Our hospital tour continues

James woke at 4:00 a.m. Saturday and began almost screaming in pain because his head hurt so bad. Then, he started throwing up. My sister, Laura, and I rushed him to the hospital (Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte). I was convinced that we had another shunt malfunction and that he would be in the operating room within the hour. But, the CT scan looked fine. Throughout the day, he seemed to get better and by evening he was fine. Until that time, all labs and tests had come back normal, so we were baffled at what had made him so incredibly ill. But, this morning - just before we managed to get out the door for discharge - the culture from his central line came back positive. Since he has no known need for the line in the near future and since we have rarely had success at clearing a line infection - we have opted to just have the line removed. Hopefully, they will get him worked into the operating room schedule for Monday morning.

It has really been nice being at a hospital where we have family nearby to visit and let James know how much he is loved and prayed for. Pastor Edwards came right away on Saturday to see James (with Pastor Clark) and pray for him. Aunt Laura and Amanda, his cousin, came today to spend some time with him and encourage him. Amanda took a dry-erase marker and wrote pictures and messages all over the windows in James' room (there are many windows and they are big). Today, although James still did not remember everything - he did have a much brighter affect and laughed quite a bit.

Please continue to pray for James' future treatment. They did an MRI here and we are overnighting it to Dr. Burzynski. I might not be reading it right because there might be inflammation involved, but it looks like it's possible that the tumor has already grown. We'll see what the radiologist in Houston says. But, we are thinking that treatment is going to have to start soon.

I got a message from Barb - who worked with me at St. James in Chicago Heights and who has also been so helpful in doing the fundraiser for James, along with Kristin. She mentioned that they have finished the fundraiser and have sent the stuff here with the checks. First, I want to say "THANK YOU ALL WHO HELPED AND GAVE!!!!!!!" We REALLY appreciate all you have done. We will take the money and get James started on treatment right away. The information for the medical fund is on the left if anyone wants to help with James' treatment.

More than anything, we appreciate all your prayers.