Ricky Horvath

UPDATE:

In November of 2020, Rick started to not feel like himself and had a lot of unusual symptoms. Finally, in January of 2021, he went to his PCP. His PCP took a CBC and his doctor began treating him for anemia. Over the following 3 months, Rick's health continued to decline.

Susie and Rick visited his doctor together, in March and pressed for some answers on his blood work. Fearing he had Leukemia, we asked for him to be referred to Minnesota Oncology and Hematology. There, they took extensive blood tests which revealed he had so many other health issues going on including renal failure, splenomegaly, elevated liver enzymes, and a lot of auto immune activity. His blood work was horrible.

The oncologist feared he had cancer as well but a bone marrow biopsy revealed everything was okay.

We kept pressing on and that story continues in our journals below.

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On January 31, 2019, Ricky went in for open heart surgery. He had his bicuspid valve (a birth defect) replaced with a mechanical valve and a complete replacement of his ascending aorta. His surgery went incredibly well. About 5 hours after his surgery, when they went to take his breathing tube out, the nurse caring for him noticed he was having a stroke and called a stroke code on him.  The stroke team was immediately called in and successfully aspirated the blockage.  Unfortunately, damage was done to the part of Ricky's brain that controls his speech and movement on his right side. 

I am starting this CaringBridge page in order to keep everyone informed of his progress. The text messages and phone calls filled with love and support are wonderful but overwhelming, and I want to do my best to keep the people that love and care about him informed in one place.