One Long Night/Day/Night

Hi friends & family~ We're creating this page to keep you all updated on Dad's journey from the YMCA on Monday, March 12th, to the Trauma ICU at Baylor Medical downtown Dallas where he currently resides.

This first post might be a little longer, then hopefully we'll add periodic updates as the doctors and staff monitor his condition & progress.

MONDAY NIGHT, March 12

Mark, Mom, & Dad were working out at the YMCA. After his last set of military press, Dad felt like his neck was suddenly hurting and his forehead was in immense pain. He lay down on a mat, then told Mark to call someone. We all know if Dad was asking for help, the pain must have been unbearable.

The ambulance took him to the Baylor ER at Grapevine where they waited for several hours managing his pain and waiting to do a cat scan. He got a CT scan about 12:30 a.m., which determined that there were incredible amounts of blood on his brain. (those of you in medical professions will have to excuse my lack of technical writing ability & knowledge). The original determination was that he had a brain anuerysm and needed to be transported to Baylor Medical downtown Dallas. It was too foggy to go by helicopter, so an ambulance rushed him to "Big Baylor" about 2:00 a.m. He was admitted to the ER where they scheduled a brain catheterization to relieve the pressure.

TUESDAY a.m.,March 13

Around 5 in the morning, Dr. Shaad Bidiwala (www.txneurosurgery.com) did a "procedure" that involved drilling through his skull and putting a drain deep into dad's brain to relieve pressure. Apparently, the range of normal brain pressure is between 5 and 15. Dad's measured at 65. Ouch.

Around 9, a vascular interventional neuroradiologist, Dr. Layton (http://www.americanrad.com ) angiogram. We prayed very specifically that they would find nothing other than the blood when they went in. The amazing miracle was that it didn't appear to be an anuerysm. It was either an anuerysm that had clotted itself off (very rare) or what he called a benign perimesencephalic hemorrage. Basically, they found nothing except the bleeding. God graciously answered our prayers...all glory to Him!

The doctors were and are inconclusive about what exactly happened. They may have clarity at some point, but the doctors do say it was completely unrelated to weight lifting or any specific pre-existing condition. A total mystery.

WEDNESDAY, March 14

At 6 a.m. they performed another CT scan to determine if the bleeding had continued. There was still blood (the draining process takes awhile) but there was nothing new. Yea! He was sedated through an anesthetic with more tubes & wires coming out of him than a surround sound TV. Wednesday morning, they let him try breathing on his own, which went well. He woke up very confused, with his last memory of lifting weights at the Y. He was very weak in speech, but recognized us & was able to say he was in a lot of pain. Throughout the day, he was working to piece together what happened. He was somewhat disoriented, but obviously that is normal for a brain bleed! The nurses kept telling us they have NEVER seen anyone awake the day after a brain bleed. Again, GOD IS GOOD!!!!!

Dad's first question to the doctor was "When can I go back to work?" followed quickly by, "When can I start running again?" The doctor commented that he would be tied up for quite awhile (pun intended, I believe).