State-of-the-art tests have revealed that Prime Minister Perry Christie suffered a slight stroke earlier this week, but that he is now up to 99.7 percent fully recovered, according to doctors caring for him.
Bahamians and concerned parties from around the world are signing the Bahamas Prime Minister’s “Get Well” card to show their support.
In the latest media briefing on the Prime Minister’s condition on Thursday, cardiologist, Dr. Conville Brown told reporters that the nation’s chief underwent “very high class investigations”, among them a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan that was conducted at Doctors Hospital and a CAT scan that was combined with an angiogram.
“[The MRI] was meant to determine whether or not there was any evidence – even of a micro infarction, meaning a very, very small stroke – that we might not [have] determined either clinically or [by] routine scanning. And this was performed Wednesday morning and there was some suggestions of some minor abnormalities noted there,” Dr. Brown revealed.
“We subsequently took him to the Heart Centre (the Centreville Medical Pavilion) where he had a CT angiogram done.”
A CT angiogram shows all of the blood vessels on a given part of the body like the heart and brain to determine whether there was any significant cholesterol deposits in those vessels, blockages or other malformations that may even be congenital, he explained.
Doctors are able to make this determination with a simple injection of dye in the arm or the wrist and by taking pictures of the brain after the dye has been transported by the bloods
He added that that report was essentially “perfectly normal.”
“They (slight abnormalities) would be at the micro level. In fact, when we did the Prime Minister’s CAT scan, he did not even show. The MRI scan is more sensitive from that perspective and in ordinary circumstances one would say the scan would be normal,” he explained
“They are able now to do further fine tuning of these things and so we have what we would consider micro areas of injury. You would probably ask then if he had a stroke and the answer would have to be yes, but there was only a small area of injury. But we are now up to 99.7 percent recovery. So I think he is well on his way to getting out of here with no significant impairment to write home about with respect to his being able to function or run the country.”
In fact, according to Dr. Brown, the Prime Minister will be able to perform his Christie Shuffle – a dance the prime minister has become known for – possibly as early as the Junkanoo in June festival.
According to Dr. Brown, any further investigations on the Prime Minister will most likely be along the lines of his general medical status.
“While we have the CEO of the country, we will probably try to take advantage of that opportunity to make sure that he is well in all other sectors of the health arena as far as he is concerned so that we can also help to avoid any future surprises. This would put us in a better position to plan for him and everyone else,” he said.
During the press briefing on Tuesday, Minister of Health Senator Dr. Marcus Bethel revealed that Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt is now the Acting Prime Minister.
Doctors say Mr. Christie should be released from hospital sometime on Friday, but he’s being advised to take it easy.
The Prime Minister was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) shortly before 6am Tuesday after complaining that he was not feeling well and that his hands were numb.
Doctors later revealed that Mr. Christie suffered “severe” hypertension.
On Wednesday, he was transferred from the ICU to a private room after what doctors say was a “remarkable” recovery.
Only minutes after visiting the Prime Minister, Dr. Bethel said on Thursday that Mr. Christie was “very much in a jovial and relaxed mood, after having a good night’s rest.”
Dr. Bethel added that the Prime Minister sends his love and thanks to all well wishers and all Bahamians in general.
Endorsing the Health Minister’s sentiments, Dr. Perry Gomez, Mr. Christie’s personal physician, told reporters that the Prime Minister has “rapidly returned to his old self.”
“His charming, energetic and charismatic smile is very much present and so he is doing extremely well. We look forward to his going home shortly,” he said.
Dr. Gomez also stressed that The Bahamas has the highest quality healthcare that can be found anywhere in the world and that the Prime Minister experienced that first hand
“I think a lot of us do not appreciate the level of expertise and facilities we have in our country,” Dr. Gomez said.
“Certainly in the public and private sectors combined, we have the whole package and I want to just emphasize that because so often we in our country do not appreciate our own.”
A final press conference on the Prime Minister’s health is scheduled for 9am Friday.
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
