Update 2007 April 20

Hello eveyone,

This is Angie's sister, Mindi, writing on behalf of Angie. I am not near the writer Angie is, so please bear with this blog post.

Brian went into surgery this morning around 10:30 AM and was in recovery, which is ICU, at about 4:00 pm. Brian was alert somewhat after surgery, he is not, however, using his right side at this time at all from head to toe. He was asked to move his toes and he could not. He is also having some speech issues at this time. He did know who people were and was also asked if he had any children and he held up his left hand and put out two fingers. After asking how old his children were, he again held up his left hand and put out two fingers. The nurse said, "You have two children that are both two?" and he said "yeah" with a nod of the head. He is having trouble communicating what his needs are, for example, he was uncomfortable with his pillow under his head but could not find the words to tell Angie. After some nodding, she did figure out his pillows were making him uncomfortable. Dr. Edwards did expect some of these side effects as it was only a few hours after surgery at this time. Dr. Edwards said that tomorrow and Sunday would be the best time to tell how much of his right side and speech came back as right now some of it may be surgery enduced. Dr. Edwards has also said that the frozen pathology "first sight" of the tumor they removed does show that it is an astrocytoma tumor but the grade is unknown at this time. The pathology report will be in sometime Monday which will tell the grade of the tumor as well. Dr. Edwards did say they removed a lot of the tumor.

Angie is most concerned due to the other surgeries that Brian has had, he has never woken up like this before, so we need continued prayers for Brian's recovery and regaining of his motor and speech abilities. We need prayers for the continued strength of Angie and the entire O'Neill family as it is hard for them right now to have that strength on their own.

According to the Bible, "The battle is not your's, it is God", so we have to fight and stand for this battle. So keep the prayers coming, think positive and not dwell. When the Isrealites were in battle and losing, it was because Moses' and Aaron's arms dropped and the Isrealites had to hold them up, that is what we need to do for Angie right now, we need to be the one's to hold up her arms, so please continue to pray, pray, pray.

KEEP BELIEVING!!!!!!

Angie and all the O'Neills, we love you.

Mindi