monday jan 19

please excuse spelling, and punctuation and hopefully this will make sense!!

Bryan has had a heart attack. They believe this was sometime during the past year. Due to that part of the heart being damaged, it basically formed a clot ( like a scab would form over a cut) over the damaged part. The clot has been growing, he was having chest pains for a while. Now that clot is so large it is blocking the artery 100%. There is also an aneurysm behind the clot. That clot on Thursday let go of a piece of itself and went to his brain and he had a stroke. That was the reason for being admitted and then followed with news about the heart. He had the stroke Thursday, as well as possibly one prior? The part of the heart that was damage is no longer viable. They can't save it.
Tuesday he will have open heart surgery. They are still unsure of their approach, but will determine this before they go in. They think they will cut the part of the heart out that is "dead" so that he doesn't clot again. The good news is that sutures hold good to dead tissue better than that of heathy heart tissue. So that is in his favor. The fact that he has had a stroke recently is not in his favor. When put on bypass machine for surgery they give you massive doses of blood thinners, if his brain is not strong enough yet he will bleed. But they have to proceed because the clot is so unstable.
Bryan had a few minor symptoms as a result of the stoke, but seems to be resolving. He is in good spirits, he is keeping us laughing, but he is very scared.
I think that is it. we will check the message every so often. Thanks for all the prayers!