April 25, 2009~

Dear Journal~

Hi!  Casey Dawn here!  Hope this finds you well!  I am doing GREAT!  My mom is pregnant (I think I told you that last time; I last wrote back in February; it's now April!), and just this week, I found out that she is having a little boy!! 

I am going to have a little brother!!  I will no longer be the only kid in my family!!  I am sooo excited I can't hardly stand it!!

I am just about over my last surgery.  Had some cysts removed from my jaw; they were pretty big, and they caused me a lot of pain and/or discomfort. 

I have this stupid disease, cherubism, that causes cysts or noncancerous tumors to form on my jawbone, and if it's not taken care of as soon as possible, they can get bigger and possibly bother my breathing.  It's a rare disease, and not many people have heard of it.

I have had a lot of surgeries done on my face, and right now, my face looks pretty weird (the lower part).  It looks like I have a giant size jaw; for some reason the bones in my jaw grew faster than the rest of my face, giving me an odd appearance. 

I sometimes get asked what is wrong with my face; I tell them about my disease.  I don't really get teased, but I do get stared at a lot; it makes me very uncomfortable.

I've had this thing since I was small, but it really didn't show up until I was like a few years old.  I'm now ten, soon to be eleven in a few months. 

I asked mom if I could have a birthday party; she said I could.  I plan on inviting all of my friends, and now that spring has finally come here, we can have it outside, on the back porch.  It is going to be a lot of fun; I can just feel it in my bones!

I don't know why I was the only one in my family who got cherubism.  There's nobody else in my family who has it, and I sometimes feel like I'm the only kid in the world who has it.  It's a pain, especially if I have to go into the hospital for more surgery!!  That's probably the worst thing about my disease!

Well, I am going to run along now:  it's almost time for supper, then we're going to see the Skate America show tonight downtown; we've got tickets.  I can't wait!  I will write in here again soon; sorry it took so long, but I had surgery recently, and I had to get over from that!  Hope you understand!  Take care and so long!

~Love, your friend, Casey Dawn.  :)