Another day--two more doctors!

Hi all,
Here's the latest.  It was scary there for a bit again.  It all began this morning with a call from the ophthalmologist's office asking if we could get there in about 30 minutes.  So what started out as a day with no particular plans other than some lovely walks, hopefully somewhere pretty (redwoods preferably), ended up another day spent at the hospital/dr.'s office.  The eye doctor found some blocked and swollen blood vessels in the back of the eye.  He raised a question about a possible immune system disorder and also wanted to be sure a retinal specialist weighed in.  So he found us an appt. at 3pm and off we went to Santa Clara Kaiser.

The retina specialist was also very concerned.  He felt there might be something very serious going on and ordered additional tests.  He was very professional, thorough, and quite empathetic with the ups and downs of our journey.  Long story short, he ran the tests and consulted with a cardiologist.

The doctor returned and said he believed they had a solution to the dilemma and it was essentially good news.  Whew!  This is not a common occurrence but it does happen.  When they install a stent, there is always a chance that some particles of plaque are stripped away from the walls of the artery and enter the bloodstream.  This is part of the reason for the blood thinners.  In Barry's case, these minute particles have found their way to the back of the eye and into these vessels.  Our hope is since they didn't see anything remarkable when they scanned the carotid and head, that this might be the extent of it.  Only time will tell.

The cardiologist feels he's on enough blood thinners for now.  The eye doctor said the spots of vision loss may or may not be permanent.  The good news is there is no need to avoid using his eyes, reading, eye strain and such won't interfere with his activities and recovery at this point.  There is no treatment.  Though he didn't say it directly, he left it pretty much up to God and the body from here.  Since Barry is getting stronger every day, we are proceeding with the belief this is good news and we were very grateful that he got to come home and for the time being at least there is not another procedure in sight.

Please join us in praying that God will bring complete healing in his way and in his timing, for peace as we go through the process, for anything his body still has to filter out and heal would be done safely and without further trauma.  I know Barry would love a day without a doctor.  Also since I'll need to go back to work for at least awhile tomorrow... well you can guess!  Healing and trust!

Thanks for going on this journey with us!  So many blessings even in the midst of the tense times.  God is our Creator and Healer and we are praying for him to guide us in all these things!

blessings to all of you as well!

barry and terri