One Month

So it will be one month since Bill has been in the hospital for his second surgery. So much for the in and out the same day. We spent Easter Sunday with WIld Bill in his new room which is quite nice and spacious...no ocean view but not a shared room.

Having a little fun outside of the ICU.
Here is a group shot of Easter Sunday. Richelle also joined us later on in the day.

We took Bill for a little lap to get him up and walking but he got tired pretty easy because he is carrying these things around.

He's pretty stoked he no longer has chicken legs but the swelling does slow down his pace a bit :)
As of today the swelling has gone down and he can walk on his own with no walker. We're still not sure when he will be released from the hospital.
Yesturday one of the doctors and physical therapist stopped by and informed my mom that Bill is going to an physical therapy rehab center when he leaves the hospital. While there he will be trained in regular day to day activities to gain his skills and strength back. He will be living in this facility as well which is in Palo Alto. We were glad to hear this because this will allow Bill to get back to his "normal" self a lot quicker and stronger than if he were to just stay at the house. He was kind of bummed when he learned of this info but is now realizing that it will be the best thing for him.
Here are some more shots of Easter Sunday...

Yummy salisbury steak and peas.
Jim Jones decided to stop by and wish us a happy easter...

Since Bill's been there for a month we are really getting to know all the nurses and they invited us back up for a pot luck so Bill decided to put on his toga.

Thanks again to everyone who has been sending cards, emails, and their thoughts it has been great! Special thanks to Shannon and her letters from her students, we all loved them and thought it was a great idea!

Country Road Take Me Home

What a good week! Throughout the week the doctors were slowly pinching off the brain drain to make sure the fluid wouldn't build up again. They completely stopped the draining Thursday, took a CT scan this morning and everything looked great! The doctor said he couldn't believe how good everything was going...kinda weird to hear things going this well! Tonight will be his last night in ICU...pretty sure he's bummed about that :) We should be looking for an early in the week delivery home, so we are looking forward to that. Should be spending a nice Easter Sunday in the hospital! Thanks again to everyone who has been emailing, calling, and mailing all your love. Here are some pics from the week....oh yeah they removed the brain drain late this afternoon and put a few staples in his head to patch things up...here is a close up.

Go Big or Go Home

Yet another SF weekend.



Over the weekend we all went and hung out with Bill. We helped him clean up a bit and kept him busy.



While Bill was resting after lunch on Sunday, my mom and I went and took a walk to the sutro baths and down to the beach. There was this pretty sweet cave that we checked out.

Speaking of walking...Bill has been taking little walks around the ICU with the physical therapist. I have been getting updates from my Mom the days I am not at the hospital and she said that he had a lot more energy today than yesturday. They are slowly shutting off the brain drain to see if it will drain properly once it is out. Hopefully everything will go as planned!

Forgot a couple things

After the surgery we were able to go in and see Bill in ICU. He could hear us talking to him and respond but was still out of it obviously. This morning my mom went to see him and he was able to eat and was drinking lot of water and talking with her. So things are starting to look up. He will be in ICU... definitely not TCU

that's what we think.
The surgeon said that he will be in ICU for at least 4 more days...so it looks like another SF weekend!

Seeing the Light...finally

It's hard to believe that the second surgery has come and gone...yesturday Wild Bill was wheeled in around 8am...

Bill was feeling anxious obviously but was in good spirits.
Monday evening Bill's vitals were stable and he was eating, drinking and talking it up. So we were glad to see this before he went into to surgery.

Here he is going in for surgery.

We were able to see the surgeon before he took Bill into surgery and he said, "hopefully this won't be another 13 hours". Not cool. To kill time we went to the cafeteria for breakfast and coffee. The Smiths joined my mom, adam, and I so that was very nice. Adam and I decided to kill some time on haight street while my mom and patty took a nice walk and warren got caught up on some Planet Earth episodes. Around 1:30 we went to catch on Bill's status and the lady at the desk said that they were 82% done...not quite sure how she came up with this figure...so after some mathematical breakdowns we figured that BIll had about 1 hour 12 minutes and 48 seconds left...come to find out we were off....way off. Oprah and Dirty Jobs kept us busy for a few hours but by 6:00pm we were getting antsy. At this point one of the nurses came by and said that she had set up Bill's bed in ICU and he would be done with surgery in about a half hour! So around 6:30pm Bill was wheeled by the ICU waiting room where we were and one of the doctors said that everything went great!
We waited for about 15 minutes so that we could talk to the surgeon about the surgery. Dr. Shugrue came in the waiting room and gave us a summary on the surgery and the future.
He said that the surgery went a lot better than what they were expecting and that they got rid of 90% of the entire tumor. They took out 4 times the amount of tumor than the first surgery, which is pretty hard to believe. He also mentioned that Bill's tumor was hands down the biggest tumor that any of them have ever seen in this area! Bill will have to go through some radiation treatments to get rid of the rest of the tumor but the surgeon said that he set the tumor back about 3 decades :) We were so glad to hear great news finally and can't thank the surgeons, friends and family that have been thinking about us and praying for us throughout this nightmare...and last night it feels as though we have finally woke up! I have come to the conclusion that I took the first 25 years of my life somewhat for granted and it's events like these that make you stop and think and appreciate what you have been given and learn to grow from the experiences you go through.
PS. The surgeon said that he has 8 hours of the first surgery filmed and the entire second surgery filmed so y'all better get ready for The Return of Wild release party!