Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Gideon update pt1

I am going to do my best at updating my blog about Gideon. I'll just be copying and pasting the updates from Facebook.

Here they are from the past couple of days:

Oct. 31:

EVENING- Gideon diagnosed with a brain tumor at Johnson City Medical Center; transferred to Knoxville Children's Hospital

Nov. 2:

MORNING- Consultation with a pediatric neurosurgeon at Knox. Children's hospital. Doctor gives the following speculative diagnosis after a close review of Gideon's CT scan: things look very optimistic. The tumor, while large, appears to be benign and treatable. It located in the cerebellum, on the left side, and is approximately the size of an orange. The doctor anticipates that removal of most or all of the tumor with little complication is probable. Also, it is thought that post-surgical recovery should be minimal.

MIDDAY - Transfer to St. Jude's Hospital is imminent, not due to complications but instead due to both ensure the best possible care for Gideon and also due to the nature of the condition.
Gideon was pretty upset at the thought of moving to another hospital (and not going home), but was cheered up by a visit from the UT Track Team!!

Nov. 3:

MORNING - Gideon was released from Knoxville's Children's Hospital to be transferred to Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis, TN, which is the partner children's hospital to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. After a meeting with the residing pediatric neurosurgeon at Knoxville, Gideon was medically released to ride in the car with his parents rather than by himself in an ambulance.

AFTERNOON - After a successful and comfortable car ride, Gideon and his family arrived at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis at approximately 4:30pm [central time]. Check-in went smoothly and Gideon was placed in his new room within 30 minutes of his arrival. Gideon seems very happy with the nursing and medical staff at Le Bonheur, who are very proactive about his needs and have made him feel extremely comfortable and at ease.

An MRI has been scheduled for tomorrow morning (Nov. 4), and surgery is expected to take place on Friday (Nov. 6).


EVENING - The nursing team attempted to give Gideon an IV. The first attempt was unsuccessful, so a second one was made. It appears, at this point, that the second attempt has been successful. A specialist will be stopping in shortly to evaluate the current IV (that was left in) to make sure that it was successful.

Nov 4:

We spoke to Dr Boop and heard similar things to what Dr Harris told us back in Knoxville. Dr Boop is optimistic, yet kept us grounded in possible complications that can arise. This was hard to hear. It was also hard to see the pictures of the MRI.

Please pray as we get help figuring out how to tell Gideon and his brothers about what is about to happen Friday morning.


We are leaning on God so incredibly much right now. Please continue to pray for us.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Praise God! Benign and operable are good words!! I will be praying that all goes well and for God to provide His much needed grace and comfort for you.

Lauren said...

I always read you, but do not comment often. Praying for your sweet family.