Kindness for Kevin

After several days of Kevin feeling run down with a fever he went into urgent care on 11/08/2033 where they transferred him to the ER in the Hibbing/Virginia area. He was then assessed to be too acute for their hospital with a heart rate over 145, and was taken by ambulance to Essentia in Duluth where he remains in the ICU. This site is a way to update his family and friends on how he’s doing as he may have a long road of healing ahead of him. Kevin was brought to the cath lab at Essentia in Duluth to asses his condition via ambulance.  It was found that he has a 90% blockage in one of his arteries. However it was also found that he has a faulty aortic valve that had “partially collapsed” and his heart rate which is in the 140’s is in an abnormal rhythm.  Despite them trying to shock him multiple times his heart if still in what’s called a “flutter.”  To further complicate things Kevin has a massive amount of fluid on his lungs.  

They are currently treating the fluid on his lungs with Lasix and he’s on a BiPAP machine.  He’s also on medications that will hopefully get his heart into a normal rhythm, or at least get him to a point where the shock will hold.  They shocked him a number of times when he got to Essentia and it would hold for 60 seconds and then return to “flutter.”  No further treatment can be done on his aortic valve replacement or the artery blockage until the fluid is gone and his heart rhythm is normal.

When we get to that point, they will need to either do open heart surgery to replace his aortic valve, or they mentioned trying Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement which is a treatment for Aortic Valve Stenosis, which Kevin has.  To do TAVR a doctor will place a catheter into the groin area and they replace the faulty value with, get this!  Tissue from a cow or pig!  

After this is all done, then Kevin would be eligible to get the stent placed in his blocked artery which is 90% blocked.  

We’re taking this step by step and not pushing the process, worrying about one thing at a time.  The goal for the next couple of days is just to get the fluid off his lungs and maybe see if we can get his heart beating as it should.  Going too fast would put more stress on his heart than it can handle and have fatal consequences. 

Although he’s on a lot of oxygen, Kevin is in good spirits and awake, making jokes and taking everything in stride.  

Family is up here or is on their way, and he’s got a wide net of supporters to pick on him.  Know that if you come up and need/want to stay at the Bobby LeClaire House we are 30 mins from the hospital and all are welcome!  Crystal will be staying with Kevin tonight and then Bobby Friday night and we shall go from there.  

We will try to keep this as updated as possible, but with so many doctors in and out with different plans, sometimes we don’t have a clue what’s going on.  We will update as often as we can.