Family Gatherings - Dec. 25 & 26

Family picture '09

A slightly nicer picture except that Luke's eyes are closed.

I got this mixer for Christmas. I am so excited. The beautiful girls in this picture are my nieces.

My mother got a snuggie. Colin and Caitlyn looking very excited.

Jon Felipe waiting to open his gift. He was definitely excited. He was even thrilled about getting clothes.

We've been having a nice time spending time together, visiting with lots of family, and eating lots of yummy food.

Holiday Pictures

We had fun taking some pictures with Aunt Pat's new camera. Jon Felipe was not excited about having his photo taken.

Merry Christmas

Thank you all for following along as we go about the day-to-day adventures of our rather ordinary lives. Thanks, too, for your comments and e-mails. I love hearing from you.

Wishing you all the best for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Blessings,
The VanTols

Dr. Z

It took me nearly three hours to drive home from Sioux Falls and I'm still a little shaky from the experience. An ice storm started just as we were leaving Sanford Children's. The roads were terrible, especially 29. It took more than an hour to drive 15 miles and there were cars in the ditch everywhere. Once we got to 18 and headed east the roads gradually improved. They were still icy and I was still a nervous wreck, but they weren't nearly as bad. Plus, the roads had been sanded or salted so cars weren't skidding off the road every few feet.

So, about the appointment: We really liked this doctor. He was very gregarious and spent a lot of time getting to know Jon Felipe a bit. The examining room had a large yellow school bus painted on the wall which Jon found very cool. Dr. Z's opinion is that this cluster of seizures was caused by one of two things. Most likely it was caused by the tetanus shot. In support of this, the seizures started a few hours after he got the shot and lasted for about the next 48 hours. This would mean the seizure on Monday was a coincidence.

The other option is that his shunt is failing. The doctor said that if we had come in last week, he would have sent us immediately for a CT scan, but since the seizures have stopped, he agreed to wait and see if they start again. He is going to contact the neurologist, though, and she may overrule that decision and request the scan. Dr. Z said that the shunt will likely fail eventually - Not good news! However, we don't need to worry about that just yet. I'm pretty sure it was the shot.

This storm may put a damper on our travel plans. I am not anxious to do that type of driving again soon, preferably not ever. Behind the ice storm, which wasn't suppose to hit quite this early, another blizzard is predicted. I love all of you back east and am looking forward to spending time with you, but I also want to keep everyone safe and that may mean postponing the first to ensure the second.

Random Pictures

These are some random pictures from this fall. Maria had to dress up as a cook for the medieval feast at school last week. The picture doesn't do justice to her costume, which was quite impressive. Thanks go to Regina and her daughters for providing many costume pieces to choose from. You can see our Christmas tree in the background. It turned out very nice thanks to my mom who mailed us a box full of ornaments that my kids had made for her over the years so we would have something to hang on the tree.

The next two are of the kids waiting for the bus right across the street from our house. This is a FFA (Future Farmers of America) field and it has now been harvested. We watch the sun rise over this field in the morning as we get ready for school.

The last picture is of Jon Felipe with his decorated gingerbread cookie. He also has one of these cool gingerbread hats that you see some of the other children wearing. He has been wearing his around the house all weekend. It was a very quiet weekend here. Saturday we had "a quiet day at home" and Jon Felipe even spent the whole day in his jammies. We played games, did puzzles, read books. It was very nice for all of us. The best part was JF was completely seizure-free all weekend!

Update - Friday

Jon Felipe had a great day today. He did not have any seizures. Plus, he was able to go to school for Gingerbread Day. When you are in second grade, some things are very important. Apparently Gingerbread Day is one of them. The staff sent me e-mails throughout the day so I would know things were going well and his teacher aide called me at the end of the day to let me know that it had been a good day.

Over the past couple days, I have gotten calls and e-mails from the teachers and even the principal of Jon's school asking how he was doing. I even had several people stop in my office at Dordt today to ask whether Jon was doing better. Apparently their kids came home from school and said they needed to pray for Jon (and that they really hoped he would not have to miss Gingerbread Day). We are definitely feeling that the school community loves and cares about our son. What a blessing!

Last night we attended the Unity H.S. Christmas Concert. The concert ended with the Hallelujah Chorus. Jon Felipe truly loves music and really enjoyed the concert, but he was absolutely enthralled with this song. He really wanted an encore so he could hear it again. We have recordings of Handel's Messiah and will have to play them for him, although I doubt if a recording can have the same impact as hearing it in person. I am so glad he was able to attend with us despite the seizures (we sat in the balcony so any seizures wouldn't bother others, plus the view from the balcony is really great).

Thank you so much for your prayers! It has meant a lot to know that so many people were praying for us. I'll keep you posted on developments.

Seizures

These last few days have been really rough for Jon Felipe as his seizures have greatly increased for some unknown reason. He typically has about two seizures a month. So, when he had a seizure on Monday, we weren't very concerned. Then he had another seizure on Tuesday. Wednesday he had four seizures, include one that lasted almost four minutes. Today he had seven seizures. As you can see, we are moving in the wrong direction. Having so many seizures is scaring him and he spent the past two days glued to my side.

Many of you have let us know that you are praying for him and we are grateful. Please continue to uphold us in prayer. We do have an appointment with a neurologist on January 4. Our doctor tried to get us seen sooner in light of this increase in seizures, but was not successful. They did, however, make an appointment with another doctor at Sanford Children's in Sioux Falls for this coming Monday for us. This doctor is not a neurologist, but I have heard very good things about him and I'll be glad to have him on the team.

I'm concerned, but the docs are less so. He just had a physical on Tuesday so we know he is healthy. Seizures are not a new thing for him. These are just "break through" seizures. That is, these are happening despite the fact that he is taking a medication that he has had success with in the past. He is at the max dose of this med for his weight so the doc is not comfortable increasing his dose. It may be that we will have to add a second drug to his routine. At least, I am hoping it is an easy answer like that.

Dordt is finished for the semester so I can hang out with Jon Felipe as much as I want. I do have some grading to finish, but grades aren't due until next week. JF stayed home from school yesterday and today. We are really hoping he can make it to school tomorrow; however, I have to say that even if having so many seizures in class weren't an issue, he is so out of it from the seizures that I'm not sure how much he would learn. He and I spent the day today making the same four puzzles over and over and over. It was way more fun than grading exams.