Dominic's Story: We are done!!!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

We are done!!!

The stem cell reimplantation is done. Dominic is a champ. He had over 11,000,000 cells and they put some of the extra directly into his wrist and thigh muscles. His back is a little sore right now, but he feels good.

He ate a ham sandwich at the clinic and is now polishing off a cheeseburger, schnitzel and a kebob. (We are helping as well). The place down from the hotel is awesome -- ask the Spiers.

We are hopeful that Dominic will continue to feel good and just keep getting better. He is trying to test his new cells, but we are trying to convince him to rest and not to expect everything immediately.

Now, he needs a doughnut. We found a Dunkin Donuts yesterday and brought donuts back. However, he is sure to want the apple streudel with ice cream from downstairs shortly. It is to die for.

We were with families from Wisconsin and Florida today. The boy from WI has CP as well and the girl from FL had development delays that occurred after she was immunized at a year. Please keep these families in your thoughts and prayers as well. It will be interesting track all these children and see what is happening.

We look forward to seeing everyone soon. See a lot of you at the School Supply Sale and Ice Cream social next week. We hope Dominic will stay well and continue to get better. We love you all!!!

2 comments:

UnknownAugust 12, 2009 at 10:37 AM
Dominic is just amazing, he has been such an inspiration for us all. I still do not know where he stores all that streudel. Can he send me some?
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AnonymousAugust 12, 2009 at 8:41 PM
Great to hear Dominic has such a good appetite! He'll come back to us with 11,000 extra cells and a few more pounds!!! I'm looking forward to seeing you soon!
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Dominic's History

Written by his mom

Dominic was born in Scottsdale, AZ on October 29, 1998. My pregnancy was normal and there were no scares until 4 weeks before he was born. I reported to the nurse that he was not moving as much and was assured that this was just because he was getting bigger. On my next appointment two weeks later, he still wasn’t moving much and I saw my doctor this time. She wanted to put me on a fetal heart monitor just to be sure. Dominic’s heart rate was showing signs of distress. I was sent over to the hospital for fluids and oxygen to see if this would help Dominic recover. It did not and by 7:00 the evening he was born via emergency C-section. Everything looked good. He was pink, his Apgar scores were 8 and 8 and there were no worries.

Then, he went to the nursery for the standard testing and it was found that his blood sugar level was 17 (it should have been around 85). Dominic spent the next 15 days in the NICU trying to stabilize the blood sugars. While he was in the hospital, he had spinal taps, brain ultrasounds, and many other tests. When he was released, the doctors did not feel there would be any long term effects from this event.

By about 6 months old, my husband and I started to notice that Dominic was not doing what other babies his age were. We began a very long journey at this point. We got a referral to a neurologist and at 10 months old, an MRI of Dominic’s brain was ordered. The doctors had not discussed any possibilities or problems with us. When we went to check in for the MRI, however, at the top of the sheet on a sticker, it was printed that a probable diagnosis was Cerebral Palsy. We didn’t really know what that was, but knew it was serious. When I asked my husband about this, he thought that they just had to put something on the form for insurance purposes.

Long story short – Dominic did and does have Cerebral Palsy. He is very impacted physically, but cognitively, he is doing well. He is in fourth grade at our neighborhood school and participates in the regular classroom over 80% of the time. He has playdates, goes to birthday parties and enjoys being a “typical” fourth grader. However, he is in a wheelchair that he drives with his head, he uses a computer that he controls with his head and he has difficulty speaking. But he has the best attitude around. He does his school work and then therapies and tries to keep the complaints to a minimum.

Dominic’s form of Cerebral Palsy makes it hard for him to control his muscles. He gets too much input for his extensor muscles and not enough for the flexor muscles, so he looks like he is extending his limbs much of the time. This makes it difficult for him to use his hands, arms, legs and feet.

We are hoping that doing these treatments in Germany will help him relax and control his muscles so that his overall movement is much more smooth. This will help him do schoolwork, move a wheelchair, make speech easier for him and for him to possibly start to use a walker.

Dominic’s attitude is so good and he is such a strong person, that even if these treatments do nothing for him, he will be fine. But what if they change his life …..

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

We are done!!!

2 comments:

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