Several inquiries have been made about flowers.  (Due to a variety of factors, flowers are not permitted into ICU, but thanks for the thought!)  Results from the Angiogram will be made available a.s.a.p.

Cards can be mailed to Norma Ireland, c/o Northwestern Mutual, 1225 Corporate Blvd, Suite 100, Aurora, IL 60505.  Ken's team members will be sure that Norma quickly receives them.

Scooter Ireland (the family dog) is being well cared for by Doris, Ken's mother.  For a time Scooter was being fed food and water through an eyedropper but has now started eating somewhat without assistance.

Ken called in to say that after a fairly restless weekend, Norma rested from 4 AM to almost 11 AM Monday morning.  After that she was very active and wanted to get out of bed.  Her Angiogram commenced at 3 PM Monday afternoon and lasted several hours.  The results showed that vasospasms have occurred in both the left and right carotid arteries.  Also, a basilar (an unpaired artery that supplies blood to the cerebellum) spasm has occurred (back of the base of the brain).  The good news is that they detected these during the angiogram.

She is now being treated with meds designed to open up the arteries and force more blood to those regions.  One of the meds would help prevent future strokes while another would intentionally elevate the systolic blood pressure up to 200.  The result would be a systolic/diastolic blood pressure reading of 200/90.  Increased blood pressure would force more blood to the brain and help protect it.

There are radiological and symptomatic vasospasms. They think she had the radiological vasospasms which are better than the other. They are treating them right now with meds.  During the angiogram they used a medication to expand those arteries so blood flow is better so it would protect from any further kind of damage. They quickly saw good results from that medication as it opened up these arteries. Being less invasive, meds are the preferred choice.  If the meds don't keep working, they can do an angioplasty with the balloon to open things up.

Ken was told not to be surprised if Norma experiences more vasospasms.  They clarified that the highest risk period of vasospasms occurs from day 4 and peaks at day 10-12. If one were to draw a bell graph, it would be highest from day 4 to day 10, maybe round off at 11 and 12 and then drop back down. They're always looking at it for the first 21 days but usually historically that bell curve kind of comes down after the 12th day. They feel they caught this at the peak which can be a positive if you want to look at it that way and that's how we're looking at it.

When the Angiogram was completed the doctors inserted "A-Lines" into Norma's foot to administer the new medications.  She awoke from the angiogram with pain in the groin because they needed to insert the line into the bloodstream from that point during the Angiogram.  She needed to keep her leg stiff for about six hours. She's got a lot of stuff sticking out of her but she's still smiling. She's still somewhat confused but probably more short-term memory than long-term. She knows that George Bush is president for now and Hilary Clinton is running for the democratic nomination so she's kind of good with some of that - in and out. She has a great spirit and a lot of fight in her. The family has been great. We've all been working together to take care of her and be there for her. Friends have offered to come in and help out but the doctors still feel it is best to keep the visitors to a minimum right now but thank you very much for the offers.

Ken concluded by saying they are continuing to fight through this and THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED PRAYERS.  They are greatly appreciated!