A Bump in the Road

My mother called last night as I was coming inside from watering the gardens. Yesterday morning my father had another stroke. What they are now calling "a significant event". He lost all feeling on his left side. It didn't last long - maybe fifteen minutes - but it was enough to put a scare into them both. He was over it by the time the ambulance got there, even with a very fast response time.

The rest of the day was spent with tests and doctors. They kept him in the hospital. He seems fine. I went down today with my mother early and caught him just finishing breakfast and being examined by another neurologist. They had more tests. Three hours of tests.

Back to his room, he said he was very tired - he'd not slept much the night before. My mother said she hadn't either. Then she remembered about 4 a.m. that she hadn't taken her night-time medicine, one of which helps her to sleep.

"Don't tell your father" , she said. "He doesn't think I can take care of myself without him."

The rest of the day was spent watching him sleep, visiting with my mom and going to the cafeteria for a crappy burger. Dad's lunch looked excellent. Too bad the cafeteria couldn't say the same...

He kept telling everyone all day that he was going home. He wouldn't fill out his menu choices for the next day "because I won't be here". Uh huh. My mother wanted to go home for awhile and take care of the dog. I came home. She's supposed to call when they hear something. It's 8:30 p.m. Guess what? I'm pretty darn sure he's spending another night there.

It sure would be nice if they could figure out what's causing this. Of course, my ever-cheerful mother (read sarcasm) remembered this was how her mother died... a bunch of little strokes leading to a big one. Yeah. I needed to be reminded of that. Thanks, Mom.

Probably going to work tomorrow. There isn't much I can do right now. Oh, and the visiting friend got to town today safely. I haven't seen them yet but still planning on getting together Saturday night... as long as Dad is doing okay. Keep good thoughts, 'kay?