He's still dong it

It has been a really long time since I updated this blog. My son has graduated from high school and is now in college on a Division I football scholarship at Norfolk State University. Pretty amazing, considering just four years ago he thought his football career was over.

In retrospect, I can't believe how close he actually came to death. I have heard about other healthy teenagers just falling over dead and it scares me to think about what those families are gong through. I am thankful that his condition was discovered early enough.

If you have some time on your hands, check out a small DB, #32, at Norfolk State for the next 4 years. We are expecting big things from our young man.

Dark days have ended

It has been quite a while since I posted anything to my blog. I figured I would update anyone reading this. My son turns 18 in four months and is entering his senior year. He will be a second year starter for the varsity football squat at O'Fallon Township High School.

Not only has he overcame his previous heart condition but he has also received several football honors and even has colleges looking at him for scholarship's.

Good luck in the future son.

Very Late Update

It has been quite a while since I posted anything so here is the latest and greatest.  On Sept. 4th Dion was given clearance by his Cardiologist to play football again.  After missing his first 3 games he finally stepped back onto the football field on Sept. 15th.  He took over the starting wide receiver position and did quite well.

He finished the season with 7 touchdowns in 6 games and had an interception when put on defense.

Dion is training with a receiver/defensive back coach, Coach Dent, during the off season, so next year he should be a lot better.

You can check out his video on youtube.  Just search for Dion Sullivan or Dionte Sullivan.

 

Up and Running.

The doctor has cleared Dion to go back to training and conditioning contingent on no chest exercises and no chest contact until September. This means that he is cleared to train with his football team as long as he doesn't make contact.

Now that Dion's heart ordeal is almost over I am going to be using my blog space for just random posting and thoughts. Many will be philosophical in nature since that is pretty much how my mind works.

Share this site with anyone what would just like some idle reading throughout the day.

Back to School, Again.

Dion had been healing up very well, so we feel that he may be ready for school. Dion has been going stir crazy with not being able to go to school.

He has been playing basketball outside which leads us to further believe that he is healing faster then expected. He will start school on Monday 23 April.

Tough Week in Review

2 April 2007
Nikki called me at work to tell me that Dion was having problems breathing and I needed to go home. I called Dion and he told me through some very labored breathing that he was hurting. I rushed home to meet Nikki and the chase was on.

We found a Sheriff's Deputy on the way to the hospital and he gave us the 75 mph escort to the hospital. We spent a couple of hours there and after many tests and X-Rays the final verdict was an anxiety attack caused by hyperventilation. Dion said he wasn't able to get a full breath and was breathing faster then normal; this is what caused his hyperventilation.

3 April 2007
Nikki took Dion to our family doctor and he confirmed what the E.R doctors found; nothing substantial.

4 April 2007
Nikki talked to the Cardiologist nurse about the incident and she urged us to bring him to Cardinal Glennon immediately in order to ensure that all tests had been ran. Apparently there was one blood test that would prove or disprove inflammation or bleeding from the coronary artery area. The good thing is that this test was negative.

The final verdict from all of the doctors is that he is healthy and healing normal. The pain in his side is being explained as part of the healing process. He is a growing kid so his sternum is trying to heal as it grows. The pain is radiating down the nerves from the sternum and manifesting in a pain on his side.

5-6 April 2007
He seems to be fine now. The pains are gone but we have meds to counter pain and anxiety attacks.

One Step Backwards

Dion went outside today with the dogs. After playing with them for about 45 minutes and pulling a tree branch to the back of the property he became very tired. I think he over did it because now he is very tired and having some problems breathing.

We have him stretched out and taking it easy for a while. He also had to take a Vicodin, the first in almost a week.

First Day of School - Again

Dion went to school again for the second time. He hasn't taken any pain meds in a few days which is good since the stuff that our doctor prescribed is highly addictive if abused. He is using the chest shield to protect him while walking through the hallways.

I had to take Ashley to the doctor today because she was bit by a spider and it got infected. While I was gone Dion took it upon himself to run Brett's football training; Tevin was sick.

I have some great kids.

More Drugs

The doctor prescribed Vicodin for Dion and this stuff is making him loopy. If I didn't know any better I would swear he was on X. Needless to say Dion has decided to only take it when the pain is too much to bear which is good since the stuff is highly addictive.

More later.

First Day of School

It has been a few days since I posted last so time to catch up.

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Mar 17th
On Saturday O'Fallon High School played in the Basketball State Championship game and came in 2nd place. Obviously teams and players want to win but considering OTHS has never made it to the Elite Eight let alone the Championship game, we think they did well. I needed to remind Dion to calm down a few times because we didn't need him to hurt himself watching a game.

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Mar 19th
Dion returned to school yesterday for the first time since surgery. I ordered a protective chest shield for him but it didn't come in the mail until after he was home. He was fairing off at school okay; classmates carried his books for him to take the load off. Suddenly a student charging out of a classroom slammed into him and made his chest hurt.

I took Dion to his surgon and X-Rays were taken, after reviewing the X-Ray's and pressing hard on his chest he determined that nothing was wrong. This diagnosis didn't make Dion's chest feel any better since the doctor had pressed on it.

---

Mar 20th
Dion is home resting. I called his doctors office and they are going to write an order to give him a couple extra days of rest from school. I think he will be okay after this.

Slight Relapse

Dion had a bit of a relapse yesterday, mainly due to our pups. The dogs began chasing each other and the smaller one jumped up on the couch and flew directly into Dion's chest. He needed to take a couple of Percocet for the pain but he is much better today.

The doctor gave Dion a return to school on Monday. I ordered a plastic chest protector to help him while he is at school; it would suck to have him take a book bag to the chest while walking through the halls.

The chest protector is intended for fencing but it does look like it will work for him just fine. He is going to wear it under his shirt so that he don't look like a dork. I want to protect my kid but not ruin his game.

~ Tschuss
Troy

Life is a Journey not a Destination, so enjoy the trip.

Wrong Way to Sleep

We let Dion sleep in his bed night before last rather then the couch and boy was that a mistake. Little man ended up sleeping on his stomach with his hand under his chest and he woke up the next morning with his chest hurting.

He ended up taking 6 pain pills that day which is a lot considering that he had gone 56 hours without any and the pain pills are Percocet.

We went to the doctor today to see the surgeon for a check up and he said that Dion is doing very well. He will be going to school on Wednesday, 12 days after heart surgery. Either surgery has come a long way or this boy heals up like Wolverine. I would have expected him to be out of school for at least a month. That's my boy.

~ Tschuss
Troy

Life is a Journey not a Destination, so enjoy the trip.

No Medicine

I do have to admit that I am impressed with Dion's progress so far; he is going through the night without any pain medication. It has been more then 28 hours since he has taken any medicine and he says that his chest doesn't hurt.

At the rate he is healing I have no doubts that he will be able to return to football by this summer. The surgeon said that he didn't see why he would not be able too, but I do have to admit Nikki and I had our doubts.

THAT'S MY BOY, YALL!!!!

~ Tschuss
Troy

Life is a Journey not a Destination, so enjoy the trip.

Dion's Get Well Card

Dion isn't a sentimental type of person so I came up with the idea of a Get Well Football instead of card. Our favorite NFL team is the Carolina Panthers so Kevin free handed the panther on this football. I wish I could draw this good.

I think D' really liked it. You can click on the images if you want
to see a larger view of the ball.









~ Tschuss
Troy

Life is a Journey not a Destination, so enjoy the trip.

Battle Scars

It is seven days after Dion's surgery and he seems to be doing really good considering he had heart surgery. He still has to take pain meds but other then that he is in good spirits and is moving around without any assistance. Here is a picture of his "battle scar", disregard the goofy look on his face; it is a combination of being on Percocet and just being Dion.

He has an appointment on Monday with the Cardiologist and they will let him know when he will be going back to school. His chest scar is healing very well and the chest tube hole is closed up. Sorry to be a little graphic but then again we are talking about surgery.

I personally would like to thank everyone that has visited him, sent cards or gifts or expressed their concern for him; we all appreciate it. Folks from my job got together to get him some stuff and he really appreciated it.


~ Tschuss
Troy

Life is a Journey not a Destination, so enjoy the trip.

Recovery On It's Way

Dion is on his way to recovery. It hurts when he coughs but for the most part as long as he takes his medicine he doesn't feel too bad. He has to get up at 02:30 to take his medicine or else he will begin to hurt at 03:00; it is like clockwork.

We converted the living room into "Operation Dion Recovery". We put a real mattress on the sofa bed and set up a T.V and PS2 to occupy his mind. I am going to have him start his homework tomorrow in order to keep him from getting too far behind; just what a young kid wants to hear.



~ Tschuss
Troy

Life is a Journey not a Destination, so enjoy the trip.

Back Home

5 Mar
After a long wait, Dion finally was allowed to go home. It was close to 1700 when we walked out the front door; we went to Sam's in order to get his meds.

The living room is now his bedroom until he heals up enough to be able to walk up and down the stairs on a regular basis.

~ Tschuss
Troy

Life is a Journey not a Destination, so enjoy the trip.

The Surgery was a Success

Obviously I haven't written on this blog for a week now. There is a very good reason for this; Dion had his surgery on Friday. I would like to announce that everything was a success.

Dion's doctor's have said that he is healing up very quickly and they are convinced he will make a full recovery. The rest of the blog will relay a bit of the time line on what has happened so far and for that reason it will be quite lengthy.

2 Mar
05:00
We had to be at the hospital early because they wanted to get everything done on that day rather then put him in the hospital early, so needless to say we were very tired.

07:00

They rolled Dion into the O.R. His surgeons nurse advised that there would be several hours of prep work that would take place so the surgery wouldn't start until around 10:00. They had several I.V's and Art (Arterial) Lines to put in. They put him to sleep a couple of minutes after going into the O.R so he didn't feel any of it.

10:00
The nurse called out to the waiting room to let us know that the doctor made the first incision. My wife almost lost it because the reality of her baby having surgery on his heart finally set in. I took a long walk while listening to my iPod as an effort to maintain. Being a man means I have to stay strong for my family but at the same time the thought of my little boy being on that table hurt my heart to the core.

Dion had a large representation in that waiting room, in fact a little over half of the room was for him. His momma, me, two sisters were there along with several folks from the local area and family that drove several hours to see him. His best friends Tevin and Brett along with their momma G, brother Zack and sister Lacy were there from 5:00 on. Dion's grandfather, Lorenzo and his wife along with my brother-in-law, Mike, drove up from Florida. My friend/brother Kevin and his wife, Mary, drove in from Atlanta. Elder Holmes from the church came in for support as well.

13:00
The doctor came out to tell us that his portion was completed and that everything was a success. He let us know that it would still be a little bit before anyone could see him mainly because they had to finish closing and then take him to ICU.

14:30

My wife and I finally got to see our little boy. He was still unconscious but seeing him alive was a relief. Since he was in ICU the visitors were limited to 2 or 3. His entire entourage, family and friends all cycled through so that everyone could have a chance to see him. He looked like someone out of the Matrix that had just taken the red pill. There were tubes and wires coming out of and off of him and even as he began waking up he still was a not fully cognizant.

18:00

By now everyone had left except for me; I stayed the night with him in ICU. Since my father in law came up from Florida for the surgery I told my wife to leave with him so that she could spend some time with him. She didn't need to stay anyway since only 1 person could stay the night.

Final Notes for the 2nd
I didn't get a lot of sleep but that was expected. My main concern to too take care of my boy and give him some sort of comfort.

3 Mar
07:00
My boy was fully conscience; in pain but still there. With the exception of a few hours of sleep I spent most of the night tending to him and making sure he was as comfortable as possible.

11:30
His momma, grandfather and assortment of friends came up to hospital to spend time with him. and I went home about an hour later to get some much needed sleep.

15:00
He got moved to his room. He is in a private room so that gave him some quiet time; when his friends or uncle weren't making him laugh.

20:00
My father-in-law, his wife and my brother-in-law left to head back to Florida; his job wouldn't allow him to stay very long but at least he made the trip, Dion appreciated it.

4 Mar
Time lines are kind of pointless from here on out since so many different things have been happening. Kevin and Mary left early this morning because he had to get back to work as well.

The doctor removed the chest tube which made him really happy. The chest tube was a painful necessity; they needed to avoid any fluids from building up in the chest cavity. Every time we would take a walk around the ward the blasted tube caused him a lot of pain.

Close to 1800 my sister, Kisha, arrived from Indianapolis. She plans to stay most of the week to help around the house with Dion. She stayed the night at the hospital so that Nikki and I could attempt to get a full nights sleep. Dion appreciated her vigilance through the night especially if he started to feel pain.

5 Mar
Dion both an EKG and Echogram today; the doctors need it to ensure that all the piping is working okay in is heart. We are currently in a holding pattern waiting for the doctor to come visit. We are anticipating that he will be getting out of the hospital today.

I will post his progress and some photos a little later.

Note:
Much love and thanks to everyone that has visited, called, sent cards or expressed their concern during this trying period.

~ Tschuss
Troy

Life is a Journey not a Destination, so enjoy the trip.

Five More Days

We have 5 days left until Dion goes in for surgery. I think all of us are a bit nervous considering the magnitude of open heart surgery. Any skepticism I may have had about him having surgery went out the window today.

I just heard on the news today that a young, 24 year old, running back from the Denver Bronco's, Damien Nash, collapsed and died shortly after a charity basketball event meant to raise money for heart transplant research. He started the foundation in honor of his older brother that had a heart transplant. The ironic part of the entire tragedy is that his death appears to be from an apparent heart attack. What hit home most for me is that he was from East St. Louis, just 10 minutes down the road from us.

I am so thankful that the doctors found this because I couldn’t imagine living without any of my wonderful children. The doctors say that he should be fine after surgery and be able to pursue football; from a parental point of view I will just be happy to have him alive.

I don’t know if the doctors keep track of patient’s progress years after a procedure is successful but I think I am going to have a MRI done on him every couple of years just to be on the safe side.


~ Tschuss
Troy

Life is a Journey not a Destination, so enjoy the trip.

Dion's upcoming surgery

We finally received the news that we were dreading; my 15 year old son needs open heart surgery. The doctors say that he has an abberant origin of the right coronary artery, doctor-speak for saying his right coronary artery is connected to the wrong spot. The plumber connected the pipes to the wrong spot.

He was initially devastated because he thought that this meant his football playing days were over. If you want to say there is an up side to the situation, the surgeon said that he sees no reason why he wouldn't be able to play again; news that made my son happy but not necessarily his mother. She is like most mothers, overprotective of her babies even if they tower over her. Thank God for moms like her, they help balance out big kid dads like me.

On any account, after a few months of recovering and healing he should be ready to suit up again.

All of us are nervous about the impending surgery, but we will keep all of you updated at every step of the way. It is scheduled for 2 March; a day none of us will forget. I feel that he will become a much stronger person out of this, mainly because he now realizes that he isn't invincible, and life is short . Dion finally understands that our greatest asset can also be our biggest liablilty, our bodies, and we have to take care of them.


~ Tschuss
Troy

Life is a Journey not a Destination, so enjoy the trip.