Johnny Update

Damon loves his Uncle Johnny.

My brother John spends a lot of time at our house because we live right next to his work so he comes here whenever he has a break from work.  Damon loves to play basketball with his uncle and John is the one who taught Damon to yell at the TV while watching sports.

John was diagnosed with MS 2 1/2 years ago.  You can read all my Johnny posts here.  When he first found out about it, he had lost sight in his left eye, had numbness in his body and was too dizzy and weak to walk.  Over the past couple of years he has been able to get it under control.  He still can't see out of his left eye, but he has been able to walk and even play sports. 

However, just in the past week, some of his symptoms have started to return.  Each day he has been getting a little worse.  He's numb on his left side, dizzy, and weak.  He went to the ER last night to get a treatment of steroids, which will hopefully slow the progression of the current attack.

Please help us pray for John during this difficult time.  This is something that he will have to deal with for the rest of his life and every prayer will help.

I Shot the Johnny

I'm holding the needle I'm about to jam into John's leg.

John and Krista came over last night, like they do every Thursday.  Recently, John's doctor decided to start him on some MS medication.  This medication involves a shot every week.  Krista refuses to give John the shot, so the first week he did it himself.  But when I heard that he needed someone to shove a needle into his body, I happily volunteered! 

The MS medication is supposed to help stop or slow the MS from doing more damage.  We are hoping that it will help his eye sight come back, but there's no guarantees.  He probably won't see any results for a couple months.  This medication is very, very expensive, (around $500 per shot!) but John is blessed to be able to get it for free right now.

Thanks for letting me shoot you John.  It was a little scary, but awesome.  I should have been a doctor.

P.S. Do you like my new hat?

Johny Update

The latest info we have is that the doctor has decided to start John on some MS medication. He hasn't been improving with steroids alone so they are going to try this. Apparently MS medication is kind of trial and error to see what works and what doesn't. John and Krista are trying to get an appointment with an MS specialist, but the earliest appointment right now is in December. We had a family fast for him today and we will continue to pray for some answers.

I will keep you updated!

Johnny Update

This picture was taken after we finished watching the finale of Big Brother and then, of course, we played 10, 9, 8, 7... and I won!

John, John, John. What are we going to do with you? John's newest adventure is that he has lost feeling in most of his right leg. He is going to go into the hospital for the next 3 days to get an IV of steroids to hopefully counteract this. The doctor still hasn't officially defined this as MS, but the symptoms are very similar.

John is still handling it well. Sometimes his problems come in handy, like when we tell him it's his turn to keep score in 10, 9, 8, 7... he says, "But I can't see!" Or if he messes up when he deals, we blame it on his blindness.

Last night he went into the kitchen looking for some pop that was on the counter, but couldn't see it. It was a little dark in there. If he had two good eyes, there wouldn't have been a problem seeing it, but since he doesn't I said, "You're gonna have to turn on the light." I tried directing him to it, but maybe his illness is affecting his sense of direction too because when I told him look left, he looked right. "You're other left!"

What's Up With Johnny?

This picture is a few weeks old. John doesn't use the cane anymore.

I haven't updated you on John lately mostly because there isn't much to update about. Still no definitive answers. His neurologist's newest guess (because all they seem to be doing is "guessing") is that he won't get his eyesight back. He has an appointment with a specialist at the U of U at the beginning of October. Hopefully that person will have more positive news.

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John hasn't been able to work since the first time he went to the hospital. He can't drive because of his sight and his job consists of working on the computer which is difficult because of his sight too. But he has started school again at BYU and is doing well there.

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Anthon and I see John and Krista pretty often lately. They just left our house a few minutes ago. They come over to watch Big Brother every week. We have also become obsessed with a card game called 10, 9, 8, 7... which we play every time we hang out. Krista works at Orem High so sometimes she'll drop John off at our house while she is teaching dance at the school.

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I think John is handling the situation very well. I don't think I would be able to handle going blind in one eye as well as he has.

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Please keep praying for him!

Family

What is it about family that makes you so happy? I love being around my family. If I'm having a bad day, all I have to do is see my brothers and sisters and it's all fun and games after that.

Anthon and I spent a couple days with John and Krista last week. Friday night we went on a double date and we spent all Sunday together. It's got to be hard for John right now with everything he's dealing with. He doesn't show it, but I know it's hard. Despite his problems right now, we had so much fun together.

We joked around about him being half blind. Someone Krista knows talked to him while we were at dinner, but he couldn't tell Krista who it was because the girl was standing to his left and he can't see out of his left eye. We all had a good laugh about that.

John wasn't feeling very well Sunday morning. He and Krista were going to come to our house for breakfast, but he didn't feel well enough to get out of bed. So we went to their house instead. I don't know if it was John's medication or all the laughter, but John started feeling better and was able to come to our house for dinner. Krista made us breakfast (so yummy), we played a bunch of card games (I won most of them), I made dinner (tortilla soup), and we watched Big Brother. It was a really fun day because we spent the whole day laughing with and at each other.

I know not everyone gets along with their family, but I love mine and we always have fun when we are around each other.

Johnny Update

Krista has posted an update on John on her blog:

www.kandjstory.blogspot.com

It's good to hear about his day-to-day life. Thanks for the update Krista!

Everything Happens for a Reason

Krista and Johnny at a dance competition in March.

Did you know that everything happens for a reason? Sometimes we don't realize it or don't understand the reasons, but there is a reason for everything.

A couple months ago, Krista (John's wife) told us that she is no longer on the BYU Ballroom Dance team. We all thought this was really weird. She is an amazing dancer and has been on the team for the past couple years. She has won awards. It didn't make sense that they decided not to have her on the team any longer.

We realized recently, if she had been on the dance team, Krista would have been out of town dancing the weekend that John needed to go to the hospital. It makes sense now.

Krista tried out for So You Think You Can Dance a couple weeks ago. She made it to 2 call backs, but messed up on her last routine and didn't get the call back to Vegas. We all thought it was a little weird that she messed up because she's awesome at dancing.

We realized recently, if she had made it to Vegas, she would have been in Vegas the weekend that John needed to go to the hospital. It makes sense now.

There are a few things in my life that I don't quite understand the reasoning behind, but these two situations help remind me that there is a reason for everything, even if WE don't know the reason. HE does.

Bribing Johnny

John getting adjusted by Doc this morning.

Krista has been so kind to give me some good stories about John to share on the blog.

John has been on steroids since he first went to the emergency room last Sunday. Apparently steroids can make you angry, so sometimes Krista has to get creative to get John to do the things he needs to do. Yesterday involved a lot of bribing. Tisha told John to take Indian Clay baths 5 times a week. The Indian Clay powder pretty much turns the water into mud. John didn't really feel like doing that so Krista told him she would bring her laptop in the bathroom so he could listen ('cuz he can't see very well) to The Office online while he took the bath. He agreed.

She also tried to get him to do some physical therapy on an exercise ball yesterday. He didn't want to. Krista told him she would let him take a nap first if he would exercise afterward. He agreed. After his nap, Krista showed him what she wanted him to do on the exercise ball. It involved sitting on it and twisting to help with his balance. He said, "That is easy." For someone who isn't dizzy all the time, it would be easy, but John discovered it was a little more difficult than it looked.

This morning Krista brought John to the hospital to get some blood taken. They had to get 9 vials of his blood. Krista was in there with him, watching, until the nurse moved the needle wrong and blood started dripping down his arm. Krista had to leave the room. She started feeling light-headed. She walked back and forth in the hallway for a minute, but then felt like she was going to faint. Luckily a nurse saw her and brought her a chair and some juice. She narrowly avoided fainting and maybe next time she'll just wait outside while they take his blood.

After the blood incident, Krista dropped John off at my house so I could bring him to Doc's to get adjusted. (Krista had to work today.) John's getting better at walking. He has a cane to help him keep his balance. He is feeling less nauseous and a little less dizzy. He thinks his dizziness may be improving because he's getting more used to not being able to see out of one eye. His least favorite thing is riding in a car. He gets a really bad headache from the car. He's going to be going to Doc's everyday until he starts to improve.

You can tell from the picture that he can't shave himself right now. He doesn't have very good depth-perception with only one eye. We are hopeful that his vision will return.

That's all for now. I'll keep you updated.

Another Johnny Update

Got another update for all you Johnny fans out there. He saw Doc this morning and got adjusted. He says he's a little more comfortable now. The numbness in his face also started to decrease today and is almost gone.

He had an appointment with his neurologist today. They ran some more tests, took some more blood. They found "bands" in his spinal fluid which is an indication of MS. So as of right now, they believe he has MS. They do not know which type he has yet.

John has been walking with a cane since he got out of the hospital. Krista likes to watch him run into walls. Krista also likes to dangle food in front of him and see if he can get his hand to reach it. His dizziness and weakness makes eye/hand coordination difficult for him. But at least he's got Krista to keep him laughing.

Krista will begin doing physical therapy with John to help him regain some strength. They will also be on a strict diet together for the next couple weeks. Tisha has instructed that they eat healthy, including fish a couple times a week. So if you know any good fish recipes, please let us know!

Thank you for all your support and prayers. Please continuing praying for him.

Johnny Update

Krista posted a comment on my last Johnny post and I will reiterate what she said here.

Last night Anthon's mom, Tisha Mecham, went to John's house to "test" him. Tisha is an herbalist and does energy testing. She recommended some herbs for him to cleanse out his body. She told him to lay off the soda and milk for a little while and drink some good-old-fashioned water. She felt good about him being able to get through this. Thank you Tisha!

Today John will be going to "Doc," our chiropractor/friend to get adjusted. Hopefully this will help increase his blood flow throughout his body.

I will keep you updated!

Johnny Boy Update

John and Krista are home from the hospital and happy to be able to sleep in their own bed. John is still really dizzy and still can't see out of his left eye. He has an appointment with the neurologist tomorrow. His blood work was sent to the Mayo Clinic to test for NMO. This is a really bad disease that we really hope he doesn't have. We should have those results in a few days.

I'll keep you updated!

Johnny Boy

These posts will be for my family and friends who know and care about my brother John Derington. I will keep everyone updated on how he is doing. The information will be based on what I know, so if any family members know more or different information, please post it in the comments.

John's story so far:

A couple weeks ago, John started seeing fuzzy spots in his vision in one of his eyes. He went to an eye specialist, but they didn't know what was wrong. A few days later, he started feeling really dizzy and started seeing spots in his other eye too. On Sunday, August 2nd Krista brought him to the emergency room. They did a CAT and didn't find anything, so they did an MRI and found white spots on his brain. This made the doctors think it was multiple sclerosis. They did spinal tap to find out if it really is MS (the results won't be in for 2 weeks) and gave him some steroids and said he should be feeling better soon and sent him home.

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The next day, Monday, August 3rd, he went to an appointment with a neurologist. He was still feeling really dizzy and nauseous so the neurologist admitted him into the hospital.

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At this point, his symptoms include no sight in his left eye, numbness of the right side of his face, extreme dizzyness and nausea.

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The hospital has done a few more tests. They tested his heart and everything looks fine there. They have ruled out some viruses. The doctor sent a sample of his blood to the Mayo Clinic for analysis. Unfortunately, we still don't know what is wrong. He was released from the hospital this morning.

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Please keep John in your prayers.