Mid-Day News from the Emergency Room

It is so busy here that there are people laying in the hallways. It’s like walking through a homeless camp! At any rate we are still here and just saw the Boss Doctor with his class of about 10 students. Here’s the dope:

• Things still looking good with no changes
• I thought to tell the Dr. about the four “spontaneous” nosebleeds that I’ve had in the last three months. He put that together with the brain bleed and suggested another option called “The Watchman Device” instead of the blood thinner I’ve been on for 2-1/2 years. I actually asked my cardiologist about that a few weeks ago and was told I was not a candidate. Today’s Dr. said, “was that before the brain bleed?” … Yes! … “That’s why,” he said, “your doctor said you were not a candidate. With the nosebleeds and now the bleed, you would be a candidate.” So we will look into that and it may save us about 1500.00 a year or more.
• The Dr. kept using the word “stroke” so I asked him if I had had a stroke. He explained that there are two types of stroke and I’ve had a hemorrhagic stroke. I inquired, “A hemorrhoidal stroke?” … The entire class laughed as the Boss Dr. looked non-plussed. “I didn’t say that”, he said! 🙂
• Boss Dr. wants to put me on some baby aspirin since they have stopped the Xarelto and wants to monitor how that goes and then take another CT scan tomorrow. He confirmed that there is no visible mass in the brain but that he would want to do another MRI of my brain in a couple of weeks to check on it.
• He said he knew I wanted to go home today but asked if I would object. I told him we had hundreds of people praying for me and for wisdom for my medical team. “It would be silly to pray that way and then tell you I didn’t want to follow your advice.” That is the second time today that I’ve had to explain that when medical staff made suggestions in situations where I had the option of refusing. It seemed to be a solemn moment for the class of students who a few minutes before had been laughing about my hemorrhoidal stroke!
• So …. we are staying the day, taking some baby aspirin, and hopefully after a CT scan tomorrow we will go home and see the oncologist on Friday.

That’s the news from Iowa Hospital in Iowa City where all the nurses are sweet but my girlfriend out-sweets them all!

Thanks for your prayers and notes of encouragement!