Dr. Milton Wolf: “Say a Prayer”, John McCain’s ‘Hematoma’ is Very ‘Serious’

Kansas physician Milton Wolf, a longtime Tea Party activist, has taken to Twitter to raise serious questions about the McCain story. Wolf is a board certified radiologist, and as such, would have broad knowledge about a wide range of illnesses and disease.

The mainstream media is covering for McCain or they’re just completely clueless. Or both. He had brain surgery for a 5 cm intracranial hematoma. That’s a big deal. Can be life ending. Media is buying his statement that it was from a routine annual physical —brain surgery?!— and they’re saying it was “above the left eye” rather than saying brain. Clintonesque.”

Among the possibilities he raises are: a subdural hematoma; an epidural hematoma; and a brain hematoma. Hematomas are collections of blood outside the blood vessels that then create clots.

A subdural hematoma occurs between the skull and the brain just under the dura mater lining that covers the brain and protects it from the skull.

An epidural hematoma happens between the skull and dura mater lining. A brain hematoma is the most serious, caused by blood vessels rupturing in the brain itself.

Wolf pressed McCain’s staff to be more forthcoming on exactly what has happened to the senator.

The office of @SenJohMcCain should tell the public exact location and cause of the hematoma. Spontaneous? Blood thinners? Stroke? Tumor?”

McCain has not commented on whether he takes blood thinners. Given the Senator’s advanced age and previous history of melanoma, Wolf put out a request for everyone to pray for John McCain.

Say a prayer for @SenJohnMcCain. This is serious, especially in an 80-year-old, no matter how much his office tries to minimize it.”

Also weighing in on the situation is Dr. Babacar Cisse, a neurosurgeon at the Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center in New York.

While he characterized craniotomies as “relatively straightforward procedures,” he questioned the statement that McCain hoped to return to Washington after one week in Arizona.

A week is cutting it very close, but it is hard to tell because it is different for every person.”

McCain has a past history of invasive melanoma. In 2000, he had a melanoma removed from his left temple, just inches from where the recent surgery occurred.

In addition to removing the melanoma and skin around it, the surgeons also removed part of McCain’s salivary gland.

Dr. Cisse noted that if the recent clot is related to McCain’s skin cancer, it would be an intraparenchymal hematoma. That would mean the clot was in the brain and that metastasized melanoma in the brain caused the bleeding. He believes that if that is the case, pathologists would be able to tell because of tumor markers on the clot.

Before any further information is released about the reason for the clot, McCain and his team of doctors are waiting for pathology reports. The blood clot was likely tested for cancer markers and other abnormalities.”

Should that not prove to be a factor, possible causes of the clot could be a fall, a blow to the head, a stroke or just brain changes associated with aging.

There are many types of blood clots and none are uncommon, so while his history with melanoma will cause doctors to look for cancer markers in his pathology report, there is a good chance it was caused by something else,’ Dr Cisse explained.”

Since McCain’s condition came to light, many are speculating that his recent odd behavior, and bizarre questioning of former FBI director James Comey in a recent hearing, may be explained by the presence of the blood clot.

What hasn’t been discussed is whether or not the clot has been responsible for his almost maniacal hatred of President Donald Trump and his constant harping on anything to attack the president.

Most people are unaware that when blood gets outside of arteries and blood vessels and comes in contact with the brain, it creates an “oil vs. water” situation. Blood is highly destructive to brain tissue.

The frontal lobe of the brain is where must of our behavior is controlled. It serves as a filter to moderate impulsivity and inappropriate outbursts of emotions. Given what we learned to date about the location of the clot above McCain’s left eye, it’s highly likely it may have had a negative impact on his behavior and reasoning.

It’s also possible his behavior is what prompted the recent physical examination that detected the blood clot. It may not have been a routine physical at all.

It is being reported that, if he does indeed recover well, it will likely be weeks before he is ‘on the job’ again:

How long might it typically take a robust 80-year-old to recover and be back on the job?

Reasonably, we would send someone home in a day or two, which nowadays for this kind of minimally invasive neurosurgery is realistic. But I wouldn’t counsel anybody to go back to normal activity for at least weeks. And many people may take even four to six weeks to feel really up to snuff.

Last month, McCain seemed confused in his questioning of former FBI Director James Comey. He later said, “I was up late watching the Diamondbacks baseball game.” Is there any link between confused speech or thinking and a blood clot of this size?

I think in this case it would be speculation, because this might well have started after that, for all we know. But if you had something in that location, I suppose it’s possible. As I say, probably speculation at this point.

Whoa. "Minimally invasive craniotomy"… Are you kidding?!

A craniotomy is opening the skull to access the brain. And a 5cm hematoma is huge. https://t.co/7tILWO9xR5

— Dr. Milton Wolf (@MiltonWolfMD) July 16, 2017

And "above his left eye." What's above the eye? The brain.
Possibilities:
Subdural hematoma
Epidural hematoma
Brain hematoma

And 5cm = huge

— Dr. Milton Wolf (@MiltonWolfMD) July 16, 2017

Say a prayer for @SenJohnMcCain. This is serious, especially in an 80-year-old, no matter how much his office tries to minimize it.

— Dr. Milton Wolf (@MiltonWolfMD) July 16, 2017

The office of @SenJohMcCain should tell the public exact location and cause of the hematoma.

Spontaneous? Blood thinners? Stroke? Tumor?

— Dr. Milton Wolf (@MiltonWolfMD) July 16, 2017

Source: Daily Mail, NPR

Image: DemocraticUnderground