On Tuesday, December 13th, Ron collapsed on his way to an occupational therapy appointment. Thankfully, he was in a building attached to a hospital and was able to be treated immediately. After multiple tests they discovered a very large saddle clot in his pulmonary artery. They immediately started him on Heparin (blood thinner) and he responded really well. During that hospital stay, his vitals were great and they decided not to remove the clot. He was discharged to home on Friday 12/16/22 with a plan to continue blood thinners for clot treatment.
Sometime during the night of Monday 12/20/22 Ron suffered a large bleed on the right side of his head (most likely due to the blood thinners). Unfortunately, since it was in the middle of the night, it was not discovered until Pat woke up the next morning. She called 911 and he was rushed to a hospital in Edina MN. At that time, Ron was unable to respond to any commands, unable to talk, and unable to move any body parts. Ron’s head CT scan showed blood along the entire right side of his head. The hospital stabilized him and immediately transferred him to Abbott Northwestern Neuro ICU in Minneapolis.
He remained in ICU from Tuesday until Thursday when he was transferred to a bed on the neuro wing. Since then he has made significant progress. As of today (Christmas) he is now able to move all of his arms and legs, although he still has some right sided weakness. He is eating and drinking on his own. His cognitive status continues to improve and he is starting to remember events and conversations. He continues to have significant expressive and receptive aphasia (difficulty with word finding and understanding), but this is also improving. Yesterday, he was able to briefly stand with a lot of help.
The blessing (and curse) is that he is now aware of his deficits. He is highly motivated to get better and has started physical, occupational, and speech therapy. Over the next few days they will evaluate his skills and decide how he will continue his rehab (acute rehab facility or transitional care facility).
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