More progress

Dylan is doing so good! We spent the weekend there and he is doing so many new things. When we saw him on Friday night he was still awake and he picked his head up off the bed and was watching us and then he repositioned himself on the bed to get more comfortable.
He is moving his arms more, he actually picked his left arm up over his head and rested it behind his head (like you do when you stack your hands under your head to relax) and then he was sitting like that for a few minutes. And yesterday we had him in his wheelchair to take him outside and he put his arm up on the armrest and was relaxing like that, he normally just sits with his arms tucked really close to his body.
He was smiling a lot yesterday afternoon too!! We got a smile out of him when we were joking around again, and this smile was on his face for quite a while!!! Then we were walking around the hospital and one of the workers stopped Dylan and was talking to him and Dyl smiled at him and kept that smile on his face for a long time and then he smiled at Dan when we were sitting outside for a few minutes!!! It was sooo great to see!! He is also more aware of his surroundings and what is being said around him. On Saturday, I was talking about painting my toenails and Dylan lifted his head right off the bed and was looking at my feet, as if he was seeing if they were already done.
He has made so many strides in the last week that we couldn’t believe it!!! The staff is so pleased with his progress too!! He is now getting more food on a daily basis and because they have increased the dose of food he is eating, they are monitoring him again because his blood sugars went up. He was over 400 on Friday night, but by Saturday he was in the 200’s again. They are very good about keeping track of him and he seems to be leveling out again.
We want to send huge thanks to all the wonderful people who volunteered to help with the bake sale!!! It truly warms our hearts to know how many people care for Dylan!!! He’s improving so much, please continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers!! He’s doing great!! :o)  --Keri

Dylan is doing better and better everyday!

I would like to thank everyone who helped with the bake sale and all the people who donated to the medical fund. I wish Dylan were able to see how much support he has, first hand! I am beside myself to see, and hear all the great things his friends have to say about him. I stopped by Carson Middle School this week and it was more than uplifting to hear all the love for Dylan from the administration and students in the office. He truly is an incredible kid!

Peace, Love And Prayers, Dylan!

THANK YOU!

Today was a great day for a bake sale at Sunflower. They have the best customers! We raised just over $1,000 to help Dylan. A Big Thank You goes out to everyone who donated, baked, and volunteered you are all awesome!

Fundraiser for Dylan!

On Saturday, April 24th we will be holding a bake sale to raise money for the Dylan Skay Medical Fund. Please stop by and say "HI". We will be at the Sunflower Market located at Pantano and Broadway from 11-3pm. See you there!

Smile!

The weekend was great! He's not only holding his head up really well, he smiled at us on Saturday. Dan and I were joking around and Dylan seemed to understand and started smiling in the middle of the joking. We have working Dylan out pretty good on his range of motion and all the doctors and nurses at Hacienda have noticed that Dyl really seems to be progressing quite well. He is more alert and very aware of many things and the people who are around him. He does very good at following the sound of voices and is awake most of the day now. He only took a one hour nap on Saturday. We are so proud of him, he's doing an awesome
job with everything. I can't tell you how excited we were when we saw that smile and then we were able to get him to smile twice more on Saturday after that. - Keri

Great progress!!

Dylan is doing really well. He is able to hold his head and shoulders up for longer periods of time than last week. He is also moving his mouth more (like he wants to speak) and when we put blistex on his lips he puckered up and then rubbed them together to spread it around. He’s also opening his mouth right away when someone asks him to, when they have to do the medicine and when they want to brush his teeth. We spoke to his doctor on Sunday and he said he’s noticed improvements in Dylan too. He said he’s more alert and seems to focus better than before, woohoo!! He’s going to have another doctor do an evaluation to determine the course of therapy that is correct for Dylan. We spent Saturday and Sunday working a bit more on his range of motion. He’s been pretty loose and is able to stretch out very well. We have also been using his boots more and his hand splints a bit too. It seems like he’s more used to the boots now, he doesn’t get mad right away when you put them on, he had them on for a good four hours on Sunday and they didn’t bother him at all. When I was talking to Dylan on Sunday he really seemed to concentrate on me very well, he looked right at me and when I’d pause it was like he was waiting to hear the rest of the conversation. He’s making so many improvements lately. His sugars are still on target…the doctor has him on just two insulins at this time, but they are still monitoring to make sure that will be enough. - Keri

Hey guys! I hope all is well with you. I am really happy to hear so many awesome things about dylans progress. I have been really swamped at work and think of you often, I mention scouting alot while working, in fact the other day I had an senior customer ask me what troop I was with! I told him troop 129, he asked where we chartered from, and I said, "The church on broadway before IHOP.

He came back to the room bearing a 30 year old troop 129 asst. scout master uniform, He told me he stayed in two years after his kids quit because he liked to hike. Appearantly the troop was known for being the "hiking troop".

Easter Weekend

The weekend went well. Dylan had quite a bit of company up in Phoenix this past week! Dena, Chris, Demetri, Xander, Maddison, Meagan, Jeffrey, Jeff and Lynne all came up this weekend to see him! It was so nice for him to be able to see everyone! He really seemed to connect so well with Meagan! His eyes were wide open whenever she spoke and he was focused on her a lot! So great to see him react that way!! The kids were unable to come into the care facility because they don’t allow anyone under the age of 13 in there, but we took Dylan outside for quite a while a couple of times on Saturday so he could see them. He was very focused on Maddison when he saw her. He seemed to watch everyone when they were talking and really enjoyed having the family around! The kids were a little shy at first, but everyone was back to normal soon after they saw him.

Dylan has been working really hard on his sitting and doing the sit/stand machine he is also doing a great job with the decision making skills he is developing through eye contact. We try and ask him a lot of yes/no questions so he can make a choice that way too! His blood sugar levels seem to be getting back to “normal” as well. We spoke to the nurse this weekend and she said he’s pretty stable with the sugar levels lately, but they will continue to monitor him and make sure he stays that way. They have started doing the 24 hour insulin in the day time to carry him throughout the day and into the night and they boost the 24 hour insulin in the evening at 8pm with a 12 hour insulin. This seems to be working well. They are pleased with the results so far. The doctor indicated today that they may try and use novolog (short acting) insulin soon, but he hasn’t made a decision yet.

Dylan started really moving his mouth, as though he wants to speak, the other day and is doing that quite consistently!! We were so excited the first time we saw that!! He’s also doing a great job with picking his head and shoulders up off the bed and slightly repositioning himself on the bed. He’s done this quite a bit throughout the last couple of weeks!
We started a picture collage of all Dylan’s friends/family up on the cork board in his room, it’s a work in progress, but at least he sees everyone during the day that way. - Keri