Sorry to be asking for prayers/vibes when I haven't been posting much the past few weeks, but here it is.  My dad's very good friend and coworker, Charlie, had a massive stroke on Friday.  He works in construction and was on the job at a project at a hospital, working with his son, when it happened.  Thank God he was at the hospital, because this is at least giving him some sort of chance, although right now things don't look very good at all.

Charlie is 66 years old, and has 3 adult children as well as some grandchildren.  He's a wonderfully kindhearted person, and has been a good friend of my dad's for years now.  They told my dad, who has been at the hospital almost the entire time since this happened, that Charlie had a blood clot in his carotid artery that went to the brain.  They did one surgery last night, but he is currently in surgery again - they have located the clot and are trying to minimize the damage.  They told my dad and one of Charlie's sons tonight that Charlie has a 50/50 chance of getting through the surgery without the surgery itself causing further damage, but they may not be able to recover anything from damage already done.  After the 1st surgery, Charlie was in a coma.  Apparently he did open his eyes at one point, but was unable to talk or move.  This is very critical, and they are not sure he will survive the surgery.

Obviously Charlie's family and my dad are all very devastated by this.  I came home to my parents' house tonight to be with my mom, who is also very upset about this.  My dad is currently at the hospital, and he has been texting us with updates, but we haven't heard anything in awhile - we just know they are operating on Charlie right now.

Please please say some prayers or send vibes/positive thoughts for Charlie and for his family and my dad, and for the medical team working on Charlie.  Charlie needs all the prayers he can get right now.  We are continuously hoping and praying that he will come through this surgery and can recover his functioning.

Thanks so much in advance for this.

Much love,
Carrie

Prayers and vibes are on their way.

Jen

prayers and vibes on the way.
deb

Thanks all.

My dad got home at around 7:00 this morning.  My mom told me he said that they feel the surgery was pretty successful, and they will know more later on today.  Still saying lots of prayers for Charlie.

Thanks so much everyone!
Carrie

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or Prayers to Charlie and his family on the way.  I'm so sorry I didn't see this last night.

(((((((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))))))

Laurie

Prayers and good vibes are on the way.

with warm regards,
Tony

Thanks for the prayers and vibes, all.  Sorry for my delay (again) in responding.  It's been an incredibly busy week around here!!

Charlie has actually already been through an additional 2 surgeries at this point.  Every time something seems to be going in the right direction (and literally he has come out of these surgeries being able to walk and talk, which has been amazing for a period of time), he crashes.  It has been absolutely horrifying.  I really feel for his son, Matt, who has been there night and day, and is riding this horrible roller coaster of hopefulness and devastation.

Charlie was actually walking a little bit the other day when he collapsed again.  He began having seizures yesterday, and they took him for an MRI, during which he had a Grand Mal seizure.  They say now they've found some sort of mass on his brain but wouldn't know until today if it is operable or not - putting him through still yet another surgery.

I'm sure God has a plan, but this has been a devastating, horrible ride for Charlie, his family, and his close friends like my Dad.  My dad has been there quite a lot, on top of work and family obligations, and I worry that he is wearing himself thin, too.  He's become a surrogate father for Matt through all this, which is very commendable, but I do worry that he's not getting any rest himself through this.

Please keep the prayers coming for Charlie, his family, and my dad.

Love and hugs,
Carrie