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.

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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.