Day 4 - Post Brain Drain Surgery

Hello again!

As you can see, Jimmy had another visitor. Bob Fields, our friend and business partner, flew out to Phoenix just to spend a few days with us. I used to always feel so bad for myself being married to someone as hard to reign in as Jim, then I met Bob and I feel even worse for his wife, Patty! Those two boys are definitely cut from similar molds, and Patty and I have both earned our wings into Heaven many times over just for sticking with them!

A picture tells a thousand words, and you can see that Jimmy is proudly holding up his "reminders/wristbands". He worked on those knots for at least an hour, while Bob egged him on and coached him on how to 'get free'. The poor guy was covered in sweat, but he was so triumphant when he finally got them off. I had to apologize to the nurses profusely, and Bob is now banned from ICU (just kidding). Regardless to say, I am sure that Jimmy is going to sleep like a baby tonight. When I explained to him that he still couldn't go with us to dinner, I felt like such a meanie for having to burst his bubble. He really thought those darn things were the only thing that were keeping him from leaving the hospital. The sweetheart was so exhausted and deflated by the time that we left, that he put the wristbands back on himself and settled right in to go to sleep. I hope he's forgiven or at least forgotten before I come to see him in the morning.

Prior to the evening's attempted jail break, Jim had a pretty non-productive day. The stinker kept deciding to take a nap at all the wrong times. He basically slept through his whole physical therapy and kept asking to go to bed during his blue dye swallow test. Even though he managed to do a good job with the blue dye and showed no signs of aspiration, they are going to wait until after he gets through his next surgery before doing the next barium x-ray swallow test. Then, he will hopefully be able to get rid of the annoying feeding tube. At least he managed to create his own therapy with the amount of exertion he used to remove his pesky 'wristbands'. I'm hoping that his timing will be better tomorrow.

It looks like Thursday is going to be the big day this week. I still have not talked directly with Dr. Fiorella, but Dr. Spetzler did tell me that they've picked Thursday to do the balloon angiogram AND coiling surgery. I told him that Dr. Fiorella had discussed separating the two procedures, but Dr. Spetzler said that he wanted the coiling to be done on that same day, so I'm guessing that will be the way things go. I'm sure that the two of them will get things figured out, and I should get everything officially confirmed by tomorrow. I just realized that Thursday is the one-month anniversary of when we arrived in Phoenix -- my how time flies when you're having fun!

Anyway, despite the magnitude of all of the surgeries that Jimmy has had so far, the coiling surgery on Thursday is the one that is actually meant to eventually reduce the amount of thrombosis around Jim's aneurysm and to help relieve the pressure and, hopefully, the symptoms that have been making him so sick. The coiling is designed to eliminate the blood flow through the basilar artery, which is where the aneurysm is located, now that the bypass was able to redirect the blood flow in such a way that he could survive having this artery occluded. Without the blood flow through the aneurysm, it is expected that the thrombosis (clotting) around that aneurysm will dissolve over time, thereby releasing the pressure currently being placed on Jimmy's brain stem. This is going to be a very complicated procedure as it is going to take a lot of coiling to completely occlude the artery due to its abnormal size. Although I don't know all of the details about the procedure, it sounds like it is expected to be very complex and challenging. They must make sure that no blood flow is allowed to seep around and find its way through the coils. A clip would have been much easier to do the job, but due to scar tissue issues, Dr. Spetzler was not able to access the area that he needed to reach to go that route. They also must highly heparinize Jimmy to thin his blood adequately for this procedure, so that can be very risky also. Once the procedure is done, they have to watch how the artery clots off and try to achieve the perfect balance between enough clot and too much, which can lead to stroke. So, it will be awhile before we know the success of the procedure.

Therefore, now is the time to spread the word for plenty of prayers for Jimmy and the doctors over the next few weeks. I think our 'break' is soon to be over, and Jimmy is going to have to be ready to once again do battle. He's going to need all those Superman powers, and then some, to get through it. So pray that God gives him super human strength and super human healing powers to help him through; and pray that he bless the doctors with the skill and knowledge to coax his body into doing what they want for it to do. Then finish up with praying for any road bumps along the way to be minor and something that Jim can overcome. His body has been through so much already, but he just can't be allowed to quit now. Endurance is key in this marathon, and God's love will prevail! We hope to see you all there with us at the finish line!

Love always,
Jimmy & Krissy