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On Saturday, June 2nd Corey suffered a stroke. We were at the lake and he got dizzy and a headache set in. He knew he was having a stroke and told me to call an ambulance. The ambulance picked him up about 2:30 pm. He was taken to Aberdeen and I rode along with him. Once there, they did a CT scan and saw that he had a lot of blood on his brain. It was located in the cerebellum near the brain stem. The doctor stated that they would be flying him to Sioux Falls. They intubated him before they left in case he had issues with his breathing and in case they needed to do surgery when he arrived. His parents and our kids were able to see him before he left. He was able to talk to them as well.
He left on his helicopter about 5:30 and arrived in Sioux Falls safely. Once here they did another CT scan and discovered that it hadn't changed which meant the bleeding has likely stopped. This was good news. Late Saturday night they inserted a bolt into the top of his head. It is basically a straw that they put through his head to monitor the pressure and it also removed the extra fluid/blood that is setting on his brain. He had another CT scan later to check the placement and everything still looked the same. There is a lot of swelling in the brain and they have not been able to determine the source of the bleeding as of yet.
Corey has been pretty heavily sedated since Saturday. They had been waking him every 2 hours to do neuros (check his vision, hand squeezing and wiggling his toes). He has been doing well with these checks. They also check his pupils every hour to make sure there is no more pressure in his head.
On Monday morning the CT scan still looked positive. They planned to continue the neuro checks every 2 hours. I went to catch some sleep and a shower and when I came back at 2:00 pm he had an episode. His blood pressure went very high and they were concerned that he either had another stroke or a seizure because his body was shaking. It really just looked like he was cold and shivering but the doctors seemed concerned and they took him back for another CT scan. The results were fine and showed no new bleeding. It was decided to keep him sedated for another day or two without waking him to give him a chance to rest and heal. The biggest hurdle has been keeping his blood pressure down. He had a hemorrhagic stoke or cerebral hemorrhage caused by hypertension (high blood pressure). Corey has been taking meds for high blood pressure for about a year.
That brings us to today, Wednesday, June 6th. He is still stable but I have not spoken to the doctors yet. The plan is to pause sedation and see how he is doing. I will update again later when I know more.
There are a lot of different stories going around so I thought it was time to start this site to get the correct information out there. I am updating family and close friends as needed but I understand the entire community is praying for Corey and I will try my best to keep you updated on him through this site.
Since he has been sedated so long we really have no idea what kind of damage we are dealing with yet. There are no signs of paralysis at this point. The neuros have been positive when they conducted them so I am very hopeful that my Corey is still in there. He will be in Sioux Falls for several weeks I would imagine and I plan to be here as much as I can. His family and my family and friends have also been able to be with him and with me and my family has been taking care of the kids while I am away. I can't tell you all how much I appreciate all of the support and prayers. I know Corey does to.
Well after much craziness this morning Corey was discharged from Sioux Falls. It was determined that he was doing so well that he didn’t need inpatient rehab. Between Kevin and Corey’s parents they were able to run to Sioux Falls and pick him up and he was home by about 9:00 tonight. He is so happy to be home and we are happy to have him 😊
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