Sorry for the long delay between updates. We just continue to be really really busy with Scott's schedule.

Since my last update, I have better news to report - finally. The way things were going started to really scare us. After Scott's last surgery on Feb 11, we were all really excited about how well Scott came through. Over the next week he continued to do fine and then things started getting worse. He was extremely fatigued and everything started becoming very difficult. The doctors thought the cause might only be some swelling and surgical recovery but on Feb 28 they discovered more tumor growth. That same day, he had the Gamma Knife radiation treatment and the doctors were confident that the radiation could still cover all the visible tumor area but they couldn't make any promises for how successful it would be or what to expect. Over the next week he started two chemo drugs and a host of other medications thought to help boost the effects. Unfortunately, even over the course of that week he seemed to continue to get even worse. It was very scary and discouraging.

Then one evening, about two weeks ago, he woke up from a nap and something was radiant about him. I hadn't seen that in a long time! His face had life back in it. That evening he had a phone conversation with his mom and for the first time in weeks I could hear improvement. Small improvement, but improvement none the less! Hooray! I hoped that was a sign that things wouldn't continue to get worse and it was. I can say that now, two weeks later, because I've seen his language continue to make small improvements and he can feel it too.

He still gets extremely exhausted and needs a long nap every 3-4 hours but he's started to have more energy when he's awake. He's not able to do any reading or writing but we are working on letters, their sounds, and individual words. We've started back with the speech therapist and have been encouraged by his success during those sessions. It's going to take a lot of repetition and practice to bring back the words for many things. People sometimes ask if he's lost any of his memories but it's not that. He has all his memories, he's just lost the language ability to describe what he knows and comprehend many things we say. You can still have great conversations but I advise people to use hand gestures, slow down a bit and definetly ask him if he's understanding. It may only take saying it in a different way for him to understand. We've been blessed by people who have come by for short visits and by those who come over to pray. It's fun and is an encouragement to us. One or two people at a time is enough for now because extra conversations and background noises cause a mental overload and shutdown.

He spends time every day listening to the bible on CD and he calls that his reading. God's word continues to ministers to his soul and lifts him up.

I guess to sum it up, things are stable now and we hope and pray he would remain stable and steadfast in his recovery. Lots of work ahead. Thank you for your constant love, support, prayers and help! We are so blessed by every one of you. You are so kind to keep thinking about us and reading our updates.

Love and Blessings,
Michele and Scott Gray