Wednesday Evening Update

Hello all. I realize that it is the middle of the night on the east coast, but here in the west, it is just about 10:45 and we've had a very busy day. Dad continues to make progress on several fronts. He was able to get out of the bed, walk down the hall a couple of times and he's able to get up and go to the bathroom. You never realize how big a deal something like that is until you are unable to do that for a period of time. Appreciating the ordinary-- that's definitely a lesson that we've all learned the past few days.

Dad currently has a urinary tract infection. The infection came about b/c of E. Coli. I know-- when I first heard that, I was a little startled as well. However, it appears that it is not an uncommon infection and also the antibiotic he was on before today (Cipro) made him more susceptible to the infection. His antibiotic has been changed and we hope he is on the road to getting past that infection.

Dad is mostly very tired and we're trying to make sure he gets as much rest as possible. However, we do read him your comments when he's feeling up to it and he enjoys every one of them. Thanks for sending them along-- they really help keep his spirits up.

We met with two doctors this evening. The first is a resident neurologist. We still haven't heard back from the results of the MRI that was done on Monday afternoon. I let this doctor know that we are tired of waiting and that I needed him to find out the results right away (OK, I was forceful, but in a nice way about it :) He did a little checking and was able to get his hands on the MRI. However, he indicated that he needed to consult with the chief neurologist in the morning as the chief is better qualified to read it and talk with us about it. So, we're waiting a little longer. The bottom line-- we want someone to be looking at the MRI to get a better assessment of the situation and to share that info with our medical team back in NC.

The second doctor we met with is the head of dad's medical team at St. Mary's. She is one of the best doctors we've met with thus far as she has a great bedside manner and a good way of explaining the situation so that we can understand. We talked about dad's status-- he continues to be stable, good blood pressure, good blood sugar, good oxygen levels-- and she talked about some of the next steps ahead. Tomorrow, her team will be meeting with a case worker in the hospital to begin devising a plan/coordinating details to transport dad back home. They have indicated that it would be their preference for a "home health nurse" to travel with dad as well as have the appropriate medicines on-hand during the flight to administer them to him in the event that another seizure should strike. The doctor told dad that he's "a healthy person" in that all of his organs and his body in general are in good shape, but he has the lesions on his brain so we would need to take extra precautions with a flight. Please note that this is in the event that everyone on the medical teams (LB & NC) feel that the trip back home is advisable. While we pray and hope that this will be the case, we want what is best for dad to take care of this situation. This is definitely an area you can be in prayer for us on.

We've also been in touch with Dr. O'Lila at UNC-CH and he indicated that he's anxious to have dad back home so he can "get to work" on this. My dad, and our family, think very highly of Dr. O'Lila as well as Dr. Olajide (oncologist at Rex) and that is why we have them weighing in on the situation.

Dad received several of his ASPE friends today at the hospital as they are wrapping up their convention and returning home. We were grateful for their support of dad when we could not be here in the initial hours of all of this. For that matter, we are grateful to everyone for their love and support as we know you've all been reaching across the country to help us during this difficult time.

I did want to update on a couple of items from earlier: 1) we have secured our hotel rooms through at least Monday of next week. We hope we won't need them, but we at least have them. Thank you for your prayers in that area. 2) I'm feel much better as I got some rest this morning and took some decongestant to alleviate the crud I was experiencing. Again, thanks for your prayers for me-- it is easy to get so focused on providing support for others that you forget to take care of yourself.

Please continue to pray for our family (all of us-- here in LB and those back home in NC). As you know, my brother-in-law, Josh, returned home on Tuesday and my wife, Melinda, is at home with both of our children (3 yr. old & 5 month old). It is a time like this that test a family's strength and I would like to request prayer to make sure those bonds remain very tight. Also, please continue to pray for dad for total and complete recovery. I'm not picky-- God can make the disease simply disappear or it can go away with the help of treatment, but please pray for complete and total recovery.

Well, that's it for today. I'm sure I left out a lot of details, so if I think of anything else, I'll update in the morning. I do want to leave you with a smile, so I'll try this-- while we know it's been quite chilly back in the Triangle (50's, I believe), the temps here have been in the 80's and sunny! OK, anyone who knows me knows that I'd rather enjoy a cool/cold day in the fall than warm weather like this! But, when you're putting on that jacket in the morning, think of us as we're out here with the warm weather!

Thank you for your prayers, love and support. We know our family will never be able to repay you for the kindness you've shown during these past few days.

ps-- in case you weren't aware, you can "follow" this blog by clicking on the "follow" link to the left of this entry and I believe it will e-mail you whenever I post a new update. Of course, you're welcome to simply stop by as well-- we appreciate the support. Have a wonderful night!