Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The short of it, while I'm briefly able to update

The surgery did not go as planned.

98% of the tumor was removed. However, instead of taking 5-7 hours as expected, it took almost 12 hours. It was excruciating.

During the surgery, Dad had a brain stem stroke (the tumor was at the brain stem).

He has been intubated and heavily sedated since the surgery. He is in ICU. At first we thought he had lost all function of his right side. Then he moved his right hand, then his right leg, all in response to my brother and I talking to him. The doctor practically called it a miracle.

CT scans have shown no major swelling. They are waiting for his brain to recover before they extubate him and wake him up. This may be tomorrow, or it may be 2-3 more days.

It has been one of the hardest things in my life, and my brother's life. I hate seeing him like this, not being able to talk to him or wake him up. It feels impossible.

If you are praying for us please pray that Dad will be able to wake up soon, and that there is no permanent damage from the stroke. Although things look promising, he is certainly not out of the woods.

That's all I've got in me right now as it has been an excruciating couple of days, and I'm home to try and get some sleep in my own bed. I'll update when I can.

2 comments:

  1. Many prayers going your dads way...hang in there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thoughts and prayers with you and yours.

    ReplyDelete