Mike

Mike, my husband, passed out on the 22nd of December. I heard a huge crash from the bathroom at 12:30 at night. I rushed in and found him totally unconscious on the bathroom floor. I screamed for my son, Stewart ( they were staying with us because their house burned down), and he came up stairs and tried to revive him. I called the ambulance. It took them quite awhile to get here because there was snow on the ground. He was out for a few minutes, and incoherent for about 10 minutes, but by the time the ambulance got here, he was in bed and feeling fine. They did not transport him.

Since that time he has had a headache. We had him checked out with a heart doctor and his regular doctor and finally a neurologist to find the cause of him passing out, and finally to find out what was going on with him. By the time he got to see Dr. So, his symptoms had progressed. He was feeling some numbness on one side, he was unsteady on his feet, headaches, and some trouble saying what he wanted to say. The doctor wanted him to have a cat scan, but had to wait for approval from the insurance company. They approved an MRI and it was scheduled. Then he had a cold and that postponed it for a week. Finally on Tuesday, this week, he had it done. They immediately wanted to do surgery. They found blood clots between his skull and his brain. They were huge and pushing on his brain. They had pushed it in 15mm. He drove home to get me (I was teaching 5th grade), and we immediately headed back to the hospital. Surgery was scheduled for the next day.

The doctor had to drill a hole through his skull, found a new bleed, which was solid, so he had to make a larger hole, about 2 inched in diameter. He removed the solid blood and then he could get to the two or three clots that were behind the new clot so that he could drain them. He then put in a steel plate and screws, but left a drain hole for the remaining blood to drain out. He will have the drain for a couple of days, then they will watch him to see how he reacts, and if all goes well he will be home Saturday or Sunday.

What a stressful time, but he seems better already. He is talking fine, feels fine, except for a slight headache, and is giving the nurses a hard time.

I tell you, if it isn't one thing, it's another.

Lets hope a screw doesn't come loose!

This was in ICU when I first got there this morning.

A ride to his room this afternoon.

Watching TV this evening