I haven't had much time the last couple of days to update this.  I was able to send out mass texts to friends and family so I will make those updates available here to.


10/11/2013 7:26am
         "This is the type of surgery that Greg is having.  It is called a .. suboccipital telovelar approach craniotomy for cavernous malformation with wand guidance." 


10/11/2013 2:10pm
        "Greg's surgery is running a little late.  I am hoping he will be done around 6 our time, 8 Iowa time. They won't give me any updates until it is over."


10/11/2013 5:33pm
       "Still no news please pray."


10/11/2013 6:00pm
       "Just got news he is done, but I can't see him yet. They said that he is breathing on his own, but now has left side facial droop and is significantly weaker on the right side.  They don't know yet if they got it all.  They don't know if he will be able to swallow.  He is a bit combative and they are going to have to restrain him for the time being."


10/11/2013 7:33pm
        "He made it to the ICU.  I am with him now.  He has weakness and almost no sensation on the right side.  He has left side facial droop and is now having increased weakness on the left side.  He spoke a little and is oriented to self and place.  He is painful and very nauseated.  He has vomited now multiple times.  He is seeing everything sideways.  I just got him situated in bed and they gave him something for pain I am hoping he will sleep now and that these symptoms will be much improved tomorrow.  I am told that they should be.  I will be staying with him until he leaves the hospital."


10/12/2013 8:50am
        "It was a pretty terrible night.  Greg was throwing up about every 15-30 minutes.  He is in a lot of pain.  Still no feeling on his right side.  His left arm is drifting a bit.  Still has left side facial droop.  He has been able to chew and swallow ice cubes.  His eyes are jumping and spinning all over the place, every time he opens them he gets so dizzy he throws up.  It was just a miserable night for him.  He has an MRI today we are hoping that gives us some answers.  He knows what is going on and is talking when he feels well enough to.  They still think that most of the problems are from swelling so we hope that this looks completely different in the near future."


10/12/2013 5:33pm
        "Quick update for everyone.  Today has been spent mostly trying to get control of the pain, dizziness and nausea.  They have just added 3 more meds to hopefully help with the dizziness, of course the real relief won't come until the swelling goes down.  Everything else as far as the numbness on the right and the weakness on the left is the same.  He just had a swallowing test that he did pass.  He will be put on a soft diet with thin liquids and no straw.  I believe they will try that tomorrow.  He had an MRI at 10 this morning and I am still waiting on the results from that.  Greg knows who he is, where he is at and what has happened.  Other then answering those kinds of questions he hasn't talked very much today.  I am hoping more of his personality comes out tomorrow.  He has just been keeping his eyes closed and that seems to help with the dizziness.  He was able to take a 3 hour nap finally this afternoon.  The swallowing test made him sick again so we are trying to get a head of that and then hopefully he will fall asleep again.  I am hoping to talk to his surgeon at some point because I never did get any report on how exactly the surgery went.  That is all for now."



10/13/2013 8:01am
          "Just a quick update.  Last night went much better, he has not vomited since yesterday afternoon.  He slept on and off in about 2 hour intervals.  The nausea isn't gone, but is much better.  He is still very painful and dizzy.  Last night I got him to take about 6  bites of applesauce and just a couple of sips of juice.  Those are the first things he has had to eat.  He said that he would try breakfast this morning.  Although the symptoms except for the nausea are the same he is moving around in the bed better and talking a little bit more.  Today is going to be a busy they are going to get all of the therapist in and I believe there is going to be some more tests.  Since it is Sunday none of those are scheduled it is just first come first serve. I will not be leaving him at all today.


10/13/2013 3:45
           "Greg is doing a little better - basically the same report as this morning. I got him to eat just a few bites of eggs this morning and then I was able to talk him into getting up to a chair.  I was able to change his bed give him a bit of a bath and a clean gown.  He seemed a little more alert after the bath and asked to talk to his sister Hillary.  He stayed up for 3 hours which was longer then he probably should have.  He had about a dozen bites of lunch.  I was able to lift him back to bed myself.  He then had to be immediately meded because of the pain and dizziness.  He has been sleeping since then and is now running a bit of a temp.  We are continuing to keep things low key.  No TV, no music and very little motion in the room.  His talk to Hillary is the most he has talked at one time.  He wanted to check on the baby.  So far that is it I am waiting to see if he can get up again later tonight.

10/13/2013 9:53pm
          "Doing a little better today.  I was able to get him up to a chair and got him cleaned up.  He ate a little bit of both breakfast and lunch.  I put him back to bed after he had been up for 3 hours.  He took a little nap and then they woke him up so that he could transfer out of the ICU and on to the neuro floor.  He sat up for 2 hours and had a little bit of dinner.  Pain and dizziness are still the same also the numbness on the right side, facial droop on the left side and now some numbness and tingling on the left foot.  We still have not talked to the surgeon we hope that will happen tomorrow.  Greg was able to talk to our Dr. friend in Iowa she was happy to hear from him and she was able to get him to talk for a bit.  After he hung up the nurse gave him a dose of valium. Normally this knocks him out right away but this time he started laughing. He told me what the Dr. said about his nose.  Apparently she made fun of his "big ugly nose" like she always does. After that he started cracking jokes left and right, he even tried to grab my butt. Slowly Greg is coming back!"


10/14/2013 1:12pm
           "Greg was able to work with PT and OT today. PT was able to get him to walk about 30 feet with a walker and assistance of 2.  It wasn't very pretty, but Greg was a trooper and continued to push through. OT mainly worked with his eyes to see if they could help with the nystagmus.  They are going to try to get some vestibular people in tomorrow so we will see if that will help.  Right now Greg's biggest complaint is the dizziness.  He feels like he could deal with the pain and is willing to work hard with the therapist, but he is just not handling the dizziness well.  He ate about half of his breakfast today which is the most he has eaten.  His sweet tooth was not affected at all he wants chocolate everything.  He is struggling a little with keeping his oxygen saturation up.  He is really wiped out, but has been willing to try everything that everyone has asked of him.  Still numb on right
a little weak on the left.  Left side facial droop and now a little numbness and tingling on his left hand and foot. He continues to not be able to close his left eye and it is now  beginning to get quite dry and irritated.  We were able to meet with Dr. Spetzlers PA today she was able to give us a little more information she said that his tumor had grown quite a bit she called it "enormous."  Which made Greg's surgery a bit more challenging.  We were told to expect a 4 to 6 hour surgery more on the six hour side. It ended up being a little over 9 hours. Right now everyone is recommending rehab they are estimating a 10 day stay.  Dr. Spetzler just came in and told us that his follow up MRI looked "spectacular." Greg and I are coming to discover more and more how lucky we were to be here.  What Greg has would probably have been inoperable anywhere else and then who knows what would have happened. We had I guess unrealistic expectations for what life after the surgery would look like, but the more that we are discovering about what Greg's condition was we are seeing how fortunate we are that he is doing as well as he is.


10/15/2013 10:01am
          "Greg just walked 168ft with me and the walker. WAY better then yesterday! And his left eye is able to close a little bit more today.  I guess that is pretty amazing none of the staff thought that it would improve this fast.  We are waiting for our insurance to ok rehab.  The rehab unit has a bed available today.  I am told this is the best neuro rehab unit in the country.  We are at St. Joseph's hospital in Phoenix Arizona we are in the barrow neurological institute. If anyone wants to look it up."