Mario D Mario

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. 
To summarize, Mario was doing physical therapy at Saint Luke's Northland on 11-14-18 for his knee that was repaired on halloween.  Directly after this session  while walking toward the exit, he felt like he would pass out so mom got him in a chair and got help. He passed out so they called 911 but they were literally down the hall from ER so the fire department just wheeled him down. He was unresponsive so the testing began. 
They did a head CT scan which was clear but any acute issues might not show up. They did a chest CT scan and found that he has blood clots in both lungs.  He was still unresponsive and the staff in the ER were insinuating he may have taken too many of his pain meds; mom managed his meds and knew he only had one at night then one in the morning.  He was leaning a lot to his left and would intermittently move his fingers on the right. 
The doctor had said he didnt know why he wasnt responding even after we inquired why they weren't looking at stroke. The doctor said it was unlikely if he didnt have a hole in his heart and they still hinted at him taking too many meds. 
I got tired of hearing that and checked his pupils-they were not equal and the left was not reacting to light. We told the doctor and that's when he finally decided to do an MRI.  They gave him some narcan to try and stimulate him to wake up.  He opened his eyes and yawned but had a blank stare. Small movements out of both hands that looked like reactive movements but nothing else. We agreed for him to be intubated for the MRI since he has bad apnea. The plan was to have the MRI, give him tPA (medicine) to break down the clots and move him to a hospital that handles higher acuity patients.
After over an our for the MRI, the doctor told us he has several strokes, that we couldn't do the tPA or he would bleed, that we would continue heparin and add meds to keep his blood pressure up but dad was critical and there wasnt more they could do but wait and see what the clots do with the blood thinner.  He decided there was no need to transfer him to the other hospital.
About 10-15minutes later, he woke up, was moving his limbs. He began responding with head movements to yes or no questions. Complete and miraculous change in his condition!
The neurologist stated he didnt feel comfortable keeping him at that hospital so the plan to transfer him was in motion.  A few hours later, he arrived at the other hospital; a little agitated so they gave him more sedation to keep him calm.  They did remove the breathing tube.
This morning, he is waking intermittently, moving his hands and feet some but appears to have no verbal function; his responses to questions sometimes seem like a natural reaction vs an understanding.  
They are doing an echo of his heart and speech will come in to evaluate if he can swallow. He may have to have a feeding tube thru his nose.  This is all the info right now.
I will continue updating on this page so everyone can be informed at the same time. I dont want to miss anyone and it's getting hard to keep up on the messages. 


Thank you for the prayers, well wishes and positive thoughts. We love you all!!