HIS STORY
Andrew suffered from a ruptured brain aneurysm September 26, 2009.
He has made amazing gains & we fully believe in miracles!
BACKGROUND STORY
(WRITTEN BY ELIZABETH DAVIS)
Andrew was at work Saturday night when this all happened. He was wiping down tables and all of the sudden collapsed to the floor. He had a stroke and went on to having seizures. The ambulance arrived shortly and took him to the closest hospital. They found out that he had a ruptured brain aneurysm and would need to be transported to a different hospital. They transported him to Cedars-Sinai early Sunday morning.
By the time he arrived to the hospital, Andrew was already in a coma. They weren’t even going to operate on him, but after giving him a type of medicine, his eyes dilated and he was so young, they decided to give it a try.
Andrew underwent his first surgery Sunday morning and didn’t get out until the afternoon. My parents arrived in CA just in time. By the time they got to the hospital, he was out of surgery and being hooked up to IV’s and tubes in his room. My parents could not talk to him or touch him – because of his critical condition – they did not want to stimulate him.
Andrew made it the first 48 hours after the surgery – which shocked the doctors. They didn’t think he would make it at all. They did a CAT scan and found out that there was a blood clot on his brain. The aneurysm and blood clot were both on the left side of his brain. The doctors decided since he made it this far, they were going to be more aggressive in his recovery. They performed a second surgery on Tuesday – draining some of the blood and removing most to all of the blood clot. Andrew survived the next 48 hours after this surgery.
There were a lot of ups and downs. His numbers were all over the place. But he was still hanging in there. Jennifer and I arrived Thursday. By this point, he looked pretty good. It was really just like seeing him normally, but laying in a hospital bed – not moving or awake. His numbers were gradually going down, but he was experiencing Vascular spasms in his brain – which made the doctors nervous. They hooked him up to an EEG, where his brain waves were observed every minute.
Andrew has been continuing to fight and as soon as his sedatives started to wear off – he started to come back to us. A week later (Sunday, October 11, 2009)- after all the ups and downs: His left eye miraculously opened along with his left arm moving. Later in the day, both of his eyes had opened and could track people the best he could in a semi-conscious state. He could do as the doctor asked of him – like raise your hand, give a thumbs up, follow me with your eyes. This was our happiest news yet!
The week continued and his numbers were still looking better, Andrew became more aware and started moving his left leg too. His vascular spasms were still occurring, but not as many and at fewer levels of intensity. They check his pancreas and liver and found out they were okay. And on Monday they performed a tracheotomy and put in a stomach food (as his food was not digesting very well through the IV).
Andrew’s breathing got better and better with each day. But on Friday, October 16th, they had discovered a blood clot in his right leg. He went in for another surgery, on Saturday, to put in an IVC filter. This would protect the heart from any blood clots traveling in his blood system, but allow blood and oxygen to flow freely through the veins. He was awake after his surgery and was still responding to the doctors. Everything was looking up again.
Then Sunday, one of his nurses noticed his left shoulder was swollen and he wasn’t moving it as much. It was another blood clot. The doctors decided to do another CAT scan and Angio-gram to determine what the next step was for Andrew.
The results showed another brain aneurysm on the left side of his brain. It is very small. That is where we lead into the daily journals.
