June 23

 Today was a bit confusing with Brian's care and status. Yesterday, Brian's attending physician told me that Brian was showing very little sign of bleeding in his mouth/nose. Around noon today, I received a phone call from a doctor located in Redwood City (approx. 20 miles from Santa Clara). He introduced himself as a Neuro Interventional Radiologist who was asked to come to Santa Clara and perform a Catheter Embolization on Brian to help stop bleeding in his nose. He told me that it is very rare for him to travel to a different hospital to do this procedure but due to Brian's fragile condition, coming to him was the only way the procedure could take place. - In a catheter embolization procedure, medications or synthetic materials called embolic agents are placed through a catheter into a blood vessel to prevent blood flow to the area. This procedure is more commonly done on patients with strokes (to prevent excessive bleeding) or cancer (to block blood flow to a cancerous tumor). Understandably, this left me quite confused about what had taken place since my last conversation with Brian's doctor. 

This afternoon, I got a call from a new attending physician who explained what was going on. This morning, Brian's sedation was low enough to potentially wake him up. However, sedation had to be increased as Brian's heart rate, once again, increased and his oxygen levels decreased making it unsafe to continue. His bilirubin level remains at 15. She told me that although Brian was not bleeding excessively, he was still bleeding (even with the blood thinners stopped at this time). There is a plan for the next few days and they need to stop the bleeding as much as possible to proceed with the plan. Currently, Brian's heart and lungs are at the same level they have been for the past day or so. The right side of his heart is still showing signs of struggle. She gave me four action items that they are working on.

-Remove as much excess fluid as possible.

-Have Neuro Interventional Radiologist perform Embolization. (procedure went well)

-Reintroduce blood thinner medications.

-Lessen support of VA ECMO machine and see if Brian's heart can support his circulatory system. 

It is humbling to know the level of care that is being given to Brian. Numerous medical professionals are working incredibly hard to give him a chance at pulling through. It is overwhelming for me to think that so many people are fighting so incredibly hard for him and they don't even know him. This past year and a half has been a medical nightmare with medical professionals being overwhelmed and pushed to their limits and yet they continue to fight for Brian. And then there are all of you who do know Brian or me or his children and you continue to pray for him and show us love and support. Thank you just doesn't come close to being the right words.