9 Sep 96 (11 PM):
Still more improvement. Her appetite is
normal. She talks normally. Most of the
side effects (except her appearance, because
of the steroids) are gone. She still isn't
as active as she used to be, but she's much
better, and she's even content for her folks
to be away for a while now - for a long time
she wanted them around all the time, especially
her Mom.
17 Aug 96 (5PM):
This has been a another good week.
Dennis is back at his job part time, and
Vicki, while still a bit tired, is much
more her normal self again. She's even
looking forward to this year's home schooling,
which she had been dreading since for a while
now neither she nor Tiffany has had any time
or energy to spare.
They have lowered her steroid dosage. She has almost full use of her arm again, she isn't as puffy, the headaches are gone, she has been teasing her dad, the headaches are gone, and her eyes are less crossed. And the vomiting and headaches are gone!
12 Aug 96 (7AM):
This has been a very good week.
Dennis preached yesterday, and Vicki was
back to normal. Today Tiffany had a catheter
put in for the next round of shots (she's on
a new, experimental treatment that doesn't
involve chemo, radiation, or other nasty
stuff, but does require 3 shots a day - ouch!);
all her shots can now go through this catheter.
4 Aug 96 (7AM):
This has mostly been a good week. Tiffany finished
the treatment that involved so many shots. The
last two days have been especially good. Dennis &
Vicki are still tired, but doing well. Tiffany is
still on steroids to keep her brain fluid draining,
so she's rather puffy, but otherwise she's doing
well. Dennis feels they have crested a major hill.
The MRI last week pointed out two things:
27 July 96 (3PM):
Tiffany had a horrible day yesterday; they thought
she was having a seizure and called an ambulance.
The tumor is again blocking off the hole where fluid
passes from the brain case. They did an MRI, and
the tumor has not changed. The doctors are perplexed,
because this sort of tumor is normally extremely
aggressive, and they expected it to have either killed
her or grown much larger by now. They considered a
shunt for the fluid, but decided to just step up the
steroids instead.
Other than that incident she has been doing pretty well.
23 July 96 (noonish):
After the prayer vigil last night,
Tiffany was much better. Today she
is acting like her normal self.
22 July 96 (late PM): Tiffany is having a rough evening. Tom Davis did, indeed, come visit this weekend, and she thoroughly enjoyed getting to hear him play, although she did decide not to sing a duet with him.
20 July 96 (late PM): Tiffany is doing well. Her mom is in much better spirits. We are rejoicing, and still praying.
20 July 96 (early AM):
Yow!!! Tiffany has had 2 really good days in a row!
She is getting good (and enough) sleep. She is eating.
Please keep praying!!!
19 July 96: Nothing much new. We are holding nightly prayer vigils during the time that is roughest for Tiffany (9:30 to 11:30 PM) and we have people praying around the clock for her. One of her musical heroes (see 9 Jul entry below) went to see her when she was in Dallas, and will be playing at church this weekend, all because he heard Tiffany wanted to meet him.
15 July 96:
Tiffany's strength and symptoms ebb and wane. We
had another all night prayer vigil Saturday night,
and will probably be having them every night until
the symptoms are gone. Dennis' parents have come
to stay as long as necessary (T.D. had to cancel a
number of speaking engagements to come down for this).
13 July 96:
We had an all night prayer vigil in front of the Hall's
house last night. Tiffany did much better, and they
slept most of the night. This morning Tiffany was able
to eat again without being sick, her eyes were less
crossed, and her face less puffy. Dennis and Vicki,
though, still have a lot of sleep to catch up on, and
they are battling fear (imagine that!) Thank you,
everyone who is praying!
11PM CDT 12 July 96:
Tiffany is showing The Symptoms again.
Headaches. Crossed eyes. Vomiting.
Vicki is exhausted, physically and
emotionally. Please pray.
9 July 96:
The Make a Wish Foundation heard about Tiffany and
asked her if she had 3 wishes, what they would be. She
wanted to go to Fiesta Texas, meet Troy Aikman, and meet
Tom Davis ("Who?" "a Christian singer." "Huh.") This was
all kind of wild, since she had already gotten 2 of her
previous 3 wishes from when her parents had asked her. She
has been to Fiesta Texas, met Troy and gotten his autograph,
and Tom is scheduled to be in town either this Sunday or next
(the poor Make a Wish people didn't even get to help with
that one - one of Tiffany's grandfathers knew Tom Davis
through some other people, and called him directly. 8^)
Tiffany is doing about the same. IE, she should be on her deathbed; instead, they went to Dallas/Ft Worth yesterday to meet Benny Hinn; next week she goes back to be interviewed by James Robinson (Trinity Broadcasting Network).
1 July 96:
Tiffany's still on various medication for some of the symptoms,
and after-effects of the radiation. These are causing
some swelling, digestion problems, etc.
29 June 96:
The Lord told Dennis (her dad) that Tiffany is healed. Dennis isn't
one to go around hearing the Lord when the Lord isn't
speaking! So despite Tiffany's constant pain and total lack
of energy, the family began thanking and praising God,
and went to Six Flags, one of the things on Tiffany's
wish list. Just before they left, she suddenly started
acting like her old self again, and she apparently had a
real good time. Since then she has shown no more pain,
no more listlessness, and is acting normal.
Copyright 1996 Miles O'Neal, Austin, TX. All rights reserved. Pages maintained by Miles O'Neal. Web service provided free of charge by Net Ads. Miles O'Neal <roadkills.r.us@XYZZY.gmail.com> [remove the "XYZZY." to make things work!] c/o RNN / 1705 Oak Forest Dr / Round Rock, TX / 78681-1514