An Update as of 1/28/13

Thank you all for your prayers. Those prayers are being answered with an improvement in Bob's health. Although there did not seem to be much improvement for the first few days Bob was taking the steroids, he began doing better on Sunday and he better still today. His thinking has cleared up and he is not so confused, bewildered, and scared. His memory is still not quite as good as it was just before this recent setback, but it is enough better for him to do many of his regular activities.

We still don't know the source of these problems, but one possibility is that Bob has been having tiny seizures that are too small to see but that are nonetheless doing damage to his brain. The blood tests he had done on Friday showed that the level of his anti-seizure drugs was low, meaning his liver is processing them before they can do the good they are intended to do. So the doctor has increased the dose of one of Bob's medications to see if that will help.  Bob will also be on a tapering dose of the steroids over the next several days.

Bob's dad is here helping me and that has been a real blessing. This is a busy couple of weeks for me because we have the candidates for the dean search that I am co-chairing visiting campus during this time.  When we made these plans, I was glad that he was going to be here with Bob so I could have the flexibility to come and go as I needed to.  I didn't anticipate that it would be such a worrisome time and how good it would be to have him here to support me through this rough patch.

It seems that we are again back on the road to recovery after this little detour. Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers.

-Megan