Andy had symptoms of another TIA on the land yesterday, so when Beate and Tim came up to visit around lunchtime they convinced him to let them take him to the ER. The folks there did a CT scan and decided they saw some blood in the brain so sent him to a hospital in Albuquerque. There they did another CT scan around midnight and decided the blood was probably because he had bumped his head, they didn’t see any other reason for it, but they were suspicious about one of his carotid arteries and wanted to do an MRI to see if they should put in a stent.
As I understand it, they ordered the MRI around 2 am (?), but other patients had a lot higher priority — I just phoned Andy (7:08 pm our time) and he says there are two more people ahead of him so it should be done tonight and he should be able to leave sometime tomorrow morning. (He will probably have to come back next week for the stent.) I will phone him around 8 am to see how things are going.
Beate drove me down there this afternoon so we could give him a change of underwear, his electric razor and the Wall Street Journal. He was already in good shape with reading material, tooth brush, tooth paste, etc. because early this morning Kaitlin phoned the gift shop and ordered them sent up to his room. Beate will take me down again tomorrow morning after Andy says we should come to pick him up.
Bless Beate, Tim and Kaitlin! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I should point out Kaitlin was ready to drop everything and come, but this incident wasn’t that serious and didn’t warrant it. A preview of the future, though? Fingers crossed.
That had to frightening for both you and Andy!
I’m so glad he had Beate and Tim to take him to the ER
and Kaitlin looking out for him.
I’m going to envision him home and over all of this and feeling better than ever… but I’ll cross my fingers anyway.
XOXOXO
Thanks. He feels fine, except they won’t let him get out of bed without a nurse to help him and didn’t get enough to eat. They gave him a sandwich last night, then nothing early today in case they decided to do surgery. When we got there (about 3 pm?) they were finally showing him the menu and telling him how he could order. And, of course, one never sleeps well in a hospital. Given that, he’s patient and in reasonably good spirits. I will keep you posted.
envisioning exactly what Cindi is!
and Kaitlin is beyond COOL!
love you so much. XO
Yes she is. And so is Beate. We’re grateful.
my initial thoughts “oh no…” but then see all the help and realise that with luck, Andy will be feeling a lot better soon…maybe not back up to the land, quickly. That may mean a lot more than Wall Street Journal though…
Yes, going up to the land is what he really needs. I hope putting in a stent in a week or so isn’t over treatment. I should be in bed but I’m doing some research.
so whilst the Cat’s away the Mice doth play – it’s not time for bed here either….nor time for dinner – but hey I just realised I hadn’t had an arvo snack, so I ate a little something.
Truly sorry to hear it, Jean.
Best wishes to both of you,
U
Thanks.
I am sorry to hear about the TIA. Good thing that there are so many people around there for you to help you in this time of stress. I send both of you my best wishes for quick recovery.
Thank you.
A TIA can be serious, but this one might be minor. It’s so good that you have all of this support. Andy is a trooper, and we can only hope that he is being given the best of care, CM. Thanks for keeping us up to date—many of us have been in this situation ourselves. It sounds like you are staying positive and doing what has to be done.
This wasn’t his first TIA, but his first cluster of them. More on tonight’s post.
Please, don’t do the stent. The incident of stroke following that surgery is high. A surgeon friend told Dave’s sister he would never allow his family to have that surgery; he said new veins develop as detours as the artery gets blocked. Before she learned that, Dave’s father had the surgery and had a major stroke causing a five-month stay in a rehab facility. He learned to talk again but had trouble swallowing the rest of his life. He learned to walk again with a cane but never regained use of his left arm. (He was left-handed.) I told my Dave having his doctor check his arteries was not worth doing since I would fight him ever having the surgery. Please, do research into this.
Bless you! Yes, I spooked myself last night reading some research on it. I phoned Andy around 7:30 reminding Andy to ask the surgeon how many procedures he had done and how many strokes resulted. Andy said he had already asked and the answer was, oh, some but not many, don’t know the numbers. Fortunately he decided to put it off and is reading more about the procedure now. More in tonight’s post.
One thing is in Andy’s case his carotid artery isn’t blocked, as I understand it, the wall of the artery has delaminated and the blood flow isn’t smooth so blood clots can form.
I think there are +++’s and —‘s on any remedial procedure…
You, Andy and Kaitlin should make the decision based on what I think you said you were doing: CM/researching…
I believe everyone is an individual – I had a dreadful time with BP medication until they discovered that I’m actually allergic to that kind of medication…and now I don’t take any…
tammy has also had horrible reactions to some medicines and procedures. There’s no predicting, but the internet helps a lot. At least we don’t have to take just one person’s opinion.