Dalton Schroeder

On February 21, 2007, we found out that our 3 year old son, Dalton, had a brain tumor. The tumor was classified as a Juvenile Pilocytic Astrocytoma.  The surgery to remove the tumor was successful, and now we are on the road to recovery! :)



Early  in 2007 Jason and I realized that Dalton was getting the "flu" often.  We started documenting his bouts of vomitting and realized that no one has the flu 7 times in 3 months.  We had also been doctoring for months about Dalton's lack of balance.  He seemed to be more unstable than other kids his age.  His doctors reassured us that he was a toddler who suffered with a chronic ear infection which could throw off his balance.  Mid-February our little buddy started complaining about a headache..."MINE HEAD HURTS!"...and his speech started slowing down a bit.  Finally after another night of vomitting, Jason said ever so quietly, "Something is wrong; you need to take him in."  The following morning was Cassidy's birthday, and I made another appointment at the Shell Lake Clinic with a new doctor, Dr. Singh.

The following day I told Dr. Singh my concerns, showed her my documentation, and explained that I wasn't leaving the clinic until someone helped me.  She assessed Dalton, and then asked to see him walk a straight line down the clinic hallway.  Needless to say, he bounced off one wall and then the other like a pinball.  Dr. Singh's face fell, and she ordered a CT scan for the following morning.
The scan went really well, but afterwards everyone was acting funny.  The CT Tech told us to stick around because Dr. Singh was coming in to talk to us.  Within minutes of that scan, we were informed that Dalton had a large tumor in his cerebellum and fluid backed up into his ventricles.  Dr. Singh made arrangements for us to see Dr. Nagib at Children's Hospital of Minneapolis that afternoon.  She gave us a hug, handed us Dalton's scans and wished us well.  Our lives had just been turned up-side down.
We raced home to pack a few items, jumped in the car and headed to the cities.  After lunch we met with Dr. Nagib and Jill Scholz.   They talked about an immediate surgery to relieve the pressure in Dalton's brain (i.e. hydrocephalus).  Jill walked us over to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit to prepare for a 3:30 surgery to insert an external shunt into Dalton's brain..a mere 5 hours after finding out this information.  

This is where our story began.  The journal entries will take you on our journey.