wan-na find something?

Thursday, June 12, 2008

all is well...so far

thanks, everyone for your positive vibes and prayers. i knew i could count on you! and the hub appreciated it as well - i just said "i've got all my buddies praying and thinking good thoughts for brother wan."

i got a better description of his condition from the hub: he has an overdeveloped brain stem, which restricts the flow of spinal fluid from his brain to his spinal cord. so after second and third and fourth (and so on) opinions, BW chose to undergo the only available procedure to possibly correct the problem. in a sense, the doctors removed a piece of the base of his skull to relieve the pressure on his brain stem, as well as removing the first cervical vertebrae. the very delicate surgery lasted about 6 hours, a few hours longer than first expected. there was also some bleeding from his brain, which was unexpected. yikes.

both the hub and i got to talk to him very briefly on the phone. we're both dying to be down there to be with him and show him how much we love and care for him, but the poor hub still hasn't managed to kick that nasty head cold he picked up. and the last thing he wants is to bring any kind of infection near BW, not to mention that i'm really not sure what the visitor policy is in regards to the bean. i'm pretty sure that the sight of her would cheer BW up a lot, though, so i'm going to call the hospital to find out if we can go.

the ILs are exhausted and relieved. their usual joyful demeanor had vanished over the last few days from worrying about BW. i can't even imagine how wonderful it was for them to see him after it was all over, and especially to get to talk to him and know that there was no paralysis whatsoever (which was a strong possibility).

now our fingers are crossed (and toes, and legs, and eyes, and whatever else that can be crossed) for him to fall in that 70% of patients who are actually cured. it would suck if he'd gone through all of this for nothing, yes?

16 comments:

  1. I was about to post the same thing as WeeMo - in medicine there's no such thing as 100% - doctors can't promise anything and honestly the hardest part (the surgery) is over. And as I always say, if anything ever goes wrong with me, I want it to be while I'm in the hospital being monitored by competent medical personnel.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ditto pp! 70% are very good odds that he'll be cured! I'll be thinking very positive thoughts for hot BW.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, so glad to hear. I'm sure he'll be part of that 70%

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fingers and toes crossed! Glad to hear he is doing ok and the family is in ok spirits ...

    ReplyDelete
  5. i'm glad to hear that so far, he is doing well. you know that he is still in my prayers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I didn't get to read your posts still now but that is a good number! I'll be praying for him and I'll put him on the prayer chain at church. Stay strong and hang in there!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I had somthing sorta kinda similar a few years ago, but not as serious obviously. I had a spinal tap and the dumbass who took the spinal fluid out took out way too much. When you lose too much fluid your brain loses it's cushioning, which is what causes the headaches. I got awful headaches. Poor BW, I was in agony for a week, I can't imagine having that kind of pain for years :( Take the Bean to see him, that would cheer anybody up!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have sent out some positive vibes from my part of the Southland for Brotha Wan :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your family is in my prayers and positive thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
  10. glad to hear. prayers/good vibes still going out.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Prayers coming his way! I missed the first post about this, so sorry I didn't get to it sooner!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Things sound positive, this is great news! 70% is nothing to scoff at at all. And I am sure you know, but in times like this it's always good to be reminded, that the powers of prayer and positive thinking are immense - BW, the family, and you have both coming from all over.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great, great news! We'll keep pulling for a quick recovery.

    ReplyDelete

i heart comments. i wan-na hear what you have to say.
um, i think.

slime time

the window for check-in at columbia was from 11:00 till 4 in the afternoon.  i figured that meant we had a good chunk of the day to squeeze ...