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On July 27, 2017 Mike wasn't feeliing well. He was inititally diagnosed with walking pneumonia. However, after a week and several more trips to the clinic he was diagnoised with Atrial fibulation with congestive heart failure. To make matters worse, they also discovered a blood clot in the left upper appendage of his heart. At that time, we never thought we would be still addressing the matter today 4 months later. Mike continues to struggle to keep fluid off his heart and lungs. His infarction number ( the number that measures heart muscle strength) has decreased from 20 to 15. Normally, it should be between 50-60.
I have been reluctant to start a caring bridge site in part because I didn't think we'd be here this long and part because at every turn I thought we'd have a solution. The other reason, is because I recognize that many people are facing major health issues and although this is major in its own right, somehow I feel it pales in comparision to what others have addressed.
However, we are still here today and many of you have been asking so here it goes.
Today 12/5/17 - we went for a second opionion at Abbott Northwestern. Abbott has decided to be more agressive in the treatment. Mike has been admitted and tomorrow they are going to conduct a Trachial Echo Cardiogram (TEE) to see if the clot is gone. The last TEE we did on 11/7/17 showed there was still a clot. If it is still there, they will modify his medications to see if there is something more effective in dissolving the clot. Then we will have to continue to wait. If it is gone, they will try and cardiovert him back into rhythm Once they are able to convert him, they will add Amiodarone medication, to help hold his heart in rhythm. They are not sure how effective this will be , but it wil be where they start.
The next issue they will try and address is the congestive heart failure. The orginal thought was that his A-Fib caused his congestive heart failure, but at this time, they no longer believe this is the reason. It will be important to find the initial cause of his congestive heart failure. They are hoping that bring his heart back into rhythm will bring him out of congestive heart failure but again this is a big unknown. The longer he is in congestive heart failure, the more concern there is.
We know we don't walk this journey alone and trust that God is with us. We are happy to be at Abbott and are excited to move forward in this journey.
We want to thank you all for your prayers and well wishes.
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