No More Marine Biologist

Here's the scoop. Last week Josh had a TIA/Transient Stroke. Meaning he had a mini stroke. He spent several hours having loads of test done. MRI, MRA, EKG of his heart, EKG of his brain, and lots of blood work. I had to leave the hospital at 10:00pm but I knew he was in good hands. The staff at George Washington Hospital in DC were very helpful. Josh didn't get any sleep at the hospital. They kept running test thru the night and wanted to make sure he didn't have a full stroke. The following day is when they decide it was a TIA. They were concerned because of his age and he is extremely healthy. He was told he was "Healthy as a Horse" and that he was able to go home we just need to do a follow up. They had a list of reasons why he may have had a stroke Vitamin deficient, Blood Clot, Family History, Hole in his heart...and that's why he need to do a follow up appointment.

This week his first appointment was to make sure he didn't have enzymes in his blood that would make clots. He had to give 28 vitals of blood-Which is alot! First they handed him a soda because he needed fast sugars. Afterward they walked him down to Dun kin Doughnut where he got two doughnuts, juice, coffee, and a smoothie! When he called me he was on a sugar rush!

Friday I needed to go with him because he was told he would be unable to drive after his test. We got up super early to drive out to Walter Reed Hospital. Again he was so lucky his nurse was called Bunnie and explained step by step what she was going to do. She knew that Josh had never had this procedure done and took very good care of him and explained what was going to happen. A TEE is where you swallow a camera.
After he was prepped Bunnie came and let me step in and watch the procedure. Josh was extremely uncomfortable since he had a large tube going down his throat. They gave him some meds to relax and he couldn't be put under because he needed to respond to the doctors during the procedure. They were looking to see how his heart pumps the blood, if there were any clots, plaque...
Bunnie was told by the doctors to add air and saline to his IV. They did this a couple times. Josh was laying on his side and they asked him to bare down and Bunnie would push on his belly. That's when the two doctors found what they were looking for. They took several pictures and got the views they needed. It turns out that Josh has a hole in his heart!

After the procedure they explained that several people have this. When you are a fetus there is a hole in your heart a few days after birth it closes. Over 25% of the population has it happen where the hole doesn't close. The cardio doctors will share the disk with the Neurologist and we will know more next week what they will want to do if anything. Several people go on with life with a hole. Since Josh had a stroke they may want to consider closing the hole. When a clot goes thru the hole in the heart the clot goes from that chamber directly to his brain. Reason why Josh had numbness and a hard time speaking the week before. If Josh were 80 yrs old they would close it but because he is so young they aren't sure they want to place a foreign object in his heart. If they decide to close the hole they will insert a Mushroom or and Umbrella to close the hole. It will take a bit for him to recover. The doctors don't want him to change his life style-Meaning running. Not a single doctor has told him not to run and he is very happy about that.

We are a Little scared but happy to hear that this isn't uncommon.

When we asked what he could or couldn't do the doctors said he could continue his regular routine but No Deep Sea Diving! That's when Josh said "Great there goes my dream of being a Marine Biologist!" Too Funny.

He spent the rest of the afternoon having a large Milk Shake and sucking on hard candy because his throat was bruised and extremely sore. By dinner time since he had to fast for a day he wanted a steak! So we had dinner and watched the Olympics.

Saturday we went on the trail and Josh put on a few miles running and I roller bladed. We had a promotion party to go to. Scritch and his wife built a bar in the basement. It turned out really nice! On the way home we went to the "Diary Godmother" a lady from WI serves custard! Yummy-

Not sure what the plans are for today! Have a good week.