Balloon Angio/Basilar Coiling

Hi!

Today is a very special day - it's been one month since Jimmy and I arrived in Phoenix to start our journey. I don't think either one of us quite expected to be here so long.

Speaking of long, today has been an exceptional one! The day started with a 6:30am phone call from the hospital. Jim's EVD tube (brain drain) evidently had shifted and needed to be replaced -- nothing like an early morning surgery to start the day!

When I came in, Jim was still knocked out, and I was afraid that today's planned balloon angiogram and coil were going to need to be postponed. Fortunately, Jim's timing improved and he managed to wake up and be alert enough for them to decide to go ahead. They came and took him away around 4:15pm to do the balloon angiogram, and Jimmy was nice and awake. At 7:00pm, Dr. Fiorella came out to tell me that they had started the balloon process but that he was too sleepy to be reliable for following commands to make sure that he was going to tolerate the temporary occlusion. I had to give him permission to test him electronically through EEG and CT angio. I agreed because I knew that it would continue to be a cat and mouse game to arrange the timing so that Jim would be alert enough. The doctor came back out around 8:15pm to tell me that the bypass was looking great and that they were even getting a small amount of bloodflow from the right side, where the old bypass is. They had both balloons inflated, and Jim appeared to be tolerating it. Praise God!

Dr. Fiorella invited me back to see Jimmy, even though he was already under anesthesia, so I could give him a kiss for luck, a quick pep talk, and a 'God bless'. I really appreciated that consideration.

At the time that I am writing this, Dr. Fiorella is in the process of coiling Jimmy's basilar artery -- we're going for broke! This is his only chance of ever getting well, but it is also very risky, and we won't know for quite awhile if it will have favorable or negative results -- it's just our only option as doing nothing would be worse. I remember a familiar quote, "On the other side of nothing is everything"...so that is why we are 'all in'.

Dr. Fiorella is thinking that it will take many hours to do the coiling procedure as they will need so many coils due to his overly large artery. That is why I decided to give you this partial update now. I will definitely be staying through the night until I get a chance to see him. I will add an addendum later, so be sure to check back again to hear how Dr. Fiorella thinks the coiling went. It will probably be weeks before we know whether there will be any adverse effects and months before Jim sees any improvement from the thrombosis reduction. This is truly a marathon of faith!

So, please say your prayers before going to bed tonight, and remember to include Jimmy and his doctors. God is great, God is good!!!

Be back soon!

Love and blessings to you all,
Krissy

Addendum 1: It's 10:30pm and the coiling is done. Dr. Fiorella feels that they did a good job of coiling off the basilar artery. His concern is the possibility of a major stroke now that the artery has been occluded. He's coughing a little bit, which is a good sign. They were not able to get him to follow commands yet, but he has been difficult to get response from when he is in a really deep sleep. He did have some bleeding out of his EVD tube (brain drain), so they are taking him for a CT scan to check for hemorrage. Hopefully, it is just some residual from the replacement this morning. They also will probably do an MRI sometime tonight. I plan to sleep in Jimmy's room so that I can be there WHEN he wakes up. I'm not sure if I'll be doing anymore updates tonight -- we'll see. Keep sending prayers if you are reading this ... Thank you and God bless us all!

Addendum 2: CT is good - thank you God! Going to room to see him and wait for him to go to MRI to check for any signs of stroke. He's still not awake. More prayers please!

Addendum 3: MRI showed no sign of stroke - Halleluia! He's still not awake but is running high fever, so we'll hope for the response we want in the morning. Good night!