A Compassionate But Frank Assessment From The Doctor

We had a very informative meeting with the neurologist, Dr. Almadallal, who is an exceptionally professional and gifted doctor, and a very nice man. He is also very black and white, and just relayed the facts to us, which is what we wanted. I'm going to start from the beginning, like the doctor did for us.

Dad has had a massive stroke. It took place in the brain stem, which is the worst place for a stroke because that it the area of the brain that controls a lot of the body's automatic functions that we all take for granted (like regulating temperature, swallowing safely, enunciating words, breathing rhythm, etc.). The lower left portion of the brain was also affected by the stroke as the blood clot closed off supply to that area as well. The trauma to the brain caused by the stroke produced very aggressive swelling in the first couple of days. The affected, damaged brain tissue is irreparable. We very nearly lost Dad on the Saturday morning (the day after the stroke), but he rallied and pulled through. The swelling in his brain is now reducing and the doctor estimates another 3 to 5 days for all the swelling to dissipate. During this time Dad's condition could improve.

Dad’s right side remains paralyzed and has made no improvement since the stroke. The small impulsive movements from his right hand and foot are primitive responses and not the types of voluntary movement one would need to recover use of the paralyzed side. The doctor thinks that Dad will most likely remain bedridden. There is a chance that with therapy he may be able to sit up in a chair. We don't know if he can swallow and he may have to keep the feeding tube indefinitely. We also don't know if he'll be a able to talk.

They successfully treated Dad for pneumonia. We somehow did not realize that he had pneumonia, but he was treated for it, and is now free of it.

His vision has been damaged in that he cannot see to his right. Both eyes work, but cannot focus simultaneously. As a result the brain naturally uses the dominant eye, which seems to be his right eye. So when Dad is awake and alert he often has only one eye open.

The respiratory team are working on weaning Dad off of the ventilator. This is a critical step in Dad's progress. Please pray that Dad can come off of the ventilator. He will not be able to come home if he is dependant on the ventilator. The first step in weaning him off is to change the mode of the ventilator to CPAP, which they did today at 12:45pm. Essentially Dad is now breathing on his own, through the ventilator. They will monitor his CO2 level in his blood to see if this first step is successful.

As you can see the assessment is pretty sobering. We are a positive people with faith for the impossible, so a report like this almost hurts. We don't even like to speak these things, and prefer to call them lying vanities. Nevertheless, medically, this is his assessment. Our conclusion, however, remains the same. Lord, grant us a supernatural miracle, or take him home. We don't want Dad to stay in this condition and he wouldn't want that either. Please keep praying for all of us. This is easily the hardest thing we have ever gone through. But we know that God loves us and He is in control, and "even now..."