Update

Holding his all-time favorite toy, a cool whip container!

Max had a CT scan this morning and an appointment with our new doctor, Dr. O'Brien. The CT scan showed that the ventricles in his brain have gotten larger since the CT scan he had a week ago. However, they are considered to be a stable size at the time being. We are supposed to watch him closely for any behavioral changes, changes in sleep, or sickness. Symtoms could indicate a problem. We already know the shunt is not working. No surgery is required at the time being, but I would speculate that it will be in the future. We go back in 2 weeks for a follow up CT scan so that a comparison of the ventricles can be made at that time to the CT scan we had today. Several people have asked me how we liked the new doctor. Well, we waited in our room for an hour and a half to see him and he came in and talked to us for about 2 minutes. So we haven't really had time to form much of an opinion of him. We got kind of conflicting reports on the speck of blood. They feel now that it is not blood, but could be scar tissue or a calcium deposit. They also said it's not in the area they originally thought it was in, but is in the ventricle itself. They don't seem concerned about it, so we're thankful for that. As far as we know, he still had just a virus last week. I guess it's a good thing, otherwise this may have gotten really bad before we ever knew about it. I suppose our specific prayer request would be that the ventricles go down in size and that his body will drain the fluid on its own. Thanks for your prayers! As always, we can never express our deep appreciation for those of you who remember him in prayer.


**A few requests for others**
I've added 2 children to the list of kids who need prayers.

One is a little boy named Jake. Jake Doolittle had an accident on Friday, August 3rd which resulted in a head injury. He was taken to Vanderbilt where he remained for 3 weeks in critical care. He is now in Atlanta undergoing inpatient rehabilitation. I'm not sure of his age, but he's pretty little.


The other is a 14 year old girl named Palmer. John's Aunt Frances sent us the following information in an email:

"...this girl could use all our prayers right now. Her name is Palmer Richardson and she is 14 years old. She had leukemia two years ago, has had two good years, and now has another kind of leukemia. She was treated last week, went home yesterday and bottomed out. They have rushed her to the emergency room tonight and that it all I know. Her website is www.prayforpalmer.com. I know that you understand that prayers are answered and this family really covets our prayers. This young lady has so much faith in her God and is willing to endure whatever she needs to endure for the glory of God. (Her grandfather, Prentice Meador, used to be our minister here at East Sunshine.) Thanks for your help in getting the word out."


Thanks for remembering these other children in your prayers!