Don't mess with the Dillon sisters OR our faith in the Mayo Clinic

All I can say is that the one-two punch of Tracy and me being a patient advocate for Dad has to sting a bit. I'm still laughing a bit after finding out from Tracy this morning that she "warned" the night nurse that I was coming straight from the airport, and if she thought Tracy was thorough and asking questions, just wait for me to show up.

So the last update was around 2AM last night, thinking that Dad was fully asleep and that I was nearing my pacific time zone normal bedtime. I closed down the computer, nestled into the cot, and not ten minutes later, Dad was up.

For the night.

I actually really enjoyed the night. It was like a slumber party, where one person says, "Okay, seriously, we need to get some sleep here or neither of us is going to function in the morning." Only to go about three minutes before the next topic or question would come up from Dad. We talked about how wants to go back and visit Vietnam (now that he has a passport, he has wanderlust!), about hotel taxes (this is when he was a bit confused thinking we were still in Minnesota, and then had a bit of a laugh of how it's easy to get confused as all the hospitals start running together), about my good friend Eric who had his car accident last November (Dad was wondering how he was doing in his recovery, as they've bonded on their rehab and life-altering experiences a bit). There were also topics that really didn't make a lot of sense -- he kept asking about where the group of photographers was staying. When asking him for more information, he kept thinking that they had come in the "front door" with me when I arrived. I was actually pretty pleased with how well he sounded and mostly coherent.

So they came and got him at 6AM to take him to pre-op to prep him for having the blood clot filters put into his veins. I saw a few of the doctors, but most stayed away as they figured out Dad was in pre-op, and not in the room. I left around 7:30AM to head back out west to shower, say a quick hello to a few of the kids as Dillon went off to school, through the monsoon rains to Elkhorn, made breakfast for Mom, and tried to fall asleep right around 10:30.

10:45AM: Our neurologist from Mayo Clinic showed up on my caller ID. I immediately picked up. I chatted about my night with Dad a bit, some first impressions based on my expectations (all while trying to get my own bearings after JUST having fallen asleep). He then told me that he did get the scans we'd sent, and he'd had a chance to look at them.

I swear, time pretty much stands still between the "I've looked at the scans" sentence and the next which indicates what he saw. This doctor is the master at not changing his tone or approach, no matter what the news. So this is what he indicated (don't read if squeamish, as I'm going to put it all out there :)):

• The MRI taken was not a complete MRI, but rather a "quick" shot, which didn't have the complete series normally taken, and it appeared Dad was moving a bit in a few of the frames. So, not a high quality scan for him to look at.
• The scan remains ugly, and the reports are even uglier. Out of Omaha, anyway.
• He feels that the trauma of Dad hitting his head, starting the cranial bleed, the large blood clot residing in the empty cavity where Dad had his temporal lobectomy was what was causing this latest downturn. The body will rev up to fight against and get rid of the extra blood, break down the clot, and filter it out. Causing some swelling in the process as the extra cells go in and try to break it down.
• While a bit blurry, he feels in his best estimation, that the necrosis/mass is pretty much the same as a month ago, possibly even just a tiny bit smaller than the previous scan. That would be amazing news if that were the case, meaning that the necrosis possibly has slowed down enough for the brain to start recovery.
• He feels that surgery isn't something that should be considered to clear out the clot and the excess blood, as the body will do that naturally anyway over several weeks, and why put Dad through more trauma that could introduce more problems.
• Next steps: As long as Dad isn't getting worse (which he seems to have stabilized somewhat), we're going to bypass the appointment in Rochester next week, and just send up a new MRI (complete series, and one where Dad remains still).

The situation still remains pretty ugly in Omaha, however. Dad's still very weak on his left side (caused by the pressure on the brain in just the right parts). He had a lot of visitors today, with all four siblings in the past 24hrs: Brother Mike and his wife Jodi yesterday; Sister Gloria and brother-in-law Don were in (and will be here tomorrow as well), Sister Cathy and her husband Doug, and brother Larry. The priest from the church was also in, along with me, Tracy, Mom and Grandma.

Physical Therapy started today (FINALLY!), so Dad was very tired at the end of the day. Hoping his tech sitting in the room tonight will give him a good shave and possibly even a haircut (she's a former beautician). And hopefully it's restful sleep.

I'm off to do that myself. Been a long day and a half - seems a lot longer than just yesterday afternoon that I left Portland. More tomorrow.