Thad

Thank you for all the prayers! My Uncle has Musclular Sclerosis and his health has een deteriorating over the last ten years. He was very functional up until about a month ago. Just before Thanksgiving he started getting major headaches. He said that he had never experienced that amount of pain in his entire life. The headaches lasted about a month. He went to his doctor who ran different tests on him and found that his spinal fluid was low. I'm not sure if they did a head CT on him or if they assumed that the low spinal fluid was the only cause of the headaches. Most of his symptoms were written off by his doctors as MS symptoms.

During the course of these headaches my Uncle Thad was losing his memory, his ability to walk and talk, and perform his daily activities. It wasn't until Monday night, when my Aunt Judy, came home from work that she found him in such a state that she thought he may have had a stroke. He could not move, talk, walk, he could not function at all. My cousin Thaddeus came over and took him to the hospital. The doctors ordered a head CT and found a large subdural hematoma on the left side of his brain. They also found a fresh, small one as well.

The brain surgeon who reviewed his scans set him up for surgery the next day. At 3pm he went into surgery and was finished in less that 2 hours. The doctors removed all of the large hematoma and didn't see the small hematoma. The day after the surgery he said he felt 100% better. His speech was back and his memory was much better. He is feeling wonderful in comparison. I don't believe he is up and walking yet.

The large hematoma was so big that it put so much pressure on his brain that it moved his brain over a bit. We hoped that once the hemotoma was removed that his brain would "bounce" back into its original place. Unfortunately, that did not happen. There is a tube placed in that gap that is draining excess fluid. I don't know how long the tube will be there but until it is removed he must remain in the ICU.

Thanks for all the prayers! THey were miraculous!

Love,
Krystal

Pray for Thad

Please send out prayers for my Uncle Thad. He has been experiencing massive headaches for about a month. Symptoms have progressed over the last few days and he was taken to the ER last night. A CT Scan revealed two sub-dural hematomas. One of them is rather large and is pushing on his brain so hard that it is off center. The other is fresh and small. He is going into surgery this morning. Please pray for him and his family during this very scary time.

Love & Thanks,
Krystal

Mistletoe in Ramona!

My Aunt Debra has been giving away mistletoe for a donation that will benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. She has been set up at various locations in Ramona and, I believe, she will continue to do so. She has Katelyn's picture on the booth and the mistletoe packages but I just want to make it clear the proceeds will not go to the Katelyn Devermann Foundation and will not benefit Katelyn or our family directly. We are not involved in this effort.

For those of you who may not know, Katelyn is in full remission and as healthy as any two year old should be! We are so very grateful for all the prayers and support that our community, friends and family have offered us through our journey with cancer. She has graduated from monthly to bi-monthly visits to Hem/Onc for blood tests. We are thankful that each blood test has come back free and clear and completely healthy. Thank the Lord!

The NBC tree lighting and Disneyland footage was shown to benefit Rady Childrens Hospital and spread the word that although bad things happen, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. They wanted everyone to know our story and also to show how far Katelyn, as well as Todd, Kiera and I, have come since her devastating diagnosis. Good things happen. Embrace this Holiday season, love, laugh, and be joyous! Good things happen!

Love,
Krystal

Thanksgiving & The Christmas Tree Lighting

Katelyn & busy bee, Kiera, on Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at Todd's Uncle Paul & Aunt Kim's house. There was plenty to eat, drink, and much wonderful conversation to be had. It was nice to be surrounded by so much family this Thanksgiving. Everyone doted on all three of the little munchkins. They are all so much fun to be around. Kate was obsessed with the trampoline and convinced just about everyone to take her up to it at least once. I took Kate & Tayden up there at one point and Tayden was so adorable. She can't actually get her feet off the ground when she jumps, but she would squat down like she wanted to jump as high as she could imagine! It was so cute! Kate would come jump near her then Tayden would fall. It never phased her though, she loved every minute of it. It was nice to have the whole Devermann Family together. It doesn't happen often enough. Now, we can't wait until July! We will be having a family reunion out in Hemet, and hopefully, the whole nation's worth of Devermann's will be there!

We had a good time with a turkey taste test. Kim cooked two different turkeys; one was organic, farm raised, & fresh and another was your typical frozen, pumped full of all kinds of stuff, regular old turkey. Although it got a little confusing I believe just about everyone liked the frozen one! We didn't know which was which until after we all voted. It was pretty good!

Overall, we have had an incredible month! November was fun filled and amazing. We are excited about December and starting a whole new year in January!!!

Tomorrow, December 3, 2009, Katelyn will join NBC and Rady Children's Hospital at NBC's Christmas Tree Lighting! During the festivities Katelyn will get to interact with Micky & Minnie Mouse, we will experience the Tree Lighting, they will show an interview that we filmed with them last week, and there will be three Ice Skating performances. The show starts at 7:30 and will be featured, Live (I believe), on NBC at that time! Tune in to see our little Angel in this magical event!

I just posted a TON of photos on my facebook page! Go check it out!

Love & Prayers Always,
Krystal