Hi folks..... Most of you know my girlfriend and photographer Cristina who most of the pics and vids you see me post on my trip reports, well her mom has had some health problems for the last couple of weeks and she has been diagnosed with a little know "syndrome" called Guillian Barre Syndrome. Cristina and her brother are staying with her constantly, mostly Cristina because of moms request. I would like to request that you keep mom and Cristina and the family in your prayers.

Here is the updates we have had on the HCR board:
12/26; Some of you know that Cristina's mom has been on the hospital for the last few days. Here's the latest update;

hi everyone, this is easier than texting everyone individually, as most of you know my mom has been in the hospital for a few days now....after a roller coaster and a ton of test they have determined she had a slight stroke but also has something called Guillian Barre Syndrome.....the stroke was minor and shouldn't have lasting effects....the GBS is the main problem right now. Its an auto immune ...disease and messes with muscle function (heart and lung muscles as well) Now that they confirm thats the problem they can treat it.....so she will be on an IV drip of immune building meds for the next 5 days to try and get her better. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers over the last few days, they have been most appreciated.

12/28; Update: mom is still getting worse even though she is on day 4 of 5 of her meds. This seems to be the pattern for this problem though. It could take up to 2 weeks before we see any improvement. Cristina has been with her the last 2 days per moms request. Hopefully Brian can. Fill in for Cristina. Soon so she can get some sleep. Thanks again for all the support.

Edit 2: They are now moving her to ICU as she can not even press the button for the nurse to come now, the neurologist literally said out load that he doesnt like what he sees..... Yesterday she had no involuntary muscle reaction but has reflexes still.... today the reflexes are gone.....

12/29; I went out to the hospital last night and she is doing OK, they added another IV line in her chest that is bigger then tyical IV to administer the meds better.... she still has some movement but has not had any imoprovement.... this may take a while but as long as she is not still deteriorating. She has had lots of visitors and they are expecting more today..... Once there are signs of improvement then the physical theropy can start even thought Cristina is massaging her hands, legs and feet alot already just to help circulation.

Thanks for all the support

12/31; Update from Cristina:

Mom update: ok so we have made it thru the 5 treatments but she is still slowly getting worse however it has not yet progressed to her lungs and we are hoping it won't. We are scheduled for another 3 treatments starting tomorrow and also as long as lung velocity is in the good range we may get to leave ICU this weekend and back to a regular room. Once the symptoms hit bottom then we enter the waiting game. It will be totally up to her body as to when she will begin gaining the ability to use her muscles again. The road to recovery will be a long one but she will pull through. I am confident and remaining positive. Thank you all once again for all the well wishes and prayers

1/1; Today has been a good day..... meaning no more decline, hopefully mom has levelled off and now we wait for this "plateau" to run its course until the recovery part starts...... this "plateau" could last weeks before any signes of improvement could show.......

Thanks again for all the prayers and support.

1/3; It appears that we are not out of the water yet......her breathing is still deteriorating, although the decline is slow, they are really close to needing to put in a breathing tube......

They have the machine outside mom's room already and ready to go..... they have a certain level that is a "cutoff" at where they will need to install the tube...... I am not sure what the number mean but typically healthy people get a number in the 3-5 range, mom dropped to 1.5 and seemed to level off but is now down to 1.25 and 1.0 is the cutoff for the tube and machine to help her breathe. This will really take the spirit away from mom and prolly Cristina too as mom is eating pretty good and can chat with Cristina and visitors where with the tube she will most likely be sedated and not be able to chat and eat etc.....

Thanks again for all the support.

Absolutely praying for Christine, her mom, and the family. Please let us know if there is anything we can do buddy. So sorry to hear this.

My prayers go out to Christine, her mom and the rest of the clan. I hope things turn for the better.

said a prayer

My family's thoughts and prayers are with you and your girlfriend's family.

Sucks to hear this :( Thoughts and prayers from the Avis family

Praying for her mom, family and doctors!

I went to the hospital last night for the first time in a week. Also took Cristina to dinner to get her out of the hospital while Brian and others were there.... it is so frustrating to see her like this..... she is completely helpless...... I couldnt imagine how miserable she would be if Cristina or Brian were not there to even get her a drink of water...... She does appear to be levelled off or bottomed out I guess, her oxygen levels were up a little yesterday but down a little last night....... They also moved her out of ICU which to me sounds good but I dont think she'll get as good of care but what can we do? Either way, hopefully all we have to do is wait out the lull and hope recovery comes sooner than later...... Cristina is almost constantly helping her with something whether its a drink of water, feeding her, moving her leg cos its uncomfortable, adjusting this, moving that......

Thanks for all the support

So the last coupla days has been a real PITA and very trying for Cristina's patience...... Seems her mom doesnt want to take any pain meds for one reason or another..... she's crying from pain but wont take the pain meds...... everyone has tried to reason with her to take the meds but Cristina is there with her constantly to deal with the whining and crying......

They has yet another breathing tech this week who came in and finally administered the breathing test accurately and found that she was not as bad as originally thought because the previous breathing tech's weren't doing the test right.....

Today mom is suppose to be moved once again, this time to the rehab wing where they probably wont let anyone stay the night with her...she is freakin out about this but Cristina needs a break and to be able to sleep more than an hour here and an hour there..... Cristina is really worn down and tired and frustrated but trying not to show this to her mom..... There really hasnt been much help from other family members other than her brother Brian and Aunt and Uncle from Yuma, who are staying with us. Cristina's step dad comes to visit and just pisses everyone off cos he is frustrated and probably scared but is absolutely no help what so ever.......

Cristina came home last night for the night as her brother and uncle stayed with her for the night, it was nice to have her home even though she was asleep on the couch an hour after coming home and eating dinner.....

Hopefully the rehab goes well and mom can start recovering however slow it may go......

Thanks for all the support.

Still praying Sy. Hopefully she recovers quick and the pain isn't too bad

Still praying too and grateful it's not as bad as they thought (if only a little better, better is better). Christine is especially in our prayers, but you too as the one to support her when she's being so strong supporting everyone else. Let us know if we can help with anything.

Thanks everyone.......

Mom update: yesterday we took a turn for the worse. Back in ICU and on a ventilater. Lung capacity not good so they are helping her breath now. Her body did not respond to the 2 series of med IV drips so now they have put in a dialysis type cathiter in her neck and are going to try plasmapheresis treatments. Cross your fingers everyone please!

You got it buddy. Thanks for the update. I'm sorry she's taken a turn for the worse. Was Christine able to get ANY rest at all?

alanzona wrote:You got it buddy. Thanks for the update. I'm sorry she's taken a turn for the worse. Was Christine able to get ANY rest at all?

Thanks Alan, SHe has been home in a real bed for the last 2 nights and is sleeping well.....

Thanks everyone for the support..... Cristina posted this update on the HCR board;

Thank you one and all for every single positive thought you have put out there for my mom. As I sit with her in the ICU tonight writing this she is resting, for the moment....she is fighting the sedation and pain meds still. The nurse said she has enough sedation medication being administered to her for a 500lb man (she is 130lbs) and she is still awake! They can't give her more because it sends her blood pressure out into left field. She will have her 5th treatment of plasmapheresis today. So far she hasn't shown much if any improvement. Especially with her breathing....the lung dr wants to remove the tube and do a tracheotomy. I guess there is less risk of pnuemonia and infection with a trach. We will cross that bridge later today or tomorrow when we see him again. If she continues to show lack of improvement in other areas as well they will need to move her to a long term care facility I am holding up well....except for a little fainting spell I had 2 nights ago at moms bedside....yes I spent about 4 hours down in the ER before the dr finally said "you fainted"....well duh! Anyways thank you all once again for the positive thoughts and prayers. Please keep them coming.