January 3, 2011 (to all)

Hello everyone,

First, if you know of someone who needs this info, please feel free to forward to whoever you like.  It would help if you cc: me as well, and I'll add their address to the list.  I'm trying to update as best I can, so if you are getting this by someone who forwarded it - know that I'm piecing this together from my own email book which isn't NEARLY as extensive as our Dwaine's!  But I'm getting there.

Thanks for all the well-wishes, it's been so gratifying and uplifting to Dwaine to see all the messages from people who are concerned and thinking of him.  And all that good ju-ju must be working because he continues to improve remarkably.

Today he had an ultrasound which showed no additional clots floating around anywhere.  His headache continues to subside, so that's been a great thing too - I think he was most distressed about that constant pain.  The doctor said that could linger for up to two weeks, so we'll keep an eye on it.

The doctors will be doing an angioplasty tomorrow or Wednesday.  That will help them see the actual vein that tore so that they know if it's already healing on its own (very likely), or whether they need to treat it with a stint or angioplasty.  They're saying that the carotid artery must have tore a tiny bit, and as it was trying to heal itself, it threw off tiny clots into the brain.  That's what caused the stroke. 

When Dwaine first arrived at the hospital, he was barely intelligible, and couldn't move his left arm at all.  Now, after two days of heparin treatment, he's got some movement back into the fingers on his left hand, and his speech is greatly improved.  They're beginning to say that he's looking at a very, very strong - if not full - recovery.  But it will take time and practice and work.  And knowing Dwaine, he'll do what he needs to do to get better. 

Emotionally, yesterday was a very hard day.  He couldn't move his hand at all and was very, very frightened.  I was desperate to figure out how to help him.  Thankfully, he has so many, many good friends who are willing to drop everything and send him encouraging notes and stories that today he's bouncing back and I've seen him actually smile and laugh today.  I am so thankful to all of you.  I just couldn't do this without your support and Dwaine is benefiting so much from your love. 

As his strength picks up, I know he would like visits from people.  He does get very, very tired after a visit, so please just know that it's nothing personal if I have to shoo people out after a bit.  It really just depends on the time of day and whether he's just had a pill or not - sometimes they make him very sleepy.  If you want to visit, he's been moved into out of Intensive Care and is now in a regular room (though very nice - holy cow!).  He's in 1215 at University Hospital.  We expect he'll be here for at least another 4 days as they wean him off the heparin and onto coumadin.  He'll be on that for about 3 months or so.  But everything looks very good!