What an amazing day today. I never expected that today would be such a life changing day for Carter, but it did. This is all due to ONE AMAZING TEACHER- COLONEL SAYLES at Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas. As many of you know, Carter was in his High School's JROTC program and was looking forward to becoming a Navy Seal. All this changed when he was diagnosed with CMT. We went up to the school today to get his form for his permit to drive. When we arrived we bumped into his JROTC friends, who were "training" the new recruits. They all came running over and said "I am so sorry man to hear what happened." Carter told them all "Its o.k. I'll still come visit you all." After our goodbyes we went into the office to pick up the form and I could tell as he was signing it he was upset. He said "I didn't realize how hard this was going to be." He was talking about going back to school and being around all his friends that are doing everything he used to do but can no longer do. I told him "I know honey, I know it's hard but we will get through this." As we left we decided to stop in the class and inform Colonel that Carter is no longer going to be in JROTC.
When Carter told Colonel "I am here to tell you I am leaving ROTC." Colonel said "What? No you aren't. Why would you leave? This is what you have always wanted. You are not leaving!" We then explained to him that Carter was diagnosed right after he came back from ROTC Leadership camp with CMT. I explained what the disease was and how Carter can no longer stand for long periods of time due to severe pain, run due to pain and fatigue and that he just simply cannot handle some of the rigors of ROTC. Well lets just say that Colonel was not letting go of Carter that easily. He said "I am not letting you go, I want and need you to stay. You are my leader, I need you!" "You see all those Freshman out there?" "I need you to lead them." "ROTC is not just about joining the Military, it is about leadership, teamwork, and family." "I will make accommodations for you so you don't have to march or do drills." He went on to say that Carter can take on more of a leadership role, since he went to leadership camp and administrative work as well. He will teach him how to put stuff into the computer, he can time the PT guys and so much more. He kept telling him I need you and I am not letting you quit! I started to cry and everyone had tears welling up in their eyes. Going above and beyond Colonel also said that he can help us with fundraising! Even better he told Carter he could become a government contractor to do Military analysts or a strategist for the SEALS and he would help him with this. .
In my opinion Marcus High School should be honored to have such a great teacher leading their kids and the government should be proud and honored to have him as well. TODAY COLONEL SAYLES MADE OUR DAY! What started out as a sad day ended on such a high note! All due to one teacher, taking the time to care about one student and not giving up on him! Instead, inspiring him, teaching him, believing in him and telling him you are special.
THANK YOU COLONEL SAYLES for making this year a better year even before it starts.
Oh and at the end he said "So tomorrow I expect you here at 7 am in your BDU's." "Yes Sir" said Carter.
Showing posts with label Carter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carter. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
No Limits!
Sorry everyone its been a few days since I posted but it has been sooooo crazy. What's new right? The boys are all doing well and are soo excited to be getting requests for the bracelets. We have now sent out about 40 bracelets and have given out about 20. I have been asked several times what does the green bracelet mean? I of course say CMT(Charcot Marie Tooth) and Carter's Challenge. I will say this has been such a great idea, I love being able to spread the word just by a bracelet.
This week Carter has been busy with Drivers Ed! Thanks Pa! He received a 90 on his first test and then he passed his other test, they didn't give us a score, but he now gets his permit!!!!! Woooo Hoooo! He is excited but nervous and I don't blame him. I remember I was sooo nervous when my dad took me out. I had to learn on a stick. I told Carter how my dad took me to a parking lot and made me start and stop on this huge hill in the Business Park. It was sooo nerve wrecking but after many hours of practice I never had problems with a clutch on a hill in S.F. What is cool about his Drivers Ed class is they get to use simulators. Carter says it is so fun, I guess he gets to drive at 90 mph on the game....just not in real life please....
Carter's 2nd appointment with his Physical Therapist went well. She said she now knows his limits and what works for him and what doesn't. She said it will be a work in progress. Carter does stretches for his toes against a wall, he works with bands to help his hamstrings and calves and does lots of other things to help his Achilles heal and ankle. It was funny cause I couldn't see him at one point, I had Ayden so we were up in the waiting area, but I heard Alise say to him "Carter I can see you, you are cheating!" She then told her assistant to help him since he's a cheater! LOL. I guess when he does some of his stretches with the bands, his feet tend to go outward and he needs to keep them neutral. He also got his first taste of electrical stimulation, which is were they stick electrodes on your skin to contract certain muscles. This helps strengthen the muscles and brings blood to the those muscles to help them heal faster. I guess when he was getting this done she kept asking Carter "Can you feel it or are you numb?" Apparently, he said he was numb so she had to keep raising the level up! He said after raising it several times she was finally able to get the muscle to contract. Carter said it was really funny because she kept looking at him like are you o.k. and he would laugh and smile at her.
So she told us that he needs to do his exercises everyday no matter what, even if he is at a friends house. Which is exactly what happened yesterday and today. I guess he is keeping his word and following through with it.
Yesterday, Carter and Carson left our house and said they were going on a walk. Well that was at 7pm, I get a call at 9:45 from Carter, Tyler and Carson telling me "Ma! We are at Chicken Express! My phone is dead so I thought I should call you so you don't freak out." I said "Too late." At least they called....then I get a call at 11:45 saying we are at Tylers house and I am spending the night. Come to find out that they had walked from Chicken Express back to Tylers house and around Castle Park, it is a pretty good distance from our house. Carter said his knees hurt and his feet hurt but he kept on going. It took about 45 minutes for the pain to go away but at least it did. I told him today, no walking or running!
As for Zachy, he has had a great week. He has been staying cool in the pool! I am soooo glad that he loves swimming since it is one of the best things for his CMT. We also went to Scottish Rite on Tuesday to get the results of his learning tests. We arrived at 9:25 and didn't get out of there until after 2! It was a great meeting but of course more work for me. I met with the head Dr. and another Dr. for 3 hours and went over all the results. Bottom line, Zach has ADHD. She said he is "consistantly, inconsistant" with his work. He is very smart but his ADHD is getting in the way. She told me I will have to work a lot with Zach on getting him into different routines and I will need to get the school to make some adjustments to his IEP plan. She really wants him to be able to use a keyboard in school since his handwriting is so bad due to the ADHD and his CMT. I also have to get 3 different books on raising a child with ADHD and one book for Zach on what it is like to have ADHD. She told me to read up on it and get him in to see his Dr. so we can get him on a medication that will work best for him. Long story short, I need to make chore charts, house rules, daily charts...charts, charts and more charts. All so he can be visually reminded. She said I might have to repeat myself a couple of times. Oh and I have to have lots of patience too. Um, Houston we might have a problem....I don't have a lot of patience. I guess I will have to try harder...
On Wednesday Zach went to the Urologist and that was a interesting visit. It was at Children's Hospital in Plano and we were the first patient of the day! Love it! We did not have to wait and the visit was all about him. She first started with an ultrasound of his bladder full, then they had Zach empty his bladder and did another one. Good news is his bladder did empty almost completely. Then we went on to some not so fun stuff. A series of questions that no one likes to talk about....yep you guessed it, poop. She pulled out the handy dandy "stool chart" which is basically like a police lineup where you pick the bad guy. Anyway, after discussing this they took another ultrasound to see if his bladder was filling up like it should and if there was anything else going on. His bladder wall looks great and so does his bladder, the only thing is his colon is pushing on his bladder and this could be the issue. What do we do about it? We make sure to go to the restroom every 3 hours, drink only 2 cups of milk a day, lots of water, lots of fiber and more. I found out that Zach has been told he cannot use the restroom during the day at school because they are in the middle of a lesson plan or something. The teachers ask him "Is it a dire emergency?" The doctor flipped out and said "Yes, for you it is a dire emergency." She wrote a letter to the school telling them if he needs to use the restroom they must let him every 2 hours for medical purposes. I check back in with her in two weeks to see if there is any improvement with him and then take it from there.
Overall, pretty good week, just super busy. I am a little overwhelmed at this point now that I have to research ADHD too. But we do what we have to do to take care of our kids. I have been super busy designing the logo for Carters Challenge and think I am done. We will be trying to find someone to help us with it and load it onto the web. If you know anyone that could do it for free please let me know. We are trying to get all this done asap since big things are going to be coming in September! There will be more on this next time. Be prepared to help with CMT awareness. Each and everyone of you will be asked to help.
Until Next Time...........................Charcot Marie Tooth Disease-Funny Name, Serious Disease!
This week Carter has been busy with Drivers Ed! Thanks Pa! He received a 90 on his first test and then he passed his other test, they didn't give us a score, but he now gets his permit!!!!! Woooo Hoooo! He is excited but nervous and I don't blame him. I remember I was sooo nervous when my dad took me out. I had to learn on a stick. I told Carter how my dad took me to a parking lot and made me start and stop on this huge hill in the Business Park. It was sooo nerve wrecking but after many hours of practice I never had problems with a clutch on a hill in S.F. What is cool about his Drivers Ed class is they get to use simulators. Carter says it is so fun, I guess he gets to drive at 90 mph on the game....just not in real life please....
Carter's 2nd appointment with his Physical Therapist went well. She said she now knows his limits and what works for him and what doesn't. She said it will be a work in progress. Carter does stretches for his toes against a wall, he works with bands to help his hamstrings and calves and does lots of other things to help his Achilles heal and ankle. It was funny cause I couldn't see him at one point, I had Ayden so we were up in the waiting area, but I heard Alise say to him "Carter I can see you, you are cheating!" She then told her assistant to help him since he's a cheater! LOL. I guess when he does some of his stretches with the bands, his feet tend to go outward and he needs to keep them neutral. He also got his first taste of electrical stimulation, which is were they stick electrodes on your skin to contract certain muscles. This helps strengthen the muscles and brings blood to the those muscles to help them heal faster. I guess when he was getting this done she kept asking Carter "Can you feel it or are you numb?" Apparently, he said he was numb so she had to keep raising the level up! He said after raising it several times she was finally able to get the muscle to contract. Carter said it was really funny because she kept looking at him like are you o.k. and he would laugh and smile at her.
So she told us that he needs to do his exercises everyday no matter what, even if he is at a friends house. Which is exactly what happened yesterday and today. I guess he is keeping his word and following through with it.
Yesterday, Carter and Carson left our house and said they were going on a walk. Well that was at 7pm, I get a call at 9:45 from Carter, Tyler and Carson telling me "Ma! We are at Chicken Express! My phone is dead so I thought I should call you so you don't freak out." I said "Too late." At least they called....then I get a call at 11:45 saying we are at Tylers house and I am spending the night. Come to find out that they had walked from Chicken Express back to Tylers house and around Castle Park, it is a pretty good distance from our house. Carter said his knees hurt and his feet hurt but he kept on going. It took about 45 minutes for the pain to go away but at least it did. I told him today, no walking or running!
As for Zachy, he has had a great week. He has been staying cool in the pool! I am soooo glad that he loves swimming since it is one of the best things for his CMT. We also went to Scottish Rite on Tuesday to get the results of his learning tests. We arrived at 9:25 and didn't get out of there until after 2! It was a great meeting but of course more work for me. I met with the head Dr. and another Dr. for 3 hours and went over all the results. Bottom line, Zach has ADHD. She said he is "consistantly, inconsistant" with his work. He is very smart but his ADHD is getting in the way. She told me I will have to work a lot with Zach on getting him into different routines and I will need to get the school to make some adjustments to his IEP plan. She really wants him to be able to use a keyboard in school since his handwriting is so bad due to the ADHD and his CMT. I also have to get 3 different books on raising a child with ADHD and one book for Zach on what it is like to have ADHD. She told me to read up on it and get him in to see his Dr. so we can get him on a medication that will work best for him. Long story short, I need to make chore charts, house rules, daily charts...charts, charts and more charts. All so he can be visually reminded. She said I might have to repeat myself a couple of times. Oh and I have to have lots of patience too. Um, Houston we might have a problem....I don't have a lot of patience. I guess I will have to try harder...
On Wednesday Zach went to the Urologist and that was a interesting visit. It was at Children's Hospital in Plano and we were the first patient of the day! Love it! We did not have to wait and the visit was all about him. She first started with an ultrasound of his bladder full, then they had Zach empty his bladder and did another one. Good news is his bladder did empty almost completely. Then we went on to some not so fun stuff. A series of questions that no one likes to talk about....yep you guessed it, poop. She pulled out the handy dandy "stool chart" which is basically like a police lineup where you pick the bad guy. Anyway, after discussing this they took another ultrasound to see if his bladder was filling up like it should and if there was anything else going on. His bladder wall looks great and so does his bladder, the only thing is his colon is pushing on his bladder and this could be the issue. What do we do about it? We make sure to go to the restroom every 3 hours, drink only 2 cups of milk a day, lots of water, lots of fiber and more. I found out that Zach has been told he cannot use the restroom during the day at school because they are in the middle of a lesson plan or something. The teachers ask him "Is it a dire emergency?" The doctor flipped out and said "Yes, for you it is a dire emergency." She wrote a letter to the school telling them if he needs to use the restroom they must let him every 2 hours for medical purposes. I check back in with her in two weeks to see if there is any improvement with him and then take it from there.
Overall, pretty good week, just super busy. I am a little overwhelmed at this point now that I have to research ADHD too. But we do what we have to do to take care of our kids. I have been super busy designing the logo for Carters Challenge and think I am done. We will be trying to find someone to help us with it and load it onto the web. If you know anyone that could do it for free please let me know. We are trying to get all this done asap since big things are going to be coming in September! There will be more on this next time. Be prepared to help with CMT awareness. Each and everyone of you will be asked to help.
Until Next Time...........................Charcot Marie Tooth Disease-Funny Name, Serious Disease!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Don't Worry Cause Every Little Thing Is Gonna Be Alright! July 22nd
The title is what I keep saying to myself, I am not a huge Bob Marley fan...the words to his song just seem to fit with how I am feeling today. I know that there will be good days and bad days, happy and sad days and days when you just want to wish it all away. Today was one of those days. As I said earlier this week, we took the week off from appointments so Carter and the rest of us could have a break from the craziness. I knew I would get calls here and there from his Doctors but I honestly didn't think that I would one get a call from an assistant and get scolded & yelled at. Yep, you read it correctly, I actually felt like I was a child being repremended by my parents! See Carter, was scheduled for a Stress EKG today, July 22nd, and I knew that after a day at Six Flags he wouldn't be able to do it. I cld and left her a message saying I needed to reschedule. She calls today precedes to tell me I am wasting there time that I keep having to reschedule and now I won't be able to get in for a couple of weeks! I said "I am sorry, but my child is ill and we have had to reschedule before because he had other tests that had to be run and as for today he physically cannot do a stress test." She said "What do you mean he can't do it! He can and he should have I don't understand why he can't do it!" I told her that he has Charcot Marie Tooth Disease and yesterday he was in a lot of pain and there was just no way I was going to make him try and run today." Can you believe she said to me "What is Shark whatever, I have never heard of it before. That is no excuse for not coming to a scheduled appointment again!" I told her the name again and said "You won't have to worry about me rescheduling because I will no longer be using your Doctor and his Pediatrician will be hearing about this horrible experience!" I hung up and thought WOW did that really just happen?
Then I get a call from his Ortho's assistant letting me know that she spoke with Dr. Brown and he wants to go over foot surgery with Carter and I on August 25th. She said he believes that Carter will need 3-5 surgeries per foot but that we will go over everything at the appointment. I asked her a couple of questions about the surgeries and she answered as much as she could. She said that recovery time is around 6 months, he will be in casts for awhile and that we should think about doing it over xmas break. So I will update you all once I speak to the Dr. on the 25th of Aug.
Carter went to Six Flags yesterday with his BF Parker from Idaho! They had a blast and went on the Texas Giant 4 times! He was exhausted though when he came home and said his feet, ankles and legs hurt. I knew he would probably hurt after a day on his feet but I also knew that this would be a great memory for him and Parker!
Just like the title says "Every little thing is gonna be alright!"
Remember it just takes you sharing this website with one person and they share it with someone else and so on and so on. This is how we spread awareness and get help finding a cure! THIS IS A HEREDITARY DISEASE! Someone you love could have this and might not even know it but now you know what to look for.
High arches
falls alot or trips a lot,
hammertoes
Foot drop
"inverted champagne bottle" legs
skinny calves
high step gait
pain in feet or legs or hands
Know these signs so you can help.
P.S. Special thanks to Momma Charla today, she must have had esp because she called right when I needed it. She picked me up and dusted me off! Much Much Love! XO
AS CARTER SAYS "STAY POSITIVE AND BELIEVE"
Then I get a call from his Ortho's assistant letting me know that she spoke with Dr. Brown and he wants to go over foot surgery with Carter and I on August 25th. She said he believes that Carter will need 3-5 surgeries per foot but that we will go over everything at the appointment. I asked her a couple of questions about the surgeries and she answered as much as she could. She said that recovery time is around 6 months, he will be in casts for awhile and that we should think about doing it over xmas break. So I will update you all once I speak to the Dr. on the 25th of Aug.
Carter went to Six Flags yesterday with his BF Parker from Idaho! They had a blast and went on the Texas Giant 4 times! He was exhausted though when he came home and said his feet, ankles and legs hurt. I knew he would probably hurt after a day on his feet but I also knew that this would be a great memory for him and Parker!
Just like the title says "Every little thing is gonna be alright!"
Remember it just takes you sharing this website with one person and they share it with someone else and so on and so on. This is how we spread awareness and get help finding a cure! THIS IS A HEREDITARY DISEASE! Someone you love could have this and might not even know it but now you know what to look for.
High arches
falls alot or trips a lot,
hammertoes
Foot drop
"inverted champagne bottle" legs
skinny calves
high step gait
pain in feet or legs or hands
Know these signs so you can help.
P.S. Special thanks to Momma Charla today, she must have had esp because she called right when I needed it. She picked me up and dusted me off! Much Much Love! XO
AS CARTER SAYS "STAY POSITIVE AND BELIEVE"
Tuesday, July 19, 2011 2:22 PM, CDT
Week Off!
I decided to let Carter take a break from the Doctors this week. I can tell all the Dr. appointments and being poked at is getting to him. We did have a stress EKG set up for Fri but I am going to move it until next week. Right now we are waiting for the results to come back from last Friday's EMG test. The Dr. did say he believes he has Axonal CMT and it is rare. It just figures everything with Carter has always been rare or different, he can never be the "norm". Ever since he was in the womb! So as for now nothing new to update as far as Dr. appointments or results. He has now posted on his facebook about the disease and is getting a ton of support from his friends. I will say he has done an outstanding job in choosing his friends. They all want to help and are praying for him. They all want us to get T-Shirts made up for them to wear in support. So this is on my to do list. I have already talked to a couple of people about it. We did get the bands made and hopefully those will be here in a week or two. He and his friends are all excited about it. If you would like one please feel free to leave him a message on the guest book about it. I am not sure if everyone knows about the guest book or not. It is a place that you can leave messages for Carter. Inspiring Quotes, suggestions, words of encouragement, hellos and so forth. I am sure you all get it. Well off to go clean! He is off to play xbox! Again! LOL.
Until Next Time......
Michelle and Carter
Until Next Time......
Michelle and Carter
Friday, July 15, 2011 8:45 PM, CDT
Inspire
The last 2 days have had there ups and there downs. I can tell you one thing I have learned through this is that, Carter is someone that I inspire to be like. I wish I had just a smidgen of the positivity he has. Through all of this he has stayed positive and has a great sense of humor about the whole thing. There was a quote on one of my blogs that I just fell in love with the other day and wanted to put it on here. I love it and believe it whole heartily.
"Motherhood is about raising and celebrating the child you have, not the child you thought you would have. It's about understanding that he is exactly the person he is supposed to be. And that, if you're lucky, he just might be the teacher that turns you into the person you are supposed to be." --Joan Ryan
OK. enough of the sappy stuff....Bottom line right now is Dr. Naylor said we are in a waiting game as far as Lymphoma or anything to do with the lymph nodes. The reason being is his latest blood test from Tuesday came back pretty normal. The immature white cells matured an went away. All other lab work as well came back pretty good and he gained some weight! He is at 117! The nurses and I were laughing because who would have ever thought you'd be so happy to see someone gain weight? Dr. Naylor and the oncologist looked at his Chest CT Scan and found one lymph node on his left side in his chest wall that is "inflamed" but not to much to be concerned with. Especially since they cannot feel the other node any longer. They do want to keep an eye on his nodes, cough, fatigue and weight. Because the steroids the ER gave him could have put him into "remission" if he has lymphoma. So basically, we will go back in 5 weeks and redo full cbc and some other markers to see if anything spikes again. If he starts to loose weight again rapidly, more nose bleeds, fever, cough gets worse, call in immediately. As she told Carter "When you come back in I don't want to see any large nodes, no fever, no cough and you better get fatter!" LOL.
Today July 15th we went in for the EMG test (nerve testing). I will say so far this has been the most difficult thing for me as a parent. Watching you child get shocked and needles put into him is not fun. There was a point when he had a needle in his right knee and shocked Carter 3 times in a row that I could see his leg move and Carter looked up at me and said "That one hurt". I would not wish this on anyone ever! He was such a trooper and the Dr. told him he is going to win patient of the year award! He couldn't believe how well he did. I will say the Dr. was very kind and told us about everything before he did it. He warned Carter as to when the shock would happen and made sure he was o.k. He believes that to get a diagnosis you don't have to "torture your patients". After the first couple of shocks Carter said to us " I feel like Electro Man!" We laughed and then a little later on the Dr. asked how are you doing? Carter said " Good. I am having a shocking experience today!" Dr. Flores said "Your stealing all my good lines." Carter laughed and said " This is such an electrifying day!" So despite being electrocuted and having needles put in him, he still found his sense of humor and made lemon aide out of lemons. This is why he INSPIRES ME!
Until Next time...........Believe........
"Motherhood is about raising and celebrating the child you have, not the child you thought you would have. It's about understanding that he is exactly the person he is supposed to be. And that, if you're lucky, he just might be the teacher that turns you into the person you are supposed to be." --Joan Ryan
OK. enough of the sappy stuff....Bottom line right now is Dr. Naylor said we are in a waiting game as far as Lymphoma or anything to do with the lymph nodes. The reason being is his latest blood test from Tuesday came back pretty normal. The immature white cells matured an went away. All other lab work as well came back pretty good and he gained some weight! He is at 117! The nurses and I were laughing because who would have ever thought you'd be so happy to see someone gain weight? Dr. Naylor and the oncologist looked at his Chest CT Scan and found one lymph node on his left side in his chest wall that is "inflamed" but not to much to be concerned with. Especially since they cannot feel the other node any longer. They do want to keep an eye on his nodes, cough, fatigue and weight. Because the steroids the ER gave him could have put him into "remission" if he has lymphoma. So basically, we will go back in 5 weeks and redo full cbc and some other markers to see if anything spikes again. If he starts to loose weight again rapidly, more nose bleeds, fever, cough gets worse, call in immediately. As she told Carter "When you come back in I don't want to see any large nodes, no fever, no cough and you better get fatter!" LOL.
Today July 15th we went in for the EMG test (nerve testing). I will say so far this has been the most difficult thing for me as a parent. Watching you child get shocked and needles put into him is not fun. There was a point when he had a needle in his right knee and shocked Carter 3 times in a row that I could see his leg move and Carter looked up at me and said "That one hurt". I would not wish this on anyone ever! He was such a trooper and the Dr. told him he is going to win patient of the year award! He couldn't believe how well he did. I will say the Dr. was very kind and told us about everything before he did it. He warned Carter as to when the shock would happen and made sure he was o.k. He believes that to get a diagnosis you don't have to "torture your patients". After the first couple of shocks Carter said to us " I feel like Electro Man!" We laughed and then a little later on the Dr. asked how are you doing? Carter said " Good. I am having a shocking experience today!" Dr. Flores said "Your stealing all my good lines." Carter laughed and said " This is such an electrifying day!" So despite being electrocuted and having needles put in him, he still found his sense of humor and made lemon aide out of lemons. This is why he INSPIRES ME!
Until Next time...........Believe........
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Living With CMT by Nick - Having CMT
Living With CMT by Nick - Having CMT
This is a video of a boy named Nick who lives in New York. He was diagnosed with CMT when he was 13 and he is now 18. He has gone through 9 surgeries! This kid has a big heart just like Carter! Just thought I would post it so you all can see what it might be like for him over the next year. Love to all!
Michelle
This is a video of a boy named Nick who lives in New York. He was diagnosed with CMT when he was 13 and he is now 18. He has gone through 9 surgeries! This kid has a big heart just like Carter! Just thought I would post it so you all can see what it might be like for him over the next year. Love to all!
Michelle
Thursday, July 7, 2011
And so the journey begins......
Hello Everyone!Before June 27th, 2011 I had never heard of Charcot Marie Tooth Disease. Come to find out I was not the only one. So many people do not know about this horrible disease that affects just as many as MS. I remember the Dr. saying the name, Charcot Marie Tooth Disease and I must have asked him 3-4 times what? Can you say that again? He said "Don't worry I will write it down for you so you can do research. I felt some relief because now there was a name for what my son was going through but there was also a deep sadness for what he was about to go through. How do tell a 15 1/2 year old who is on the Cross Country team for his high school, you may not be able to compete. How do I tell him his dreams of being a Navy Seal since he was six are probably not realistic anymore? How do I tell my vibrant, outgoing, driven, funny teenager that his world is about to be turned upside down? Well I don't, because he is a fighter, he is driven and motivated and so am I. We are going to fight this thing together as a family unit and help spread the word about CMT.
CMT is one of the most common inherited neurological disorders affecting every 1 in 2,500 people. It affects both sensory and motor nerves. The motor nerves cause muscles to contract and control voluntary muscle activity such as speaking, walking, breathing, and swallowing. This is a progressive disease and eventually can lead to weakness and muscle atrophy. THERE IS NO CURE FOR CMT!
Carter's symptoms as of now are high arch, hammer toes, numbness in all toes, weakening muscles in legs and is showing some mild signs in his hands. He is unable to bend his ankle, cannot walk on his heels and walks on his toes. He is not in too much pain right now; just the numbness is bothering him. We are still in the beginning stage of all the testing. There are 40 types of CMT and we will hopefully find out soon what type he has. We are going in next week for an EMG, a test that will help us understand how the muscle is weakening. We will also be going in for a nerve biopsy within the next couple of weeks as well.
We have decided to look into acupuncture and physical therapy for him to help with the muscle weakness. We have learned that swimming and cycling are best for him. He is already an avid cyclist, so this works well. He really wants to do a triathlon but we will see. He said he definitely wants to do a bike race by the end of the summer. One day at a time right now....
I know a lot of you are wondering how he is taking all of this....Well let’s just say this.
Cater said to me as we walked out of the Doctors office that day "Don't worry mom, Jesus is walking next to me, he is my best friend and this is the path I am supposed to be on." "He won't lead me the wrong way." "This is my challenge and I will be o.k." I just squeezed his hand and smiled. Carter's Challenge was born that day.
Love to All,
Michelle, Sean, Carter, Zachary and Ayden xoxo
P.S. PLEASE FORWARD IF YOU WANT! SPREAD THE WORD LETS FIND A CURE!
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