The Back Story...

I think a lot of you are aware of what is going on with my stepdad. In this post, I am going to document everything I'm aware of that has happened so far. But first let me thank everyone for praying for him and for my family.

Backstory - Steve hadn't been feeling 100% for a while. His biggest worry was some vision problems that scared him - double vision/blurred vision. So the week of 5/10 he went to the dr. He was tested for a few things and we found out then he was not diabetic, but he did have high blood pressure and started medication for that. He also did not have a thryroid problem. So Monday, 5/12 he had an MRI to see if he might have a tumor or anything and it came back clear. So that was good. Except that same day he was having major vision/eye problems and we later found out he had passed out at home while doing yard work.

Day 1 - Tuesday May 1 - I am not sure of all the details of how it happened, but Steve was rushed to the hopital in Dalton after his secretary noticed him having some problems. That morning he thought he was fine and he had been texting with David about the golf outing that weekend, but he wasn't ok. :( He had had a stroke. He was helicoptered to Erlanger in Chattanooga as they have a very very good stroke team in place there to help him. We found out that he had a blood clot in his brain stem on the left side. Due to it's location, they did not want to start him on blood thinners b/c they were afraid it might bleed into his brain - not good. So they just started him on aspirin. He had paralysis in his right side as a result of the clot. He could understand everything that was going on, but he could not really communicate to anyone else very well.

Day 2 - From what I can remember, I feel like this day was mostly the same. No worse, no better. He was very frustrated b/c he couldn't talk or move much, but they were hopeful he'd get to move to a private room soon instead of ICU.

Day 3 - He did not have a good night and early Thurs he had another stroke. There was another clot in his brain on the right side and then two more in his shoulders (i think???). The new one in his brain was a bad bad one, so they did a procedure on him to target that clot and try to dissolve it. The artery those clots are in are the size of a strand of hair. After the procedure, the dr said they got 60% of it and that possibly the rest would dissolve over the next couple days w/ the meds from the procedure. A possible risk was that the other clot would still bleed into his brain, so we prayed and hoped that wouldn't happen. They decided to try to get him to wake up after that to see how his body reacted to the increased blood flow from moving/talking. Around 8 or so that night, his doctor told my mom that he didn't expect him to make it through the night. He thought the new clot was coming back and that Steve would just slip away during the night.
Steve is a fighter and about an hour later he opened his eyes and he started moving his left arm. he responded to questions from family. It was truly amazing and one small prayer answered by God so far.

Day 4-current - Steve is such a great man. He has had so many visitors come to see him. It's so amazing. I really think this is fueling his fight. He works very hard to communicate with his visitors. He still only has use of his left arm, but will give the thumbs up, OK!, and try to do other sign language/sharades symbols to get his point across. He has moved a couple fingers on his right hand and a toe on his right foot. He can't wait to get out and get back on the golf course!! He developed pneumonia and was put on a ventilator to help with that. the paralysis caused him not to be able to swallow properly and a lot of stuff was going into his lungs. They stayed right on top of his care and although he still has pnemonia, his fever is lower and they took the ventilator out yesterday. Breathing is still very difficult for him. They are giving him meds to help relax him so he can not need to try so hard and hopefully he'll get his strength back up soon and overcome the breathing and pnemonia.

As of right now, we have no new news on the clots. That is great, but still pretty scary to me. Until I hear they are gone, or at least going away, i just don't feel like we are safe. Mom thinks they will do another scan tomorrow or Wednesday. In the meantime, the doctor is amazed at Steve's progress and they are working constantly to make sure he pulls through this.
I am so thankful that God is doing so much to get Steve on the right path. I am SO thankful for all the prayers and well wishes that so many people are saying for Steve. Prayer is a powerful thing. Please keep praying. This isn't over yet.

I will post updates on here as I get them if you want to check back.