This past Monday, October 18th, we were able to meet with Alex's pediatric stroke specialist and the rheumatologist. They showed us the pics of his MRA (magnetic resonance angiogram) and gave us his test results. They also agreed that he no longer needs the blood thinner injections, hooray!!!
When Alex was in the hospital this summer the MRA showed that of the four arteries going into his brain, his two carotid arteries (the ones you feel for a pulse at) were completely blocked (see posts below). The most recent MRA showed that his left carotid artery has since opened back up but his right artery is still blocked. Even with this blockage the experts felt it was safe to take him off of the blood thinners and just maintain his progress with low-dose aspirin. There is the possibility that his right artery may never open up. His brain may rebuild the artery with a different route. There's really no way to tell what is going to happen, so we wait and see.
The antiphospholipid antibody results were also quite good. A normal result is below 15, indeterminate is 15-20 and Alex's current level is 19. His level this summer was 58, so things are getting better!
Alex will be getting a more traditional angiogram sometime in the next 3-6 months. They will be sedating him more fully for this procedure, even requiring intubation, so this is a little scarier but he has come bouncing out of the past sedations so well that we know he will be fine! This procedure involves inserting a dye into his arteries then taking x-rays with the MRI machine, which will light up his blood vessels much more clearly for the docs and show them if there are any issues. We are confident that things will continue to progress!
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