On Strokes and Hospitals

When was the last time you stepped into a hospital room and said, admiringly, "Wow."?  The view from Tom's room at St. Luke's called for such a response; it's the best I've seen since visiting MaryAnn in her hospital room overlooking the St. John's River in Jacksonville, Florida. While not a water view, this one provided an impressive panoramic vision of the city-within-a-city Medical Center in Houston.

 The St. Luke's staff were also, with one minor exception, the most professional, attentive group of medical personnel that we have ever experienced.

We are now sold on the Medical Center.

And what brought us to this bustling nerve center of the medical world?

When Tom went in to meet with Dr. Mawad in preparation for his arteriogram, the doctor indicated some reservations about Tom's earlier diagnosis of Guillane-Barre, and he suggested that he see more specialists and have more tests run as an inpatient at St. Luke's. Two doctors and one arteriogram later, a concensus was reached: Tom had never had GBS, but rather had had a stroke last year as well as this.

Dr. Mawad found a near-complete blockage in one of Tom's ventricular arteries, complete enough to make a stent un-do-able. But we're not discouraged; with proper diet, exercise, and medication, Tom might well avoid another stroke - pretty good motivation to work at it.

Another EMG, just to help our new neurologist gauge the extent of the nerve damage, awaits Tom, but he is tough and patient and unalarmed.