It's early Monday morning.  Ed is sleeping for the moment - seems they have to wake him up quite often for all of the various things they need to do and check.  We had a nice evening with Ryan and Aaron. 

I know there are many of you who may want some detailed information and Ed is completely open to sharing what we know, so I'll give you a thumbnail sketch, which will be bigger than a thumbnail.  Ed started having some digestive upset about 2 years ago.  It was infrequent and somewhat mild at that point.  After a brief time, he began seeing a gastroenterology specialist who over the course of some months, performed various tests including colonoscopy, endoscopy, fluroscopy, blood tests, urine & stool tests, abdominal ultrasound and a CT scan.  Everything was coming up negative or with no visible problems, yet his bouts with nausea, vomiting and diarrhea and his weight loss continued and over the course a year, became somewhat more frequent and pronounced.  A year ago, with no definitive diagnosis, Ed went to the UCLA Center for Digestive Diseases.  He was prescribed a medication which he tried for a long period but which brought inconsistent results with little improvement.  He then began to search for another doctor and was turned down by some who perhaps felt his case was  beyond their diagnosic capabilities in the face of the highly regarded doctors who had already been treating him. Ed then went to an endocrinologist in November of 2010 who was also not able to come up with a definiative answer.  Meanwhile, his episodes were becoming more frequent and pronounced and his weight loss was more and more concerning.  We pressed the doctor to repeat some of the earlier tests which were now nearly 2 years old.

About 10 days ago, our frustration level peaked and we discussed going to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona for a more exhaustive exploration.  The weekend of Aaron's birthday, Ed experienced much more dramatic symptoms including leg and abdominal swelling that was quite unusual and he had been sick every single day for over a week instead of the every few days that had been the previous pattern.  We came to the ER at Los Robles on Sunday, February 13 to check out these new symptoms and see if it was safe for him to travel to Arizona.  The ER doctor performed an abdominal CT scan to investigate the source of swelling, and discovered a large number of enlarged lymph nodes as well as an area of potential intestinal blockage on the scan.  He also noted that the blood tests showed that Ed is suffering from malnutrition due to the absorption problems associated with the vomiting and diarrhea. 

It's 4:30 AM and Ed just woke up and is asking me to log off and spend some time with him before I leave for the office.  I will update more later today.