The bro updates, they keep coming:

Well, things just continue to get more interesting. I don't know if I told you, but while i was in the emergency room on August 9, I went into atrial fibrillation. Yesterday, during pre-surgical testing, it happened again. Which means that, instead of a one-time event during and/or after the seizure, it is now a chronic situation that needs to be dealt with after the surgery. It also means that, according the Dr. Ketema, whose job it was to provide medical clearance for me at Sloan-Kettering, Tuesday's event has changed from "brain surgery" to "high-risk brain surgery."

I think I deserve some sort of recognition. I have managed to simultaneously break both my brain and my heart, which I think would probably occupy the top two slots in most people's list of vital organs. Woohoo. The good news is that my blood pressure is coming down. I 'm attributing that to no alcohol in almost three weeks.

WHAT. No, the atrial fibrillation was never mentioned before. Apologies for the many updates, but any ~ma you can direct NY-ward on the 31st is, as always, appreciated very much.

I just called an ambulance for the first time. Drew is in severe abdominal pain, worse than it's ever been. I followed the ambulance in and am waiting to hear. I'm really worried and could use some of that Buffista -ma.

ETA: After the max dose of morphine had brought the pain from a 10 to a 9, they finally gave him some diludad (sp?), which brought him to a manageable 7. They are doing a bunch of tests, but the doctor suspects bowel obstruction.

Looks like Sloane-Kettering on August 31st is the place to be. My Aunt B has been scheduled and will be having her high-risk surgery the same time and place as Amyth's brother.

It's going to be a long day.

So we have results back, and Drew is being admitted. His liver and pancreas levels are "sky high" and his CT scan shows blood in the gall bladder area (but no bowel obstruction). He has acute pancretitus, and even though last weekend's MRI showed no stones, they are almost positive that there must be a rogue stone somewhere in there that is causing all these problems. They are going to wait 24 hours and watch his numbers, but if they don't go down they are going to do a risky but important procedure to scope out the area and remove any stones that have been hiding; if that is the problem, it should take care of everything else. I'm not even going to think about it being something else, because that will open a nasty can of worms that will make me go back into panic mode. I'm feeling pretty positive about the prognosis right now, and since Drew is going to be purely on IV fluids, bedrest, and painkillers for the indefinite future, he feels okay too. We are both glad that there is finally some progress towards an answer.

Drew will be in the hospital at least until Tuesday and quite likely until Thursday, but the doctors are playing that by ear right now. He isn't up for phone calls, but emails would be great. He will have his iPad by this evening. Thanks, everyone, for your love and support. It means the world to us both.

A couple of people have asked for this info, so I'll post it here. Drew is in room 672W in Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, CA.

Can anyone rec a good neurologist in greater Richmond Area? My Brother is suffering from neuropathy, lost feeling in feet and creeping upwords and current neurologist can't figure out what is going on. Profile addy good.,

It never rains but it pours -- Max has an ulcer on his eye. We're treating with ointment, and he sees an ophth-- an eye doctor this afternoon.

The tumor is out!

Someone wiser than I once said something along the lines of, "When bad things happen people say, "God, what did I do to deserve this?" but they don't when good things happen."

So I will ask now, "What did we do to deserve this?" The answer is the same -- nothing. It's an act of grace. Maybe its the random workings of the universe. It's a mystery but we know for sure it is a reprieve. She has a long road ahead of her and she's by no means out of the woods but a month ago Aunt B wasn't going to live to 63 and now she really just might. And much longer.