I was quite serious. If you and I became friends, my brain could very possibly turn into blood-clotted mush.

Dats enuff of dat bumba clot bullshit choggie. Leave da patois to da true jamaicans.

May your blood never clot and your snow never melt. Congrats.

Doctors can listen for the formation of a clot with a stethoscope. It almost always gives the telltail "fluttering" noise just prior to a fatal blockage, this is due to how the semi-blocked artery changes the flow of blood through the passageway, and can be likened to how a plane gets lift.

As the artery begins to block, the blood flows quicker inside the artery than normal. This increased rate of flow causes the pressure to drop at the clot site, and as the surrounding tissue is at atmospheric pressure (read: now at a higher pressure than inside the artery), the artery collapses on itself, until pressure inside the artery equalises with the surrounding tissue, and it opens up again.

This rapid successive open and closing of the artery causes the fluttering noise....an arterial fart, if you will

The clot organizes (solidifies and contracts) but the aneurysm remains a bud extending from the vessel wall. After coiling, the aneurysm is easily seen on a regular X-ray (which doesn't ordinarily show blood vessels at all) by the little ball of coils.

What is really neat about these procedures is how the interventional radiologists can manipulate those little guidewires up through all the twists and turns and into an aneurysm. They squirt some radio-opaque dye into the cerebral circulation and take an X-ray to see the vessels (angiogram). This image is stored and serves as a "roadmap" to where they need to go. Deploying coils into a broad necked aneurysm can be a little disconcerting. If the coil pops out of the aneurysm prematurely, it will flow downstream into the cerebral vessel, occlude it, and probably result in a stroke. That's why some aneurysms still have to be surgically clipped. Sometimes the structure of the aneurysm is just not right or safe for deployment of coils.

Novoseven, a clotting factor administered to stop uncontrolled bleeding, comes as 1.2 mg in 2.2mL and each vial costs about £664. Thats $600(US) per mL. A tad bit more expensive than printer ink.

the most common medication associated with a moon face is cortisol, a steroid, which carlin would have really no reason to take for a heart problem. it is the result of fat redistribution, not water retention. he is most likely on blood thinners or diuretics to prevent clots and decrease the load on the heart (which would actually serve to increase water loss), neither of which should cause weight gain. i'm gonna go with "he's getting old" and his metabolism is slowing, or the embed video is distorted

>> ^Trancecoach:
This is from Saturday, March 1, 2008. & No, he hasn't gained any weight. He's on heart medication (7 or so heart attacks'll require that) which causes a "moon-face" (retaining water). And thank goodness the man is still with us. He is an amazing voice of reason in these days of turmoil. Upvote for the greatest living philosopher of our age!

I'm research not treatment, but thanks for the shout-out. and nice vid. Appropriately though, my last job was as a clinical hematology assistant. Useless trivia: A Coulter cell-counter can count 10,000 blood cells in less than one minute and check all the following:
Number AND SIZE AND CLUMPING of red cells
Number AND [sorta] CLOTTING of platelets
Number AND TYPE of white cells (there are a crapload of types of white cells)

And if anything is wrong, it can MAKE a slide of the sample for you so you can look at it yourself and see it. Robots ftw.

When you get your blood drawn, they often check all this... in one minute. In our department (10 people) in our company we did a thousand a day.

Man do I wish I could get rid of that dang underscore. Someone already had "Doc".

General Jack D. Ripper: Mandrake, do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war?
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: No, I don't think I do, sir, no.
General Jack D. Ripper: He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
General Jack D. Ripper: Mandrake, do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, why, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk... ice cream. Ice cream, Mandrake, children's ice cream.
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Lord, Jack.
General Jack D. Ripper: You know when fluoridation first began?
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: I... no, no. I don't, Jack.
General Jack D. Ripper: Nineteen hundred and forty-six. Nineteen forty-six, Mandrake. How does that coincide with your post-war Commie conspiracy, huh? It's incredibly obvious, isn't it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works.
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Uh, Jack, Jack, listen, tell me, tell me, Jack. When did you first... become... well, develop this theory?
General Jack D. Ripper: Well, I, uh... I... I... first became aware of it, Mandrake, during the physical act of love.
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Hmm.
General Jack D. Ripper: Yes, a uh, a profound sense of fatigue... a feeling of emptiness followed. Luckily I... I was able to interpret these feelings correctly. Loss of essence.
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Hmm.
General Jack D. Ripper: I can assure you it has not recurred, Mandrake. Women uh... women sense my power and they seek the life essence. I, uh... I do not avoid women, Mandrake.
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: No.
General Jack D. Ripper: But I... I do deny them my essence.
General Jack D. Ripper: Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face.
General Jack D. Ripper: Mandrake, have you ever seen a Commie drink a glass of water?
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Well, no, I can't say I have.
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Do I look all rancid and clotted? You look at me, Jack. Eh? Look, eh? And I drink a lot of water, you know. I'm what you might call a water man, Jack - that's what I am. And I can swear to you, my boy, swear to you, that there's nothing wrong with my bodily fluids. Not a thing, Jackie.
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: If you don't put that gun away and stop this stupid nonsense, the court of Enquiry on this'll give you such a pranging, you'll be lucky if you end up wearing the uniform of a bloody toilet attendant.
--Dr. Stranglove, mildly editted

Not to mention the long term effects and possible side effects of using the pill... basically one of the big reasons I quit smoking years ago was (among the more obvious reasons) that when I started taking the pill I noticed that when smoking I would have extreme loss of circulation in my extremities... then I read up on all the side effects of combining the two: circulatory problems, blood clots, heart failure... it was a big reality check, and I had to choose, no babies, or keeping a filthy pointless habit. It was a tough call there for a while, but fortunately it turns out I was able to kick the ciggies.

Moral of story, nothing is perfect nor 100% safe... also, yeah, you dudes need more options so you can share the burden of this endeavor a little more completely.

"No matter how tough you are, you're no match for a dangerous clot."

Best fucking sermon ever heard by these ears on Easter.....thanks fedquip, ya cheerful little wanker!