Hi,
Well....my DH had a stroke. There is a very small part of damage done in his brain but is on the right side which is puzzling cuz it was his right side that he was having issues with (the original info I had was wrong – I though it was his left but it wasn’t). However both eyes and his both sides of his mouth were messed up at the time it was happening. The doctor said it "could" have been a clot that split and part went one way and part the other. There are no signs of any clots now but he has been on blood thinners ever since. They are keeping him on the blood thinners but will actually have to double his blood thinner injections (which sucks cuz they hurt....I remember have them). This is due to the new medication the neurologist is putting him on….when you first start this med your body can fight it and cause more blood clots to form so while his body adjusts they have to up the injections to compensate. Once the med is in is system and working properly they will stop the injections. They are doing other blood tests to see where his blood is at and how likely it is for clots to form etc. Plus they are running some other test that we are unsure as to why at this point.
He had another test yesterday which was an ultrasound of his heart. My hubby though it was cool, he said it was like seeing out baby but you could actually make since of it….LOL…..boys!!! They discovered that the flap between the two upper chambers never closed when he was born. This is the portion of the heart that the umbilical cord goes through (slightly confused but its how the doctor put it to my hubby) and for most ppl the flap closes and seals shortly after birth. Having it not happen is pretty common and some ppl never find out about it and live completely normal lives where as others need to have it fixed. He is now waiting to see a cardiologist and they are going to put him out and do an internal U/S down his throat to get a better look and then we can decided on what rout we want to take. There are quite a few different options: 1. Open heart surgery - BIG NO from both of us, 2. an experimental surgery – My DH said no way in hell, and then 3. Where then go in through his side and up an artery and stitch it closed. BUT we will not know more till after this test and the cardiologist then we may have a different solution other than the options that were discussed with his neurologist.
They are unsure if the heart issues had an effect on his stoke and they are really not 100% clear why he had a stroke at his age as everything look really good. The Doc had his lap top with him and showed him different video’s with a few possibilities of what may have happened. It showed how his heart worked with the opening between the chambers and how the clot could have gone through the heart and then up to the brain instead of into the lungs. BUT its only one possibility…..there is no way to no 100%.
My DH suffers from migraines all the time and has regular head aches on an almost daily basis but the MRI did not show any ill effect or why he suffers like he does from them. The neurologist wants him to work with a regular doctor and get on a plan of prevention rather then treatment for when a migraine strikes. He does not like the fact that his gets as many headaches as he does but on this type of prevention plan part of it is tracking everything and they may be able to get to the bottom of it that way. He is going to forward all the info to his reg doctor and what he would like to happen. BUT he truly does not believe the two are linked.
Even though there is a small amount of damage to his brain there are no short or long term effects from it. My DH said it must be on part of the 90% he does not use….LOL. He is sounding really good and we are glad it all happened down there as we do not know what would have happened if he was still up in Canada with me. He is getting the best treatment possible and has not had any other symptoms happen since the big ones on Wednesday night.
He has his internal U/S tomorrow at 10am and they said the results should come back very quickly. So we will know more tomorrow…..I HOPE.
I am still blown away that all this happened and the heart thing is crazy as no one had any idea there was anything wrong till this. My DH has always said he was never able to run or do heavy duty sports cuz when his heart got pumping fast he felt very strange….so this may be the answer to that. He is going to ask the cardiologist all his questions and hopefully will actual get some answers to some things that he just put off as nothing all his life.
My head is spinning and I keep forgetting all the questions I want to ask…..we are all on information overload. I am so upset still and ANGRY……the anger has gotten so much worse as time passes. I hate being out of the loop (not really but I never get the info from the doctors…..its always 2nd, 3rd, 4th hand) I know this sounds petty but it’s so frustrating. I think this whole situation is making all that much harder. I really am not handling it very well and the more ppl that tell me “NOT” to worry and to be calm the madder I get. I know they are just trying to help but no one understands what its like and I can not put it into words rate now for anyone and that in its self frustrates the hell out of me. ARG I feel like screaming and screaming. I am truly do the best I can but it is just not enough and I do not know what to do to fix it.
My DH’s Grandpa (he is the one that hired the lawyer) called the lawyer yesterday to see if there was a special pass or temp visa, something they could get so I could go down to be with my hubby and to help get him back on his feel. They said do to my inadmissibility (if I try to enter the US currently I will be arrested with out trial) there was nothing they could do. They would try and find where our case was in line for the interview and they would submit the new info about the hospitalization but really it was a waiting game now and we just have to sit tight. I have to have everything approved before I can attempt to go down to California. This may help in the approve process and we all think it will but it’s very unlikely that it will speed anything up. They have already asked for everything to be expedited due to the pregnancy so once up ask for it to be sped up you just have to wait. It is so frustrating. AND of course we never heard anything from them today…..so they have no update yet
I completely lost it on Wednesday when this all happened then I was doing a bit better but today I am struggling again. My DH wants me to have someone come over to spend time with me but I really do not want that. I just do not know what to do…..this being helpless is very hard!!!!! Some of our friends want to go the press with the whole story but I am scared that will make it harder on our immigration case. I do not know……I feel I am loosing my mind. I finally got a few hours sleep but I know I need more. I am just sooo out of it and scared and all I want to do it be with my DH, hold his hand, hug and kiss him and be by his side throughout all this.
I had some bad cramping this morning but I laid in bed and rested and talked to my baby and said lots of prayers and they have since subsided. I have had them on and off through out my PG so I am not overly worried but if they come back I will go in and get everything check out. I know stress brings the out more so I am really trying to find a way to relax.
I will post another update tomorrow when we get the results. Thank you again everyone for all your prayers……this is just so crazy; I can not believe its happening.
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Update
8/24/07
Re: Update
is the worst!
