Thursday, January 11, 2007

More Steady Progress

Chase continues to be incredibly stable overall (vitals, bloodwork, etc) and he’s making slow, steady progress. Today, during one of his PT sessions, he was able to move both of his shoulders along with his trunk and he had considerably more movement and strength in his legs. He really seems to be “waking up”. We’re hoping that his progress will continue to accelerate with more immediate signs of his recovery.

Chase is also making more progress toward becoming independent of the ventilator. We met with a very experienced Respiratory Therapist recently who was very impressed with how far we’ve progressed in the weaning process, as Chase is triggering most of his own breaths now. We’re really on track to get him off the automated vent settings during the day – pretty soon, it’ll essentially be the equivalent of only CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure). We intend to continue using the vent at night, since he seems to need this support and it also ensures that we all get a better night sleep with the proper alarms in place.

We’re spending more time lately visualizing Chase’s complete recovery after our evening prayers and we believe this is helping. We end our sessions with complete gratitude and confidence that our prayers are being heard and granted by God, as we see Chase responding once again. We truly appreciate all the prayers and support – Chase’s Prayer Warriors are an integral part of his recovery. He couldn’t do it without you!

God Bless!!

John & Carol Sammut
Chase & Barbara

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:18 AM

    John and Carol, I am very interested in speaking with you about the treatments you are using for Chase. I am the father of an 8 year old girl who has been diagnosed with DIPG back on September 21, 2006 by the Dr.'s at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. She has received 30 radiation treatments and her last MRI on Dec 18, 2006 the images showed some slight shrinkage and the Dr.'s said the the tumor was in a stable condition. My daughter has been doing well for the last couple of months but her condition seems to be digressing. Please email me back. If it is possible I would like you to call me or I will call you. Desperate Parents in CA.

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  2. Anonymous6:49 AM

    Carol & John - wonderful to read such good news on Chase.

    Carol, I think of you often. A blessed New Year to you and John and the kids.

    Love,
    Lisa (Muchima Kissy) Benjamin

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