Jeremy Huffman

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.  On Thursday July 13 Jeremy underwent open heart surgery for a thoracic aortic aneurysm.  Surgery went as expected and they successfully repaired the damaged aortic root  and placed a mechanical valve. Unfortunately Jeremy developed post-surgery complications.  He was having more drainage than expected so they kept him sedated and intubated in case they had to reopen him.  At about 5 that night, they took him back to the OR. During this surgery, the doctor found an area of bleeding and clotting around the valve that was placed. The surgeon cleaned the clotting out and added one stitch. After this surgery, draining was minimal so we thought all was well and everything was looking up.  About 5 hours after the 2nd surgery, they were attempting to wean him off the vent and while doing some testing they realized that he was not responding to stimuli on his left side. This was indication of a stroke. They immediately (early Friday AM) took him for a CT scan where it was a confirmed that he had had a stroke in his middle cerebral artery.  They then immediately called in the interventional radiology team to perform a procedure to break up the clot to hopefully minimize the damage that may have been caused from the stroke. The procedure was successful and they were able to get the clot broken up.  The extent of the damage from the stroke couldn't be determined at that time.   Most of the damage seen from a stroke is between 48 and 72 hours after the initial event.  As of about 6:30 Friday morning they had weaned him off the vent and the sedation.  He was breathing on his own and responding well to the neurological tests that were being performed. They did notice some left sided facial paralysis, some slurred speech, and sensitivity to light when he attempted to open his eyes. They did a swallow test on him but, he did not seem to have enough muscle control over his tongue or throat so he failed that.  He was pretty bummed because he is missing his QT sweet tea LOL!  At that time, there was a some progress with responding to painful stimuli on the left foot. He was not happy when the nurses would pinch his toes on the left side so he would kick out at them.  This was a good sign that he may have a chance to regain some control over that area. He rested throughout the day until he was taken for his evening CT scan. Once that was finished, he struggling with his breathing a bit harder than the doctors liked. The team chose to put him back on the vent and put in a feeding tube to ensure he was getting nutrients. He was able to get rest Friday night into Saturday morning. Saturday, July 15th, He had a CT scan first thing. The scan showed a very slight increase in the amount of swelling in his brain. He is headed back for a precautionary chest X-ray in the early afternoon. Check back for updates, as we will post when we know more.  Please keep Jeremy and his family in your thoughts.