Update…

Please read the post below for a full account of what happened yesterday. This post assumes that you have read that.

Ethan had is implants magnets removed last night, a lumbar puncture and an intense MRI. This all happened last night around 9pm.

The results of of his spinal fluid looked good. Nothing out of the ordinary and most importantly no Leukemia.

The magnet procedure went swimmingly. It was done by the same doctor that installed both implants. It was his first removal but the guy is really a great surgeon so we didn’t mind; we also appreciate his honesty. He said it was a piece of cake. As of the writing of this, he has not had them re-implanted. Remember this is just the magnet that is recessed into his skull. It is there to to hold his transmitter to his head. This was not a removal of the actual implant, an important difference.

The results of the MRI, ~11pm, did show a very, very small blocked blood vessel. So yes, he did have a stroke, it hurts to even type it. The good out of all this, the promising part is it comes and goes.

They are doing many, many tests to determine why this is happening. This is not normal for someone in this situation. They can not positively correlate it back to his treatment, sickness, anything. For now it is completely random and they are treating it as something that is happening in a vacuum.

For now he is on bed rest. Laying vertical a couple rooms down from his transplant room on 6West. He is not only in good hands but feels very comfortable. He has already today had Johanna go down to CVS to get him a toy and Sun Chips (green bag), i believe its green. Regardless, he asks for the sun chips based on the color of the bag which is one of the things i love about him.

It’s a waiting game, wrapped in uncertainty, sprinkled with fear of the unknown. In keeping with Johanna’s mantra of not holding anything back, yesterday was the single worst moment of my life. The second and third place moments you all know. Learning your son is deaf and learning he has cancer are at those positions for good reason. Those moments are placed there for the same reason a fully alive Zebra is calm when Lions are eating it to death. When you hear the words ‘deaf’ and ‘cancer’ your brain softens the blow, it goes into shock, denial and refuses to allow you to accept the news. Yesterday was different. Learning his left side was limp and wondering if it would ever comeback was vivid. I was alone in the car racing home when she told me that detail, when i hung up the phone i completely lost it. I didn’t just tear up, i didn’t just cry i completely lost it. I have never cried so hard or screamed so loud. When will the madness end, when will he get his normal life back.

Please pray for him. I’m not sure why I’m writing all this but it helps. I seriously believe that prayer will work on this one, I only have past history to go on, which has shown it to work. If you’re not the praying type, just say his name out loud; we’ll take anything.