September Update I guess it has come time to update everyone on our little Kevin. On Wednesday, August 19, we received a call from school that Kevin was sick, throwing up and complaining of a headache. Dean went after him and made an appointment with the doctor. Upon his visit with the doctor, they decided to do an emergency CT scan to make sure his shunt was working correctly. The CT showed that the shunt was working fine. In order to see what was going on, the doctor schedule an MRI just to see what was going on. His MRI was schedule for Friday, September 11, 1998 at 7:30 am.

On Wednesday, September 16, 1998, the scan revealed that his tumor had grown 20-25%. Well – that was not really what we wanted to hear. So Dean and I made an appointment with the Oncologist to discuss our next step.

On Tuesday, September 22 – we met with the Oncologist and after long discussions, we decided to go ahead and start Chemo in order to be pro-active toward the tumor, instead of reactive. The treatments will be once a week for 15 months.

Friday, September 25 – Kevin is scheduled for surgery to put in his porta-cath for his chemo treatments. So away we go to Childrens Hospital! Kevin had his porta-cath put in without a problem and began his first chemo treatment on Saturday. He was released from the hospital on Sunday and was back at school on Monday!

October, 1998 Kevin has been going for his treatments for 6 weeks and his latest MRI showed that the tumor had not grown anymore!! HALLELUJA!! He is tolerating his treatments well and is doing well in school. He has joined Cub Scouts and is involved in KITs (Kids In Training) in school, where they do coordination routines with basketballs. He really enjoyed Halloween, scaring everyone with his Alien costume..

November, 1998 Kevin is still doing super with his treatments. He has no side effects, no hair loss…just a little fatigue. He is gearing up for the holidays and some time off from school. He brought home his report card of which he made the A-B honor roll and got an award for being a positive action student! We are so proud of him for keeping up and doing so well, in spite of missing one day of school a week.

December, 1998 Well – our Kevin is about to turn 8 years old! He is so excited about his birthday and Christmas. We were invited to a function through Make A Wish – called Fly the Kids holiday celebration. It was the most remarkable thing there ever was. Kevin was so excited to go up in a little 5 seat airplane and he even got to fly it! He got to fly over Texas Motor Speedway where his buddy Jeff Gordon races and was certainly not ready when it was time to land. We had a great time and it was a super idea for all kids to participate in.

December 14 was Kevin’s 8th birthday and he had a NASCAR birthday party. Family and friends gathered and Kevin was overwhelmed with stuff from everyone.

And then there was Christmas…..oh my….we have to add an extra room onto our house!! They both got what they asked Santa for and was surprised with a new puppy – a black labrador retriever named Jack. Kevin and Nicole both had a wonderful day and Dean and I received the greatest gift of all…..we still have our Kevin. He is our inspiration and both of our children are the greatest joy anyone could ever ask for.

Thank you to each and everyone for all the love and support that has been sent our way. We believe that without our faith in God, love of our family and friends this past year would have been extremely difficult. Our wish is that 1999 brings good health and happiness to everyone. We are praying that the MRI that is scheduled for January 19 will give us good news that the tumor is shrinking. We will keep you posted……….