A Heavy Day

This morning all the major doctors who are treating Nathan had a meeting to discuss the best plan to get him better. This included his cardiologist, hematologist, neurologist/neurosurgery, infectious disease and ICU. They came up with a plan and our cardiologist sat with Richard and I and discussed what they decided. Each of these doctors have competing priorities. The hematologist is trying to make sure Nathan doesn't have any more strokes. The infections disease doctors along with neurology want to treat his brain abscess and cardiology wants to repair his heart. In an ideal world, the hematologist would want 6 months to treat Nathan with an anticoagulant. Then ID and neurology would want to treat Nathan for the abscess 6-9 months, if not a year. Then he would be ready for his heart repair. Unfortunately, things are not ideal. If Nathan does not get his heart fixed, he is at risk for strokes and infection. So, the plan is for Nathan to have his abscess drained next Thursday or Friday. This gives the hematologist about two weeks from Nathan's initial stroke to treat/thin his blood. This past Monday, they were actually thinking of doing this surgery yesterday but the hematologist wanted to wait. He said that having a stroke is like an earthquake where after the initial one, there are aftershocks. He wanted at least a week or two to treat him before any type of surgery. If things go well with the draining, they plan on doing his initial heart surgery March 31. He will need 7-10 days to recover from that.

Right before Nathan has his abscess drained, the neurosurgeon will have him go for an MRI. If the abscess has shrunk considerably, they will most likely NOT do the surgery and plan on doing his heart surgery instead (not the same day). Dear friends, this is what we are praying for. Of all the procedures Nathan needs done, they are most nervous about draining the abscess since it is in his brain. Especially since he just had a stroke he is at risk for bleeding in his brain. The first 24-48 hours after the surgery is the most crucial.

Tomorrow Nathan will have a procedure to put a port in his hip area (not sure on the exact spot) so they/we can administer his IV antibiotic and also to draw blood. We are thankful for this as Nathan has been stuck quite a few times to get blood. They need to do this frequently so that they can tell how well the anticoagulant is working. He has two IV's placed but one is for the anticoagulant drip and the other has stopped giving blood for the most part. Sometimes they can get it but it's hit or miss. They are not going to put another PICC into any of the arteries so that they preserve those for what the cardiologists want to do when it comes time to start his heart repair. We will most likely be in the ICU for 3-4 weeks, if not longer for all of these things to be done.

As you can imagine, this was a hard day. I'm still kind of processing all of this. Richard is handling this much better than me but for those of you that know both of us, you could imagine that would be the case. For those of you who don't, Richard is laid back and super optimistic. Apparently though, the doctor's think we are doing a wonderful job with the news so I guess I can put up a good front sometimes. The tongue-biting to keep from crying in front of the cardiologist really worked for me. :)

On a positive note, Nathan had a good day. Some of the issues I mentioned in a previous post about his speech and coordination have subsided. He is talking like he used to and he is nearly back to normal physically. Being in a bed for a few days has weakened his legs but he's no longer leaning over and his coordination is a lot better. His rash where the PICC line was is also doing better.

This next week is a crucial time for prayer and I would love nothing more than for Nathan to go for his MRI and in 30 minutes get rolled back into his room bypassing a risky surgery thanks to our awesome God. Our cardiologist even mentioned that if by some miracle Nathan's abscess has shrunk considerably, that she is certain the neurosurgeon would want to wait on surgery. I think she opened the door with that comment! :)

I appreciate all your prayers. I don't know how to convey how much they mean to us except to just thank you for keeping Nathan and all of us in your prayers.

I have been trying to remember to post a few updated pictures of the kids from last week before all of this started. I keep forgetting to bring my camera to the hospital. Hopefully soon. I know you'd like to see Nathan and how well he was doing last week. I haven't posted any pics since China. Also, Richard has a couple pics on his phone of Isabel and Nathan in his crib in the hospital. They're pretty cute too. Hopefully, tomorrow.

Good night.