Ed In Hospital
So much has happened in the last few days, but I will try to catch everyone up on all that is going on.
After the CT scan on Friday they did find blood in his brain (a subdural hematoma) which is blood that has collected between the skull and the lining of the brain. The bleeding is not actually in the brain, which is a good thing.
After this information things got a little hectic between the neurologist’s decision to wait until Tuesday to see him – and Dr. Liftman (primary care)wanting him to be seen right away. Dr. Liftman told us to go to St. Francis emergency and he would let them know we were on our way.
Got there around 2:30 PM and was seen right away, but didn’t get into one of the ER rooms until 4:30. Dr was waiting for scan that was taken early in the day but couldn’t get it, so at 6:00 they ordered their own scan. They did find some bleeding and said he was going to be admitted.
While in the ER they started an IV of fresh frozen plasma to get the blood to clot so there wouldn’t be any more bleeding. After one bag of plasma and a vitamin K pill he started to itch and we noticed hives popping out, so they stopped the plasma.
Waited in the ER room until 11:00 PM for a bed. Once on the 6th ‘neuro’ floor he was in a regular bed and trying to settle when he started having pains in his chest. Dr. from ER came up to check him over and didn’t know if it was chest pains, or something with the lungs. After calming down a little the pain started to subside, so we thought it could have been from laying on a gurney 8 hours, and then trying to wiggle himself off the gurney into the bed. He felt ok after a while and was settling down.
Next day, Saturday, he had a restless night and still had a headache. Talked to the neurosurgeon who gave him two options. One, wait it out and see if the blood gets absorbed by the body – no telling how long that could take, or two, have surgery to remove the blood. Didn’t have to make a decision right away – think about it and let him know later.
Dr. Marakovits (cardiologist) came in and said probably the best option was to have the surgery and get it all cleared out. Then he dropped the bombshell of not ever being able to take coumadin (blood thinner) again because of the risk of more bleeding in the brain. Now, once again, Ed was given two options. One, go without coumadin, which will lead to either a stroke or heart attack and the chances of either happening are 20% each year. Or, two, take out that valve and replace it with a tissue valve. The reason for taking out the valve that’s there now is it does require coumadin. The blood has to stay thin enough for the valve to work properly, or clots will form around it. The tissue valve is from a pig or cow and you do not need coumadin or any type of blood thinner. They didn’t do a tissue valve two years ago because Ed is still a young and those tissue valves have a life span of only 10 years, and the mechanical one would last him a lifetime.
So much to think about, and the decision is strictly up to Ed. We all had to digest the information, talk about it, and think about it. Ed decided to definitely have the surgery to remove the clots, but as of today hasn’t decided on the heart surgery yet. There is time for that.
Tomorrow, September 6th he is scheduled for the surgery mid morning. For all who read this…. we are asking for everyone’s prayers. Needless to say, we are all scared, but Ed is so strong and facing this with a positive attitude that it helps us.
Tim and Kim have been with both of us every day and we would be so lost without them.
His brother, Bob, came in Saturday from Pittsburgh, so between all of us here, we are keeping his time occupied.
I will try to update this journal whenever I can.
