Dean Loftus Emergency Medical Care

Dean & Mavis hopped in the Camaro July 4th headed to Maryland to visit daughter Jodi and her family. They made it to Wheeling, WV and ended up in the ER with Dean passing a kidney stone. After resting at a local hotel for the night they ventured on the ~8hrs to Jodi’s. They arrived around 615pm on July 6th and, unbeknownst to us at the time, Dean had two brief episodes of dizziness and incoordination. We sat down and had a family dinner and when he went to stand up, he was unable to move his left arm and was slightly uncoordinated. He was transported to the local hospital (MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital in Leonardtown, MD). There he was diagnosed with a right ischemic stroke (clot not bleed). He was given a clot busting medication in the ER and regained some movement of his left arm. It was determined that one carotid artery was 100% blocked, one 90% blocked and he only had 1 of 2 posterior (rear) vessels as one was blocked. In other words, significantly reduced blood flow to his brain. He was transferred to their ICU. Fortunately Stacey, Tony and Bryce arrived in less than 24hrs and were able to see him at MedStar St. Mary’s in Leonardtown (by Jodi’s house). He remained stable for ~24 hours. 

Just after visiting hours ended at 8pm Thursday July 7th, he suffered another stroke when the carotid artery that was blocked 90% became 100% blocked. He was airlifted to Georgetown Hospital in Washington DC and underwent emergency surgery. They used a balloon to get the right carotid artery back to 10% open and suctioned as many clots (thrombectomy) from his brain as they could. He survived surgery and was placed, still on a breathing tube and ventilator, in the neuro intensive care unit at Georgetown University. They are limiting visitors and things change minute to minute, day to day. Bryce’s wife Lisa joined us Saturday July 9th. He has developed some brain swelling that they are monitoring. He definitely will have deficits (some degree of paralysis) in his left arm and leg. Jodi’s house is about an hour and a half away and we are all traveling to see him daily. Each day only two people (one at a time) can see him and only can go up once (hospital policy). 

Money raised will help (out-of-network) emergency and critical care expenses.

For updates on his condition please go to his CaringBridge page at: https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/deanloftus.

Thank you!