Dear Family,

Thank you very much for your prayers and concern for Skylar.

We drove to Atascadero last Tuesday night, arriving there about midnight. After a few hours of sleep, we packed Skylar and Suzanne and their suitcases into the car and left for Stanford before 5:30 AM.

When we got to the Children’s hospital we were sent to the clinic where Skylar was prepared for his MRI by drinking a special fluid that improves the appearance of the images taken by the machine. Then we had to wait a while for his appointment, which was delayed until 11:00 AM. Papa and Skylar took a walk out in the courtyard to look at the fountain, and then up on the roof to smell the flowers in the nice courtyard there and to look out over the edge to see what we could see in the world beyond.

Finally it was time for the MRI. Skylar wanted Papa to go with him this time, and so we were taken into the room where the large machine is kept. It looks like a giant mouth, waiting to swallow up unsuspecting little boys. Papa helped Skylar up onto the table where he had to lay
quite still during the process. Some kind of additional fluid was injected into his catheter (I’m not sure just what it was - he was worried because when this had been done before, the fluid made him feel very hot. This time, though, it didn’t seem to bother him much.)

Somewhere during the procedure, the kind technician running the machine turned out the lights in the room and showed Skylar some glow-in-the-dark pictures of stars and planets on the ceiling.

After the procedure, we were off to yet another clinic for Skylar to be weighed and for a meeting with his doctor. While we were in the waiting room, a beautiful little girl (about 3 years old) with curly hair was there, sitting with her mother and grandmother. She, too, had Wilms cancer, the same kind as Skylar has. She had her kidney removed, and was back for a checkup.

Skylar and Suzanne went in for the weighing and consultation with the doctor. Nana and Papa waited. And waited. After what seemed a very, very long time, Skylar and Suzanne re-appeared. "Dad, the doctor said that she is sorry, it was a false alarm". The words I had hoped to hear! One more answer to our prayers!

"When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them." Psalm 126:1,2

The Lord has done great things for us!

At that point, Skylar still had to go for his chemotherapy session; I went down to the car to take a nap in order to be better able to drive home. We didn’t have to stay in Palo Alto!

When Pam and Suzanne and Skylar came to the car later, Pam told me that the little curly-haired girl and her Mom had come back with sad news; signs of tumor growth on her remaining kidney. We left for home about 2:30 PM.

I drove for a while on the way back to Atascadero (about a 3.5 hour trip), and then while Pam was driving, I sat in back with Skylar. We were drawing pictures on his Magna-Doodle (an eraseable drawing toy). Skylar said, "Papa, I want to write you a letter". He began to draw squiggles on the tablet. When he was done, he handed it to me and said "Read the letter, Papa". I said "I can’t read it, Skylar; you read it to me". He took it back and began to read.

I was ready to cry. "I missed you, too, Skylar" I said.

We had a wonderful long weekend together. Skye and his brother Chris and I and Pam and Suzanne drove to the coast one day, and we walked along the beach. We saw elephant seals. We ate an ice cream cone. We played at the park in Morrow Bay.

One day I took the boys to the library. We checked out "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis, and also a copy of "Miss Pickerell Goes to Mars".

Pam and I were able to visit Jeff for several hours one evening, and Suzanne was able to visit him on Sunday.

Every day Skylar and I would go "mountain climbing" (up and down the outside stairs of his apartment). I managed to feed him medicine (some very nasty tasting sulfa-type antibiotics) as well as some good dietary supplements known as nutraceuticals. I started to teach him how to swallow pills.

Nana fixed some good meals and gave Skylar a bath or two (not an easy task; special care must be taken to not get his catheter wet).

All in all, I thank God for a fine time with the boys. I dropped Chris (almost 13 now) off on Sunday morning to go to church camp for a week. Pam and I drove home Sunday evening, and I am back at work.

Thanks again for your prayers. Please pray that Suzanne will faithfully continue to give Skylar the supplements and get him outside for fresh air and exercise. Pray also for a good week at camp for Chris, and for Jeff and Suzanne who are having a difficult time right now.

Your brother,

-Dann

Dann McCreary - creatr@geocities.com - http://creator.cjb.net - http://uptime.cjb.net

"Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life." - Isaiah 43