aw, he'll do just fine. But I do send well wishes to him and his family.

It'll take more then a little Brain Surgery to keep Zach down.

Best of Luck with the Surgery!  I hope that gets rid of the infection.

Wishing you a safe procedure and fast recovery Zach! You make NWR Newscast always a treat to listen to, and I find myself laughing in public every now and then; either while I'm shopping, or just going for a walk you always give me a few reasons to smile.

Anyways, I really hope you get some well deserved rest, and get back into the thick of things as soon as you're able.

Also! Dead or Alive Dimensions will be out by then, and it's 4D awaits your return!

Haha, take care. =)

Hang in there, Zach. We're rooting for you.

I was wondering why he hadn't been on lately and didn't comment on the VelociRapture thread (the man loves his dinosaur related topics).

I hope he does well and has a speedy recovery.

Wow, surgery is never great news unless it involves certain types of augmentation. But this sounds rough.


All the best to Zach and his family during this time. We look forward to your triumphant return!  (Possibly with cybernetic enhancements or shapely... well, let's just stick with the cybernetics this time around.)

My thoughts and prayers are with him.

Best of luck my dude. Brain surgery may sound like an ordeal, but its not as serious as one may think. I don't know the specifics of your infection, but that's a pretty routine surgery. Most likely they are cleaning up pus or releaving a portion of the brain that is swelling. You'll be fine. It'll be a while till the pain subsides but just hang in there and ask for more pain killers :)

I hope all goes well for you, Zach.

Haven't commented before but I listen to the Newscast regularly and I really like it. Hope the surgery goes well.

Get well soon! 

Get well soon, Zach!

Praying for the best outcome for you!

fingers crossed, good luck!

I was thinking about this and I like to get Zach a Dinosaur get well card and sign it.  Put it in a Manilla envelope with a lot of address labels and keep sending it around collecting stamps on the envelope to people who want to sign it till it gets to someone who actually knows where Zach is and can get it to him but, it probably be simplier to do something Digital...

Wishing you the very best, Zach. Get well soon! The website isn't the same without you, man.

God bless you Zach. Your wittiness is one thing that defines the greatness of this forum and the podcasts that comprise it worth listening to and particpating with.  ;)

Get well soon Zach! May the lord aid your recovery.

Good luck on the surgery and I hope you get better soon Zach!  :)

Get well soon, mate.

Thoughts and Prayers, from a fairly new but now devoted fan of this awesome site. 

I am truly sorry to hear this. He will be in my prayers as that surgery is very serious and I wouldn't want anything to happen. I emailed him some dino pictures i took with my 3DS I hope he gets them and gives him a smile.

My prayers and thoughts are with you Zach! Get well soon!

Hang in there, Zach.  We're thinking of you.

Good luck and God bless, my good man...we will miss the insight and sexual innuendo you add to each Newscast...come back to us soon

Get well soon Zach, Newcast would never be the same with out you!

Here's to wishing you a speedy and full recovery!!! :D

I will pray for you. I hope all goes well.

Good luck and get well soon!

I had a joke for this, but I'm afraid it might be in bad taste. Regardless, best of luck to you, Zach. Hopefully you'll be back going on and on about dinosaurs and making extremely immature jokes soon.

Yeah, don't make a joke in bad taste.....
some people tend not to be able to take jokes around here.

But if Zach is lucky, they may trigger his X-gene, then he will come out of this better than all of us.
I hope it's some sort of mutant healing factor.

Best wishes!  I will pray for a speedy recovery as well, Zach.  I hope that you will be feeling much better soon. 

Until then, my son and I will make sure to play with his dinosaur collection in your honor. 

I wish you the best of luck, Zach. And I hope you'll feel better soon!

Woah.  Good luck Zach.

Aw, you guys are awesome. Thanks for the all well wishes. Now, here's what's going on...

On Monday after work, I came down with a nasty migraine headache. I didn't think it was a big deal--I've gotten migraines before (routinely, even). But it hadn't gone away by Wednesday, and I daresay it had become intolerably painful by Wednesday night. It felt like I was being stabbed in the back of head every time my heart beat. So we went to a place called FireCare (kind of a 2nd-rate ER) and they told me it was a meio-facial headache and that I was dehydrated. I got a deep-tissue neck massage and had two liters of fluids injected into my arm. Great. But I did feel a little better.

Next time? The pain is just as bad. Went back to FirstCare, and they told me to head to the actual ER. Which I did. The next two days are a big blur. The ER doctor gave me a lumbar puncture and then immediately took me into emergency brain surgery for a brain abcsess. This is serious stuff--it's where bacteria (or fungus) have broken through the blood-brain barrier between the sinuses and the brain and are now sitting directly on the surface of the brain. My brain got scrubbed, lots of spinal fluid was cultured, and I got sent to an ICU room.

That's where I've been ever since. I perpetually hear from my three doctors that "tomorrow" I will have my head tube removed. The head tube is used to equilate (is that a word? I'm still woozy) pressure in my skull but it can also be used to take a sample of spinal fluid OR inject antibiotics directly to the abcsess site. That might happen tomorrow, as my spinal fluid is still "cloudy," or filled with bacteria. I'll know more tomorrow...

Once the head tube is out, I'll be able to move from the ICU to a normal hospital room and start the actual road to recovery. I'll have to learn to walk again (seriously) and my primary doctor will have to figure out a med schedule for me to take home with a CADD pump to give me antibiotics through my PICCline IV. So that's the story. I'll know more tomorrow. Keep pulling for your favorite dinosaur-obsessed staffer, guys. I might not make it to the next Newscast, but I can't imagine why I'd be kept away from later episodes!

What a trooper! I'm sure nothing's gonna be keeping you from your love of Nintendo, and this amazing post ^ is proof of that! Great to know you're pulling through :)

Yikes! That's an elaborate procedure, dude! Good to know that you are OK at least. We are still rooting for ya! :D

You should just learn how to fly instead. Walking is over rated.

It took Clark (on Smallville) 10 years to learn to fly, so make Superman look like a fool and learn to do it sooner (like everyone else on Smallville that could fly)

Hmm...I had an inclination it was a brain abscess since it was mentioned it was an infection. Brain surgery is tough on the patient. I'm very surprised that you'll have to learn how to walk again though. Not to worry you, but that's unusual.

I'm glad you're well enough to type and joke about it. That's a great sign. I hope you feel better soon.

The surgery probably threw off his inner ear balance. He is going to have to recalibrate his brain for the new level. While you can use your eyes to keep level, his ears will keep messing with him until he can adjust hence he will have to effectively relearn to walk.

Keep dem DOA 3D titties in your mind, and you'll come back better and more pervy than ever!


Get well soon, Zach!

Ah that makes sense.

I assume he will have to relearn how to ride a bike as well. I guess the old adage doesn't apply!

Best wishes and prayers are going your way for sure, homie!

Well... I feel bad. I used to didn't like Zach because he said "Paper Mario can suck it"... I'm still not entirely over that, but still. Sounds like Zach will have a lot of trails ahead. His head must really hurt. ugh.. I wish I was better with words, but I just hope nothing happens to him. Here's to hoping for a healthy recovery.

Wow, that's a wild story.  Brain scrub?  That's a real thing?!
But the best part is that it sounds like things have gone well so far and that you are (or very nearly are) fully on the road to recovery already.


Anyone setting up a PayPal donation link? Just guessing, but surgery like this probably isn't free in the US unless NWR staff perks include really awesome insurance plans ...

Hopefully you got a game System with you.  I go Stir crazy just sitting in a room.  It is almost unavoidable that nothing good is on TV.

I chip in.

Yeah it is, and one of the major downsides to it is that he can no longer "Whip His Hair Back and Forth" because now you hear a squeaking sound because his brain is so fresh and so clean (clean).

Which will prompt a need to shave his head and give him the ability to show up in shiny surfaces.

Zach will find new meaning in "New car smell".

Good luck, fine sir. I'm a bit woozy just reading about your predicament, so I can't imagine what you must be going through. But it seems like you've kept in fine spirits. Will look forward to hearing your voice through my earbuds in the near future!

Only everything will smell like soap

http://i51.tinypic.com/nlsw87.jpg

Who would have known...

I don't post here much but I've been listening to Zach on the podcasts for some time now. I wish you best of luck on a speedy recovery!

I wonder if this could change Zach in anyway? Sort of like crayon and Homer Simpson....


Zach is great as is, but i'm curious.

Love ya bro.

Best wishes Zach and hang in there.

Worry not, Mr. Vega. I am still obsessed with dinosaurs, gaming, and chesty women.

I'm more of an ass man myself.

Fixed? j/k!

I was looking for something to post for this and well... I PMed what I ended up finding to you...
You know on second thought PM me if you want to know.

Chesty figurines too.

Yeah, youll be fine! Just don't forget to keep you brain in form with Brain Age haha!

Is there a difference? I'm just sad that Dirty Little Figures isn't being updated. Wonder Woman is next on the docket...or maybe Tamaki Kousaka.

Cat Woman...

One is an abstract representation of, and the other is for real.

Hope it all goes well Zach!

Good luck! Hope it all goes well. I'm sure you'll do fine.

I just spent the previous week in and out of the hospital, so I can sympathize. I wish you the fastest recovery, Zach and I hope to hear you on the Newscast soon!

OMG, Are you and the mustache ok?

Yeah I'm doing alright. Thanks for asking. I got into a rough patch, but I hope to be clear soon. But to be fair it's nothing compared to what Mr. Miller is experiencing and I'm pulling for him.

I got the head-tube out of my skull today! And I'm moving to a lower-intensity ward tonight and everything's turning up roses!

I'm glad to hear that. :)

We were betting on Soap.
Grats on moving to less intensity.  Are they going to plug the skull back soon?
Glad your in hight spirits.

head tube sounds horrible

Jeez, man! I have a week of passing out every afternoon due to a flu, and you expertly upstage me in the worst possible way.
Glad they've taken the tube out, but sheesh, that's some scary stuff. Do you at least have a DS to keep you occupied?

I have a 3DS, a netbook, and an iPod. I keep waiting for DoA in the mail, too, but it hasn't happened yet.

All but one of my doctors (two of my doctors) had given me the A-Okay to head home. Now it's just up to my primary doctor, who's generally a real worrywart, and I suspect he'll want to keep me overnight for observation, but I'm gonna fight it tooth and nail. If I do have to stay one more night, I guess there is a Heat/Bulls game on.

If insurance is covering it, then stay one more night.
Better to be on the safe side. Besides, the food can't be that bad.... can it?

On a related note I'm sure this has met your family deductable for the year so, if their is anything else that needs done now might be the time.

Morphine...hit the morphine button.

and the "Hot Nurse" button....

you did get the Platinum upgrade that gives you access to the "Hot Nurse" button and sponge bath options right?

Well he can't walk (well) so I think that's included.

Isn't Zach Hitched?I get people confused easily.  I don't think the Misses would approve if thats the case.

Hey Zach hope all is going well, sorry for the belated good luck/ get well message.

Yeah, he's married.

We should do a whole thread explaining the status of each staff member :p

Just have it in the profiles. That Rarely change...

With E3 coming up, you gotta remind those groupies who's available and who's not.
You're gonna need a big front page story.

We were just gossiping about that on Minecraft last night.