August 5, 2013
by Stout Family on 08/05/13
Noah's last MRI on June 13, 2013 was stable with no activity and no enhancements, once again. We are always very thankful to God for answering our prayers. Noah's next MRI is scheduled this Friday, August 9th and prayerfully, we'll see good results again - of course we're always praying for tumor breakdown but we'll take stable.
Noah has had home Physical Therapy (PT) with Linda but she, along with Noah's doctors, feel he is ready for that next level of PT. In perfect timing, we were contacted by CCS (California Children's Services), who has offered additional Physical Therapy (PT) and Occupational Therapy (OT) services. Noah is now going to these additional therapy sessions twice a week to get him back to the routine of doing things independently. His 2nd shunt revision back in December 2011 took a toll on him because as his ventricles filled up with fluid - it added pressure to his brain causing some issues with his right side of his body (when he was unconscious his leg was stiff as a board - then when they would tap his shunt to remove the fluid, it would become normal and flexible again). We also believe his long term use of steroids (2+ yrs), caused his body to become more dependent on the steroids versus using his own muscle strength; so tapering him off completely in January 2013 required Noah to work harder in using his own natural strength. In either case - we are very happy because additional PT and OT will get him back to functioning normally. He's pretty excited about exercising in a harness. He remembers going to the Justin Bieber concert and seeing Justin flying across the stage. :-)
Noah has lost 26 lbs (whoohoo!), and will start 2nd grade soon. He's a little bummed about summer vacation ending soon but he'll have a pretty busy schedule with homeschool and PT/OT. He's enjoying every minute of the summer and happy that in no time soon - all of his hard work will pay off and he'll be walking and running around like he used to. Noah continues to lead his 8:00 PM PST devotional prayers asking God for complete healing so he can help other kids who are suffering from this illness and be a deacon in Children's Worship Service (CWS) :-). He continues to inspire me and my entire family with his faith, devotion and trust in what our Father in Heaven can do. Noah is truly heaven sent.
