About a {boy} named Drew: No Wheelchair Can Stop Me

Last Monday started like any other Monday.. Amber and I dropped Ryan and Chey off at the church office for summer camp... then went home to get Drew for his dental check up... pretty normal right?? Well it was... 

Drew goes from his wheelchair to the Exray chair at the dentists, they go to take his blood pressure and it's 68/50 sooooo they do a cleaning, while I call the nuerologist, and ask what they would like me to do... 

 We end up at the emergency room in Phoenix Children's Hospital. Luckily it was just an episode, and they sent him home...

So that Saturday we did what we do every first and third Saturday of the month... we served at the food mission our church hosts.  We got our official name badges and Drew was pretty proud to get his because he loves to serve and he loves to show Gods love by giving of his time and self to others... no wheelchair can stop him!! 

I am so proud of him... he really hasn't let the chair stop him. He goes to church with us every Sunday, and loves to go out, he's ready to face his freshman year in the chair if he's still in it {though we keep praying that he's not} 

{UPDATE ON DOCTOR STUFF} 

• Yesterday on the 18th of June we had a regular eye appointment, and the Dr dialated Drews eyes and found scarring in the Chortoid and Retina of his eyes... so the office made an appointment on the 5th of July with a Retina Specialist to get it checked out. This just might be the clue we needed!!! 
• We have an appointment on the 12th of July with an immunologist to check for autoimmune disorders. 

• While we were at the ER we were made much more comfortable about Drew's neurologist's desire to get us into the Mayo Clinic here in Scottsdale, so we are much more hopeful about the possibility that we might get to go there. 

 Again thank you all so much for reading these and for your continued prayers, and for sharing these posts!! Our family loves the comments, and Drew really appreciates the words of encouragement!! 

xoxox

Becky

About a {boy} named Drew - June 2012

So here we are June, Drew is still dizzy, but we now have this awesome high back reclining wheelchair and he can get around the house. We are so blessed to have a house that he can get around in. 

As of now, he's been to a Cardiologist, and it's not his heart, a Neurologist, and it's not his brain, a Endocrinologist, and it's not his glands or hormones, an ENT and it's not his inner ears. 

So now we are on the waiting list for the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota waiting for Dr. Fischer, who is a pediatric specialist in Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome.  {POTS} for short. While the Dr's and I aren't all that convinced that it's POTS it hasn't been ruled out, and since so many other things have been ruled out, it's a long shot, but it's a shot none the less. Drew's neurologist, is making a phone call to a local Mayo clinic that doesn't usually see children, to see if they can work with his case. We are also pursuing a Pediatric Rhumatologist to test him for Auto-immune disorders now.

On the bright side... 

you can see that he has such a wonderful sense of humor from the balloon picture. And with it being summer the pool is up and Drew wanted so bad to get in, so we put him in it.. and to our joyous surprise he loved it!! He can swim and not be dizzy in the water.. needless to say the kids spend pretty much everyday in the pool... which is a joyous sight!! 

 My other 3 kids have been so amazing through all of this, they have been more than helpful, and so compassionate. I
 don't know what I would do without them. 

That's all for now... 

thank you all for the continued thoughts and prayers.

Becky

About a {boy} named Drew

So it was a Monday like any other Monday April 2nd. I was getting the kids ready for school, waking them up, making sure they get ready etc…. as we get the older ones ready to go out the door. I realize that 14 yr old Drew isn’t with them, I go in his room to find out why, and he’s still sleeping, he doesn’t want to wake up, I get after him for the usual you don’t get to decide if you go to school or not, I do…but he still just can’t seem to open his eyes.  I can’t figure out why he’s so tired, he had gone to sleep early the night before… a couple hours later I finally got him awake, when he went to stand up he couldn’t he was so dizzy he couldn’t sit stand or walk un-assisted. Took him to the ER, where they didn’t do much much tell us to see an Endocrinologist to find out why he’s so dizzy.

By Friday we took him to a pediatric ER where they admitted him for a night.. but did NOTHING for him, sent him home with no answers and no help…. so almost 2 weeks after this all started and he was STILL unable to sit, stand or walk un-assisted, and after we took him to the endocrinologist (who said that he didn’t have to see an endocrinologist it was either a  cardiology or neurology need)  we took him to Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Where we saw at least a dozen drs. No exaggeration. They are convinced it’s a neurological problem… but what kind well that is still a mystery.  Is it vertigo?? Is it inner ears?? Is it Cerebral?? Is it in the spinal cord??

As a mother all these questions with no answers are killing me… I’ve hit my stress limit more than once where I’ve broken down in tears. I’ve felt beyond helpless, I’ve felt beaten down, broken, I have asked the Lord why, I’ve asked the Lords help and then taken the burden back not giving him all my trust. I’ve been grumpy, and moody. And in all this Drew has been happy and laughing and maintained a pretty darn good spirit. Which has baffled me… how?? It’s happening to him how is HE not feeling like this too… don’t get me wrong I’m so glad he’s not, but wow. So after coming home from yet another Dr’s appointment where he was poked and prodded with needles etc, I asked him just HOW he’s kept such a great attitude here was his reply:

"its just one of those challenges of life that you go through and you
have to make sure you keep the Lord with you or you can't get through it. If I
loose hope joy or faith then I loose the challenge. "

Drew, age 14

he inspires me. 

I will continue to update on Drew's Mysterious Medical Journey as we know more.