotion.  Macy ended up sleeping through most of the movie.  This was the first movie she had ever been to.  She did good, especially when she was asleep.  Then today we took the kids to the Children's Museum.  This was a really neat place and we all had a good time there.  Skyler even got to act like he was flying a real FedEx airplane.  Then it was back to the Target House to rest.  Skyler wanted Bar-B-Que tonight so we went to out favorite place, Corky's.  Skyler gets the BBQ chicken and double baked beans....yep double.  On our way to Corky's, we had Skyler walk from our room to the truck.  It's not a real short distance, but he did it.  I only helped guide him.  He did an excellent job!  This is a huge accomplishment because he could barely take a few steps at this time last weekend.  Our goal is for him to be using his walker by Friday.  I have said this before, but he is a very determined young man.  Especially if he knows he will get some food.  After we got in the truck he asked for a prize.  I said what would you like and he simply replied a Reese's PB cup.  He settled for a bowl of ice cream though.  All in all we had a good weekend.  Please continue to pray for our miracle.  As I was reading through Psalm, this verse stuck out to me tonight.  Psalm 18:2-6 "The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.  He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.  I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.  The cords of death entangled me, the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.  The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.  In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help.  From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears." 

July 14th:

One more day of radiation!  Tomorrow is our last day.  We are glad to be done with it, but in a way we are scared because we wonder what to do next if anything.  This is the only time that he will be able to have radiation.  So we have been continually praying that this will do the trick along with the chemo.  Skyler had a pretty good day today.  He walked with some assistance for a majority of the day.  We didn't even take a wheelchair to the hospital with us today.  We ended up using theirs a little.  Skyler gets tired pretty easy and needs to rest pretty often.  But when he is ready to go, he is ready to go.  Especially if he knows that there is a snack on the horizon.  Skyler has such a caring personality and it really showed today.  His little sister was walking a thin line all day and she finally crossed it.  When we got in the truck she was fixing to get in trouble and Skyler started crying because he did not want his sister to get into trouble.  I told her that she better be kissing her bro a lot because he jumped in just in time and saved her.  Skyler is also always worried about me and Melissa.  Tonight Melissa was talking to him a little about his sickness and how she thought it wasn't fair for him.  He said that he was ok, and that dad has a headache.  He wanted to make sure I was ok.  That's how he is.  Always watching out for other people.  Even at lunch today, I had some onion rings and I gave him one.  I ate a couple and little Macy snuck in and ate the rest I think.  I told Macy she ate all my onion rings and Skyler said "here".  He wanted to give me back the onion ring I gave him.  Our son is a very caring little boy with a HUGE heart that loves everyone.  There is something about him that draws people in and he touches their lives in his special, unique way.  Continue to pray for our Skyler as well as the other children.  I encourage you to check out their sites.  Melissa jotted down this verse this evening. Romans 12:12 "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." 

July 15th:

Our radiation treatments are officially over!  Skyler got some balloons, a t-shirt, some Star Wars toys, and he got to take "the mask."  This is what held his head in the same exact spot everyday for radiation.  It is a very tight fitting mesh hard plastic mask.  That's the best way to describe it.  It was a very busy day though.  We started off the day at 8 and didn't get back to the Target House until 5.  Long day at the hospital.  We started off with PT, then to do a blood draw, then a visit with Dr. Kuhn on the Cob, then radiation, then an ECHO/EKG, then we met with Dr. Broniscier at the end of the day.  He is the Dr that has came up with this chemo.  It is his protocol.  He is a very nice dr and talks really fast.  He seems to think things are going well.  The thing is with this chemo is that nobody really knows if this is the answer or not since it is new and there are not very many kids on it.  He is meeting a patient tomorrow here that has been on it for 10 months and that's when this protocol began I believe.  Hopefully we can run into them so we can fire some questions at them to see how they are doing.  After our day at the hospital, the Ruppert's from Maryland joined us for dinner at Chili's to celebrate with Skyler.  We had a very good time with their family, Kobe and Melinda and their two sons, Keilan and Brogan.  Brogan has been diagnosed with the same thing as Skyler.  We have got to know each other over the past few weeks as our schedules have been pretty similar.  Macy has taken up a little crush on Keilan though.  We are going to have to keep an eye on her.  She really shows off for him when he is around.  They are a wonderful family and we will miss them after we leave, but we will be keeping in touch.  Continue to pray for them as well.  You can check out Brogan and his family at   www.caringbridge.org/visit/broganruppert.  We have made arrangements to come home Friday night.  Melissa and Skyler are going to fly and Macy and I are going to drive with all of our stuff (we may need a u-haul).  We should all be back home around 10-10:30 PM.  We can't wait.  Continue to pray for Skyler and his miracle.  We want to thank you for all the comments.  WOW!  Please continue to write to Skyler after you read the update as we prepare for the mri Friday morning.  Know that we can see the comments and we will get them on the site as soon as we can so that everybody can read them.  These next few days, weeks, months, and years are kind of scary.  We are stepping out into the unknown and trusting in the Lord and relying on our faith.  We know He will be with us every step of the way.  Good night and we will see ya soon! 

July 16th:

It was kind of a slow day today.  Skyler had PT, a nutrition visit, and a dental visit.  They all went well.  We just took it easy the rest of the day.  We are trying to get everything ready to go for Friday.  We have to make sure we have all of the meds and supplies that we will be needing over the next couple of weeks.  Thank goodness for Melissa.  I am lucky to have her.  She is so good at all of this.  I am usually lost and have to ask her what's going on or to tell me what to do (she has no problem with that).  She has made sure that everything is handled correctly and the way she wants it.  I'm not real sure how she keeps track of all his meds and when he needs them and how much.  She does an excellent job and is going to make a great nurse.  Skyler still seems to be doing a little better each day.  This afternoon he walked from the living room to the kitchen (after food) and then to the bedroom all on his own.  I just stood close enough to him to make sure he wouldn't fall.  Praise the Lord!  He amazes me everyday.  Tomorrow is a quick day also.  We should be done by noon.  Then we are going to take Skyler and Macy to the movies for our last outing in Memphis.  Then we will have to get back and start packing.  I hope we have enough suitcases.... I received some more good news today.  I received a phone call from a police officer in the AR town that I received my ticket.  I had sent them a letter with a check for my fine apologizing for what I had done and explained to them my situation.  They are going to dismiss my ticket.  This gentlemen was a very nice and compassionate man.  I want to tell this police department THANK YOU very much and I will slow it down Friday night on my way to Hollister.  That's all I have for tonight.  Please pray for our mri on Friday.    

July 17th:

Tomorrow is the big day.  We are scheduled to be at the hospital at 7 am to do the mri.  We should be done with that around 10.  Then we have one final PT appt.  After that we should know the results of the mri.  Then we are headed back to Taney County.  We are ready, almost.  As I look around the room there is still quite a bit of stuff that has to go.  And we don't have any more bags with us.  I guess our new luggage will be Glad trash bags.  We'll make it work.  Today was a quick day at the hospital.  Skyler had OT & PT together right off the bat.  They said that he is doing things that there is no way he could have done last week.  Then he had an eye exam.  His eyes are good.  Thank goodness.  One of the symptoms of this tumor is double vision and sometimes the eyes will cross.  Then we finished with Miss Latia in Speech.  Skyler has given her the nickname "chicken nugget" because that was the first thing he asked for when he met her and from then on everytime he would see her he would say chicken nugget.  The name kind of stuck and I think everybody calls her that when we are around.  She showed up today with 3 pastries that were amazing.  Skyler's eyes lit up when he saw those and hurried through his exercises.  Then we went to see Kung Fu Panda.  We all enjoyed this movie and Skyler laughed through most of it.  Macy slept again, which was ok with us.  She is something else.  Everybody in the hospital knows Macy.  As she walks down the hall, all you hear is "Hello Macy".  One nurse, Miss Crystal, calls her Shirley Temple.  It has been a good day today.  Skyler is really tired and is already in bed.  He did not use a wheelchair all day today.  He walked everywhere he went.  Major accomplishment.  Please keep us in your prayers tomorrow as we will anxiously wait for the results.  Matthew 21:22 "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."    

July 19th:

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers during our time at St Judes.  Sorry I did not update the site yesterday like I had planned.  I thought we would have heard the results before I had to drive home, but that was not the case.  As of right now, we do not have a written report on the mri.  They did tell us that is has shrunk, but we do not know how much.  Hopefully we will have a report on Monday to give everybody a better idea of where we are at.  Skyler is feeling and looking good though.  Macy and I made it home just before 10:00 last night and then Melissa and Skyler were there within 15 minutes after that.  Skyler was so excited to be home.  He wad grinning from ear to ear.  He got out of the car and said "take me to my bed."  He really missed his house, his room, and his toys.   We are all glad to be back and we are trying to unpack and find everything.  We have changed Skyler's diet so Melissa had to go to the grocery store today so that we would have something to eat.  While Melissa was gone, I decided I would get cleaned up.  I had put Skyler in his bed and put on a movie.  While I was shaving I heard something and then caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye.  It was Skyler!  He had got out of his bed and walked all the way down the hall.  I asked what he was doing and he laughed and walked faster.  It did end with a crash, but he was fine.  I asked what he was doing, and I bet you can't guess what he said.  "I'm going to the cabinets to get something to eat."  Simply amazing that he was able to do that.  Then we took Sassy to Petco to get her a house and a few other items.  That was eventful with Skyler, Macy, Sassy, and all the other dogs in the store.  We are just glad to be home and the kids are so happy to be in their own environment.  We will have to go back to Memphis at the end of the month for a follow up, but that should only be for a couple of days.  We will miss St Jude's.  We will miss the drs, nurses and all the friends that we have made that we now call family.  I cannot say enough about the drs, nurses, and staff at this hosptal.  They are outstanding people and I know that this is where Skyler was supposed to be.  Please continue to pray for Skyler and for his chemo to being doing what it's supposed to be doing.  Keeping that thing from growing.  We thank God everyday for Skyler and the progress he has made.  He has made some GIANT steps in the last 6 weeks and we have faith that he will continue to move forward.  Thank you again for all your support and we can't wait to see you. 

 July 21st:

Sorry I did not write last night.  We do not have internet at home yet, so it makes it a little more difficult to update the site.  But I will continue to do so.  Please continue with the comments.  I waited to write today because I thought I might hear back from St Jude's.  But after several calls and messages left, they finally called me back around 5:30 and told me the tumor had shrunk.  We knew that.  We are looking for numbers to see how small it is.  But our Dr has been out of town and should be back tomorrow.  We will put a call into him to see if we can get some more solid answers.  He will have to be the one that puts the report together.  Skyler is having a ball at home.  He is loving it.  He had a good weekend.  Sunday we went to church and Pastor Paul said some kind words about Skyler and welcomed him back.  Skyler was chuckling and grinning the whole time.  Then he gave everybody in church a big wave as they applauded his return home.  He really enjoyed seeing all of his friends there.  We did pack some grapes for church (we figured he wouldn't be able to last) and every time I would try to grab the bag, he would instantly snatch it back and I think he might have even growled at me one time.  He has now also taken over my spot in my bed.  I have only slept in my bed for half the night Friday night before he wanted me to go to his bed.  Now he thinks it is his spot.  So I told him to move all his toys and everything into our room and I would move all my stuff in his room.  He said "I'll be moving in the morning."  We'll see how this all works out.  Today was a busy day for him.  He did some more walking on his own as well.  Melissa had put him on the couch watching cartoons while she was making beds.  He snuck in the other room and grabbed some cheerios that he had left in a bag on the counter from the night before.  When she walked back in the room she noticed the bag on the floor.  She asked what that was and he acted like he had no clue.  He didn't know who put it there.  He finally came clean and thought it was the funniest thing ever.  Then Melissa and Carrie took him to PT/OT in Springfield for his first visit.  They said they worked him hard, but he did really well.  They are really going to work him to try to get him ready for school.  Melissa thought he did very well on some difficult things, like cutting.  His next PT/OT visit will be on Wednesday.  Once we know something about the results of the mri, I will update the site.  Everything is good at the Sanders household, except for that crazy dog Sassy.  Whose idea was it to get a dog?  She is a very good dog, she just has a little energy.  The kids love her and we wouldn't know what to do without her.  And I think Melissa might be attached as well.  Continue to pray for the chemo to continue working and to take this tumor out of his head.  Thank you to all who have supported us during this difficult time.

July 24th:

Did you think that I forgot about the site?  I have been waiting on the results from the dr from the mri.  They called me yesterday and the dr are pleased with the effectiveness of the radiation treatment.  The tumor is actually smaller now than what it was when we arrived at St Judes.  Dori, our nurse, said that just by looking at it, it looks like it is amost half the size.  She said that it looks like the radiation did a good job.  Now we need the chemo to continue working and keep that thing from growing and continue to kill it off.  Although we would have rather it been completely gone,  we are pleased with the results and thank God everyday for the miracle that he is performing is Skyler's life.  Skyler is continuing to improve everyday.  He has been going to PT/OT/ST in Springfield.  The speech therapist thought that he was doing really good and thought that 1-2 times per week would be all that he would need.  We heard back from Make-A-Wish yesterday and got our dates set for that.  We met with them 3-4 weeks ago and Skyler told them his wish was to go to Disneyworld.  When we met with the lady she asked what his 2nd wish was.  He responded with Taco Bell.  She said think a little bigger, so he said McDonald's.  At this point I intervened before he listed all of his favorite restaurants.  I tried to explain to him to think of a vacation spot or something he would like to do.  He said he like to go swimming.  The lady said where at and  here came a Skyler response.  He said the bathtub.  It was hopeless.  He's a tough kid to please.  We knew that Disneyworld was our only option.  So, we are going down there in the middle of September.  He is really excited.  Other than that it has been very busy this week getting settled back in.  Our lives have completely changed, so we are adjusting to our new way of living.  We are all still good though, even Sassy.  If you would like something good to eat on Saturday, you need to go to Scooter's parking lot.  Kieth David is roasting some pork and I think there will be some other sides and it will be ready to go at 10:00.  Cost for meal is donations with all proceeds going to Skyler.  Please tell a friend and come out and enjoy some good food.  Again we want to say THANK YOU to everybody that has helped support us the past few months.  We wish we could thank everybody personally, but honestly that would be impossible.  Just know that we appreciate everything that you have done.  

 July 25th:

Skyler continues to get a little stronger each day.  He is very happy and so glad to be at home.  We continue to pray that his chemo is doing the trick.  We got Skyler a Wii yesterday and he really likes it.  The therapist says it will be very good for him.  It will allow him to be moving and to work on his motor skills.  Since he can't be outside much, this should be a great thing to where he can get some exercise.  We have to go back to Memphis Monday for a follow up on Tuesday.  They are just going to be running some minor tests and check him out to make sure everything is still going ok.  We should be back late Tuesday night.  We hope you are able to drop by Scooter's parking lot tomorrow for some good food.          

July 27th:

We had a good weekend.  Skyler has really enjoyed playing his wii.  He plays a few of the games, but what he really likes to do is make the people.  And he makes them really funny looking.  He has probably made 100 people.  Today we went to church and Skyler enjoyed seeing everybody.  He said he wants to go back to childrens church next weekend and be with his friends instead of being in grown up church.  We'll have to see how he is doing next week.  Skyler is feeling really good right now and is real happy.  Everyday he wants to do more and more.  He even wanted try to wrestle a little today.  He is getting some strength back.  I found out how strong he was after I took a right hook to the jaw.  Made me smile.  Tomorrow we will be heading back to Memphis.  We have to be there around 4 to have his central line in his chest checked out.  We are hoping that we can have it removed.  We'll see what the dr says.  Then he just has to have a couple of minor tests ran and have a few other things done.  We should be back Tuesday night.  Please pray for us a safe travel (no tickets).  Also our prayer is for the chemo to work how it's supposed to and for this tumor to be removed from Skylers head.  I want to end by saying thank you to all who showed up for the bar-b-q on Saturday.  There was some great food there.  We had a great turnout and actually even ran out of food.  Thanks to Kieth and Cassie and to everybody else that was involved.     

 July 30th:

We are back home.  Our trip to Memphis was quick, but we had a good trip.  Skyler and Macy did great.  We went early on Monday because Skyler was having some issues with his central line in his chest.  The purpose of it is to draw blood and it was not doing that.  Once we got down there they finally got it to work.  That was a good thing because he had a blood draw first thing Tuesday morning.  Then he had an EKG, a Dr appt, and then they took the central line out.  So now he does not have that is his chest anymore.  He will be able to go swimming in about a week.  Skyler also did some visiting while we were there.  He was happy to see all the drs and nurses again.  They all thought that he was looking good.  At our Dr appt with Dr Gajjar he confirmed that the tumor is now smaller than what it was when we first arrived there.  And he said the radiation will continue to work for a while and hopefully continue to shrink this tumor.  The MRI that we did a couple weeks ago was still a little early he said.  We are not scheduled to go back to Memphis for 2 months.  At that time we will do another MRI and have a complete check-up with all the drs and therapists that we had been dealing with.  We had a chance to visit with a few of the families that we became close with.  It seems like they are all doing great and it was good to see them again. One girl, Sydney, that I have mentioned before is going to be on Access Hollywood tonight.  The Jonas Brothers were at St Judes and she had a chance to meet them and eat lunch with them.  She was still glowing when we saw her yesterday.  Then she was lucky enough to do an interview and should be on TV tonight.  We will continue our regular schedule of therapy in Springfield until school starts in 2 weeks.  Then we will have to figure out exactly what we need to do.  We are going to try to meet with the principal sometime this week to let them know where Skyler is at and to see what we need to do.  Please continue to pray for this tumor, aka boo-boo, to go away.  Also, pray for the other children at St Judes as some of them are finishing up radiation and heading back home. 

July 31st:

We are still going strong.  Skyler continues to go to therapy and is doing great.  He is one of their favorites.  He does whatever they ask.  I have said this all along, he is a very determined young man and will never give up.  We have changed the guest page a little.  We had to do this to try to keep the bad stuff out.  To submit a comment you have to first type in the little code that is beside the open box.  Then type your comments below.  It has also been brought to our attention that for some reason if you type a long comment it has not been going through and I'm not real sure why.  We'll be checking in to that.  But, please continue to submit comments as our journey continues.  We would not have made it this far without the help and support of all of you.  We truly appreciate all you have done.  We have a busy next few days coming up.  I am going to take Skyler fishing tomorrow night.  We are going to try to catch 'ole Sam'.  I asked Skyler this morning if he wanted to go fishing and he asked me what I thought ole Sam was doing.  I said waiting for you.  Then Sunday we are going to the Springfield Cardinals game.  Skyler is going to get to go out on the field before the game.  My district managers daughter is singing the national anthem and they wanted to know if Skyler would like to go out on the field with her.  I said he would be thrilled and he is excited.  Our district tries to go to a game each year so there should be several agents there enjoying the game.  Please continue to pray for Skyler.  He will be starting back to school soon.  We are hoping to get together with the school and come up with a plan to ease him back into the routine without wearing him out.  He is in constant need of everyone's prayers to help him continue to fight this disease and feel 100% again.  Thanks to everyone who continues to support and pray for our family during this journey of our lives.

 August 2nd:

Friday night was a successful fishing trip.  We went right before dark so it wouldn't be so hot.  Skyler and I both had our poles out.  I was watching his line when a big fish took my bait.  I tried to get Skyler to reel it in, but he wanted no part of it.  I got it clear up to the bank and it snapped my line.  He thought that was the funniest thing ever.  Then he said I owe him a bobber because I lost it.  Then a few minutes later Skyler's bobber went under and 'ole Sam was hooked.  With the assistance of Billy and Oppa John, Skyler landed 'ole Sam.  But Sam put up a good fight for a while and even tried to splash Skyler a few times.  We took him back to the house and took some pictures that I will get on here soon.  'Ole Sam will taste good.  He is not in the pan yet, but Skyler is ready to eat him.  We may have to see if Sam has any brothers or sisters to go along with him.  Skyler had a blast though.  He was so happy and even rode on the 4-wheeler back home.  He also spotted some deer about 1/2 mile away.  I'm not sure how he seen them, but he has an eye for wildlife.  Then today was a quiet day around the house.  We went this evening to get Skyler a new pair of shoes.  He got a new brace on Friday and it is kind of bulky so he needed some wider shoes to wear.  That's was fun trying to find a pair of shoes and trying to keep up with the little one.  She does not think she is so little though.  While putting shoes on Skyler she walked over to the little girls shoes and found some she liked and then she even found the right size.  Macy has what you call a shoe problem already at the early age of 3.  Tomorrow Melissa has to go back to work so I will be trying to fill her shoes.  I think the kids are a little scared.  She has made me a list to follow so we should be ok.  We are going to go to church and then tomorrow night is the Springfield Cardinals game.  Skyler has already got his cardinals gear laid out and ready to go.  He is excited about going out on the field, but he is more excited about eating a hot dog.  We'll see how that goes.  Thank you for everything and I'll let you know how the game goes. 

August 4th:

We made it through the Cardinals game yesterday.  It was HOT though.  We only stayed through the 3rd inning.  We were all about to melt.  Skyler had fun though.  He went out at the beginning of the game to help another agent, Jeff Hodkin from Carthage, throw out the first pitch.  If you go to springfieldcardinals.com you can see some pictures of this.  You have to go to buy photos on the left side and then hit the August games.  Then hit the 8/3 game.  He is on page 6 & 7 I believe.  There is 5 or 6 pictures of him out on the field.  He even got a signed baseball to bring back home with him.  But after that he was ready to hit the concession stand.  He really wanted a hot dog, but I was a little hesitant about giving him one since he still does not have a gag reflex.  He settled for a green apple sno cone, and then a pretzel, and then McDonald's after the game.  He is getting quite the little belly on him.  We try to watch what he eats, but sometimes it is just tough to say no.  And with the steroids he really can't help it.  We are down to 2mg of steroids a day.  He will then go down to 1mg/day on Thursday and then will be off of them next Thursday.  He has came a long ways since we were on 16mg/day about 2 months ago.  Once he is off the steroids the hunger all the time and the mood swings should go away.  Today he went to PT, OT, and ST.  He had a very busy afternoon.  He has been working really hard and is feeling pretty good.  He seems to be doing a little more each day.  Tomorrow is going to be a day to relax around the house for him.  He doesn't have any appts so he will be able to play with all his new toys and enjoy being at home.  Thank you for all your continued support and prayers and we continue down our road to recovery.  Also, please keep our St Jude friends in your prayers.       

August 6th:

We'll try this again.  I had this log almost complete when I hit some button.  Now my journal entry is now out in computer world somewhere.  Here we go again.  Skyler continues to feel good and is getting stronger.  Today at OT they told him that they were amazed with what he was doing and the progress he is making.  He wants to try to do more and more each day to try to make things as normal as what they once were.  This morning he dressed himself with very little assistance.  It's the small things like this that are huge to him that help build his confidence.  We are so proud of him and his determination and heart continues to amaze us.  I ask him everyday day if he is going to give up and he says "never."  If any of you know Melissa or myself you might say that this runs in his blood.  We have never been ones to give up or give in.  Unless it is something mechanical related or related to fixing something.  I still don't give up.  Melissa makes me give up before I make it worse than what it was before.  We had a very good meeting with the school yesterday.  We were in a room of about 6 staff members and we all discussed the options we had and what our expectations were.  Everything seems to be in place and we are very pleased.  Skyler will start out going 1/2 days for a while.  We'll play it by ear to whether or not he will go full days.  It's going to all depend on how he feels.  He will have a para to help assist him from room to room and with his daily activities.  They also have a PT, ST, & OT that will come to the school to work with him.  We have an amazing school and we feel very lucky to have them.  I know their are some very good schools in the area and I think we should all feel lucky to be able to send our kids to schools like what we have in the Tri-Lakes area.  School starts Aug. 14th.  The big 1st grade!  Here is what I'm going to end on tonight.  This will hopefully touch you like it has our family.  Yesterday Melissa was talking to Skyler about one of our friends, Sydney, down in Memphis.  Sydney is having a little rough time right now and was going to have to go to the same hospital Skyler went to so they could put a shunt in.  Something clicked with Skyler and he told Melissa that when he went back into surgery that night and was going to sleep a lady reached out and took his hand and told him it would be ok.  You have to remember, Skyler was pretty out of it at this point as we have told everybody this was the hardest part of our trip.  As we asked him a few more questions about this lady he sit there and told us what she looked like.  He said she had long yellow hair, was wearing white clothes, had medium sized wings, and had an onion ring on her head.  I get goosebumps as I type this.  He said he raised his hand and she took it and held it.  We truly believe our son had an angel with him watching over him.  It is not like Skyler at all to make up something like this.  We all teared up as this story came from his mouth.  How amazing and powerful is that?  At Church Sunday this verse was passed along in Pastor Paul's message.  It's one that we have all heard before, but it's worth repeating.  Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."  Continue to keep our Skyler in your prayers as we wean him off the steroids.  We have one more week and we are down to 1mg/day.  Please keep our friend Sydney and her family in your prayers as well.     

August 10th:

 Sorry I haven't been on for a few days.  Everything is going pretty good.  Skyler is even getting a little onery.  Yesterday he stood up and tackled me and took me to the ground.  Then he started punching me.  I had red spots on both cheeks and it felt like my collar bone was broke.  I have been waiting for this for weeks.  He is finally feeling good enough to want to wrestle a little.  He is also beginning to walk around the house more on his own.  He does not stay in one place very long.  Friday morning he decided he would dress himself.  He struggled through it and every time I asked to help him he would tell me to get back.  He finally got it though.  It's this determination that is going to help him defeat this.  The swelling in his cheeks is starting to go down a little.  It should go all the way down once he is off the steroids.  His last day will be Thursday.  Maybe the hungry all the time will go away as well.  As I am typing this, Skyler is tapping on my shoulder asking for a banana.  When I started this he was eating a bowl of cereal.  He says if I get him a banana, he promises to leave me alone.  Since I am a slow typer, he has already took it upon himself to get his own banana.  He just walked back into the room with it peeled ready to eat.  Thursday will also be his first day of school.  You might want to say an extra prayer for this day.  Skyler is ready to get back to school.  I think this might give him a sense of normalcy once he gets back in the groove of things and sees all of his friends.  This will be a good medicine for him as well.  This little boy continues to amaze me everyday with his will and determination.  He has been and continues to be an inspiration to many.  Please keep lifting him up in prayer as our journey continues.  We know that this is what has got us this far.  Thank you for all of your continued support and for your prayers. 

 August 12th:

 The past couple of days have been good days.  Monday Skyler went to his therapies in Springfield.  They are making him do things that I was not sure if he would ever be able to do again.  He is feeling great!  He is acting like a 6 year old again and we love it.  He has been jabbering non-stop and he is back to being onery.  Our prayers are being answered.  Today Skyler went to a movie.  They watched "The Journey to the Center of the Earth."   He seemed to really like it.  Then we went to the school to meet his para.  She is a very nice lady and I think her and Skyler will get along just fine.  Then this evening the school had an open house so that we could go and find his classroom and see his teacher again.  Skyler was grinning from ear to ear.  He is very excited to get back to school and see all of his friends.  One more day off.  I think Skyler is going to get to go swimming tomorrow before he goes to therapy.  He has not had a chance to go swimming yet this summer.  We are trying to make each day as special as we can.  We had to have a talk with Skyler tonight about his sickness.  We are not sure what all the kids will say or ask so we tried to somewhat prepare him.  We have not used the 'c' word (cancer) around Skyler at all since we started this journey.  All the kids at school know that he has cancer.  So that's why we tried to explain to him what he had and that the kids may ask questions that he may not know the answers to.  But I still don't think he really understands.  He just said ok and continued on.  We just don't want him to feel uncomfortable at school.  You just never know how little 1st graders might act.  It's still hard for me to believe that Skyler is going to be in 1st grade.  It doesn't seem possible.  We will also be taking him off the steroids on Thursday.  Thursday is going to be a big day.  Keep Skyler in your prayers that day.  And continue to pray that this boo boo goes away and never comes back.  Thank you for all you do.  

 August 14th:

The past couple of days have been busy days.  Skyler has been doing great.  Yesterday he was able to go swimming for the first time.  He loved it.  He did not want to leave.  But he had to go to therapy.  The therapist told Melissa yesterday that he is ahead of where they thought he would be after a month.  Then I took him to therapy today.  I have only had a chance to be with him one other time in Springfield.  They told me that it is like night and day from the first time they had a chance to work with him.  It was great to see him at work trying so hard doing things that I think would be difficult.  He did not gripe one time, he had a smile on his face the whole time and did everything they said.  He's one amazing little guy that is very happy.  But this morning is when all the excitement occurred.  Skyler started school today and had a great day.  They said he did good.  Melissa picked him up at noon.  His para said that he was starting to get a little tired so we probably timed that just right.  Skyler was glad to see all of his friends and to meet his new classmates.  He did wake up early, early this morning and he was sad and scared.  He did not want to go to school.  I heard him tell Melissa that he did not want to go because he wanted to be with her.  It was pretty sad.  But when it came time to go this morning he was ready to go.  He is finally calling it a night and getting ready for tomorrow.  He is also off his steroids now.  Today was the first day that he has not taken any steroids since May 16th.  Praise the Lord!  He has came such a long ways in these past 3 months.  He continues to fight and get better.  He is very happy, onery, and acting like a 6 year old boy should act.  We thank God everyday for the progress he has made and continues to make.  We are putting all of our trust in the Lord and living a day at a time.  None of us are guaranteed anything.  Our time could happen at anytime, there is only one person that knows when that time is.  We now live each day to the fullest and have no regrets.  Please continue to pray for Skyler's healing and for all to go well now that he is off the steroids.

 August 18th:

I have not updated in a few days.  This weekend was kind of a blur.  Melissa had to work Friday, Saturday, & Sunday so it was me taking care of the kids.  Poor kids.   We made it and had a good time.  We laid pretty low.  Friday night we took the kids to the pool.   They had a blast!  Saturday we took Sassy down to the lake and let her run around.  Skyler got a kick out of her running through the water and jumping in over her head.  We didn't stay out very long.  Skyler had some kind of rash pop up on Friday and then it got a little worse over the past few days.  He has a few bumps on his face and then it is on his knees.  We have been putting medicine on it, but it doesn't seem to be going away.  Then last night Skyler was running a fever so Melissa is taking him to the dr this morning.  We did not take him to school today.  He acts fine and says nothing is bothering him, so we're not sure what's going on.  It might be a reaction to him coming off the steroids after being on them so long.  Like I said, we don't know what it is, but it doesn't seem to be bothering him at all.  He has been acting the same.  We also have a call into St Judes to see what they think it might be.  Anyways, we'll keep you posted on what we find out.  Say it a little prayer that this goes away and that everything is going to be ok.   

August 19th:

Skyler went back to school today.  But he really didn't want to.  He was tired and would have rather stayed in bed.  But he seems to be feeling better.  His rash on his face is pretty much gone and the rash on his knees looks a lot better.  The dr said that his skin is really dry and the bumps could be caused from that.  So we have been bathing him in a special lotion that he does not like.  He says it makes him fell slimy.  His temperature went away yesterday but then cam back a little througout the night.  The drs think it could be a viral thing or something caused by him coming off the steroids after being on them for so long.  We are supposed to watch it and see if the medicine prescribed works.  Please continue to pray for Skyler to be healed from this disease.  Also keep our other St Jude friends and families in your prayers as they continue their journeys.  Some are back home and some are back at St Judes going through more treatments.

August 22nd:

Skyler is continuing to do good in school.  His para says that he has been participating more in class each day.  He is also getting more comfortable at recess.  At first he would just sit on the bench or just stay in the classroom and read books.  Now he is going outside and playing with a few of his friends.  He has been playing catch and kickball with them.  He has some neat little friends that are still keeping him involved even though he can't run all over the playground.  Our days are still very busy and I'm not sure if they will ever slow down.  This week flew by with school, therapies, and all the homework.  Skyler does have quite a bit of homework.  He has to take his time and really concentrate to do it.  It has been a lot of writing numbers and words.  This is a slow process for him.  He can do it, it just takes a little time and he gets tired.  So a lot of times we get started and do a page and then have to take a break.  But it is such a blessing that he can even do it.  There was a point this summer that I wasn't sure if he would ever be able to write again.  But his determination is unreal.  And really he has only been able to write legibly for about a month now, so he will continue to get better.  It's just a lot on his plate right now with his busy schedule.  He is still going till noon, but we are going to start rotating his schedule next week.  He is missing out on a few classes that we think he should be going to.  But all in all he is doing good and maybe one of these days we can work him up to full days.  We'll see how he does.  I see a few people have asked about Sassy.....Sassy is a 5 month old Cujo.  She was such a good dog for a few weeks.  Now she has turned wild, chewing on everything and tearing everything up.  Last night we came home to the bottom half of our sceen door being ripped to shreds.  When I tried to get on to her, she thought I was wanting to play.  It did no good.  No telling what I will come home to tonight.  She is a good dog, she just requires a lot of attention.  But last night if anybody would have wanted a dog, Melissa was ready to make a deal.  We have another busy weekend planned.  Melissa has to work both days, so the kids are with me again.  

August 25th:

We all had a good weekend.  We did not do a whole lot.  We took Skyler and Macy to see the new movie Clone Wars Saturday night.  Skyler really enjoyed it.  As for Macy, Melissa, and myself......it was ok.  We received a phone call about 4:30 Sunday morning.  It was the hospital letting Melissa know that she did not need to come in.  I guess it was pretty slow so they let her off.  So we went to Church and then we took Sassy to the lake and let her do some swimming.  She went wild in the water.  She loves it.  We all ended up muddy and wet.  Mainly from the dog.  She made sure we were all involved.  Then we had to do some homework.  Skyler has really been impressing me with his writing and his ability to do his homework.  He has been working really hard and we are very proud of him.  He is feeling really good.  His swelling in his cheeks has also started to go down and his appetite is also back where it should be.  He is not wanting to eat every second.  He is doing very good being off the steroids.  We pray that he continues to do well without them.  He is still eating very healthy and doing all his therapies.  Today he had to do an EKG and do some blood work for St Judes.  The results then have to be sent down there for them to take a look at them to see if there are any major changes.  He will have this completed once a month.  We are gearing up and starting to get ready for our big trip.  It is sneaking up on us.  We leave on the 12th and return on the 18th. Then on our way back we are going to parachute out of the plane once we get over Memphis because we have to be there on the 22nd.  We will be there for 3 days going to appts and doing a MRI.  September will be a busy month.  Skyler has started to act like his old self again.  He has been running around with a headband aournd his head and a stick (a paintstick to stir up paint).  He calls himself Po off of Kung Fu Panda.  He has been trying to do his best kung fu moves on me.  That stick kind of hurts.  I told him it was a whoopin' stick.  He didn't find that to funny.  We have a normal week planned with school, PT, OT, ST, and who knows what else.  We stay pretty busy during the week.  Pray that his chemo is doing what it is supposed to do.....destroying this tumor! 

August 30th:

I hope everybody is having a great Labor Day weekend.  We are going to spend ours relaxing and doing some things around our house.  This week was a busy week.  It seemed like we had something going on every night.  Our weeks are kind of crazy and then the weekends are a little more calm.  Skyler had another good week in school.  This week we started rotating his schedule so that he would not miss out on as much.  He was just going in the mornings, but he was missing all of his afternoon classes.  We are now taking him on Monday & Wednesday mornings and Tuesday & Thursday afternoons.  School is dismissed at 1:30 on Fridays so we are going to see if he can make it all day.  He tried to go all day on Friday, but something upset his stomach and he ended up throwing up.  He felt fine after that.  The nurse said it was a lot of mucus, so we think his allergies have set in.  He did take a social studies test before he got sick and made a 100%!  Then once he got sick the school called Melissa and she went up to get him.  Like I said, after he threw up he felt fine.  He had a spelling test to take, so Melissa had him go ahead and take it.  He made a 100% on that also.  He's a smart little cookie.  Melissa went shopping today to get a few things to get ready to go to Florida.  We leave in 13 days.  I watched both kids.  They were full of energy all day.  Something upset Skyler's stomach again and he again threw up.  He felt fine before that and fine right after that.  Not sure if he has a little bug or what.  It is very nerve wracking thoough.  Every little thing he does now is such a big deal and we have to keep a close eye on him.  We are trying to wean him off a few more of his medicines so that might have something to do with it.  Pray that the throwing up goes away and that it is not a daily occurence.  If it continues we will have to have him checked out.  But the last few days he has been acting more and more like his old self.  He has been moving around the house really well.  He will pretty much go at a jog at times and it seems like he his getting stronger.  He woke up this morning about 6:30 and was ready to wrestle and box with me by 6:45.  I was not really awake yet and took several shots to the jaw and stomach.  Finally by 7:45 I told him to go get his mom.  I needed to recover.  A lot of his swelling is gone in his cheeks too.  Since he has came off the steroids his appetite is back to normal and his swelling has went down.  We have found a nutrtionist in Utah that deals a lot with children that have what Skyler has.  We had to send all kinds of information to her and they put a diet together for Skyler.  We are still going thr