First Entry

Marlene and I decided that we need a blog to document our adventures in life together. The adventure is just beginning but has been quite bumpy thus far. As many of you know, Marlene has had some recent health problems. She had a cavernous malformation in her brain stem. Today it was operated on by Dr. Robert Spetzler here in Phoenix, AZ. He is the best in the world at operating on cavernous malformations and I wanted nothing but the best for my dear wife. The procedure took five hours. It was the longest five hours of my life. I am just glad that it is over and now Marlene can really recover. Marlene is so dear to me and she means the world to me. It is really hard to see her go through this and know that I can't just fix it for her. At least I can make it easier and help her in any way I can. It has been a pleasure to help her and serve her these three weeks. She is such a special person and a remarkable woman. My love and admiration for her has only grown these weeks.

So for an actual update on her condition: her speech is improved, her motor skills are good and even quicker than before the surgery, and her cognitive skills are still good despite the morphine they are giving her. The baby is doing great as well. She should be here for 3-5 days depending on her progress. She is in ICU right now, which is normal procedure, and will have an MRI tomorrow. It really is amazing how much support we have had from all our friends and family. We truly appreciate it. It makes the situation a little easier to deal with when you know you have so many people pulling for you. And of course we thank God for helping us through this time. I know that without His help, I wouldn't have been able to make the correct decisions for Marlene's care.

Thank you all again for your love and prayers. We really do appreciate it. Now it's off to bed for another day. Good night!

~Stephen

P.S. Forgive the name of the blog, it was the best I could come up with at 11 at night. Hopefully a better, more creative name will come when things have settled down.