Dad's Health

Dad has three blood clots, one in his aorta and two in his iliac arteries (noted by green arrows, below).

They ran a catheter up through the groin area and over the iliac arteries, forming an arch. (see below)

Initially, throughout the evening on Monday, the catheter had medication being released from it so it could "dissolve"   the blood clots in the iliac arteries, and also"hopefully" extend upward and dissolve the clot in the aorta as well. 

Monday night was extremely painful for him, as the blood returned to his legs. We were told "pain is good" since that meant the blood was moving through. His legs went from white and pulse-less on Monday night to a health pink color with a strong pulse by Tuesday morning. It was a very long night, and he says it is by far the worst pain he has ever had. 

After a check-in yesterday, the medication to dissolve the clots was definitely successful, but had not completely dissolved the clots. They left the same catheter in place and continued the release of "dissolving" medication, but they also included a sonar pulse in the catheter to hopefully force the breaking of the blood clots to get them moving through.

He's been seen by several physicians today and the prognosis is looking excellent. The options, as they stand right now, are as follows:

1. We will find the blood clots have dissolved tomorrow morning and they can do a minimal laproscopic procedure to reinforce all three locations so they will not clot again. This is called an "endograft." This method would hopefully get him in recovery before Friday and have him flying home by Monday.

2. The clots have not dissolved by morning and they would need to perform invasive surgery (open him up) and remove the clot(s) surgically. This method would be very painful, dangerous, and require 2-3 weeks of recovery time before he could come home.

10-5-11, 11am PST

Thumbs up!

All of the physicians who have seen him think option #1 (the best option) is the most likely. They have all been impressed with the progress he has made. We will not know anything for sure until he has another test tomorrow to see if the clots have dissolved. This is what we're praying for!!

Now that the blog is set-up, we will keep it updated with the most recent information on his status. In the mean time, thanks again to everyone for your prayers, thoughts and support. They are surely getting us through this stressful time.

Dana