On Sunday August 11th Brett had a right MCA ischemic stroke. This means his middle cerebral artery which supplies most of the brain to the right side of his brain had a big clot in it affecting the blood flow and oxygenation to his brain. The clot was 1.5cm. The doctors think it came from his heart valve. Brett was rushed via ambulance an hour to St. Louis to a stroke center hospital where they rushed him to surgery to remove his clot. This surgery should have taken 15 minutes and took 4 hours. These four hours were terrifying. I was never updated. Left wondering what was happening. Brett was then taken to the ICU with “who knows if he’s going to survive the night his pressures are unstable, and it may be hard to get him off the ventilator.” His friends and family were behind him that night. Praying and wishing him well, and he began to breathe on his own and came off the ventilator. He spent 5 days in the ICU very out of it unable to use his left arm. Then he was on a neuro unit but regular floor where they never answer the call light and have made him get up unassisted, have left him on the toilet alone, and the nurses will lie to you. I am scared about his care on the unit there and scared to leave him at night. I have been working hard with him every day to help rehab him as no one does this in the hospital only the rehab hospital. He had a set back in going to the rehab hospital which is where he is headed next for therapy. There was some blood found on his brain. he had to be on a heparin drip a few days while he restarted his Coumadin. Tuesday night he went to a rehab hospital in St. Louis where he started 3 hours of therapy a day on Wednesday. He is anticipated to stay there two weeks and transition to home. His mom will be coming to stay for awhile when he comes home to help and we will have to modify the bathroom to assist with showers.

We need financial help because he cannot work. I did not work for a week and a half and that was a lot of lost income. We need help with gas money, money for food and bills, mortgage is due. It is also unknown how much his medical bills will be in the future they just said he qualified for some financial assistance but exactly how much he will owe is unknown.

update 8/23/24: Brett is doing well at rehab. He is able to text at times at other times he can’t even find his phone. He has chronic headaches from all the swelling on his brain post stroke. In many ways he is not the same as he was prior to stroke. I’m not sure what will change with time and what won’t. The rehab doctors think he will be discharged to home very soon meaning I will be unable to work again until his parents get down here at the end of next week as he cannot be left alone. He walked 200ft with ankle weights yesterday and they had him mock typing.

Update 8/27/24 he went home last Friday!!! He had outpatient speech therapy today. His therapy sessions will be covered 100% by his financial assistance which is great news. He will have PT and an appointment with his primary tomorrow. The next day is outpatient OT. All about 15 minutes away, that car ride is difficult for him. I think seeing all the images is a lot for his brain. He even puts his phone down sometimes and just stares off. He has issues processing information. Attention to detail. Lots of things still give him headaches. He gets confused and crabby and takes lots of naps. But his left arm gets stronger every day. He works hard. I push him and encourage him. He is trying veggies and eating salads. I have to feed him and help shower him. But he is doing a better job of dressing himself everyday which is huge for two weeks post stroke. We got the donations and have used some to help pay some bills (electric, mortgage, utility) as well as buy groceries and have had to use some on modifications for the house for Brett. I closed donations because it seems his financial assistance is covering a lot of his medical bills and I am back to work now. I am seeing a light caseload 2-3 close patients a day while I take Brett to all these appointments and assist him with ADLS (Activities of Daily Living). We both appreciate you all so much for helping us because it was such a help and so needed ❤️