Sunday, June 7, 2009

One year mark, What a bad way to mark it.

Today was one year since Dad had his stroke. Sadly it was the worst day he has had since his stroke.
This morning around 7:45 AM Dad had a seizure. I am not sure how massive it was. I do know all of his body was shaking from it. Mom had given him a shower and was helping him get dressed when it happened. He was in his shower chair still but had his legs out of the tub when it happened. Luckily Mom was right there and was able to make sure he didn't get hurt at all. My little Michael was awake early and was at the door when it happened. Mom sent him to get me. She told him "go get your mommy and tell her Grandpa is hurt". Michael woke me up and said "Mom Grandma wants you". So of course I didn't hurry up. I made a stop at the bathroom and was getting ready to head upstairs when I heard Mom scream for me. I ran upstairs and noticed the bathroom light on. I headed toward there and called out for Mom. She yelled for me to call 911. As I called I asked what had happened so I could let the operator know. I could heard Dad breathing really deep and weird almost like a snore with water in it. I was so scared. She told me she wasn't sure if he had another stroke or a seizure but that he was unconscious. The operator got the information they needed and a fire truck got there within 2 minutes of me calling. An ambulance got there a few minutes later. I good friend, Steph came and got the kids. I didn't want them to see Grandpa being wheeled out in the gurney. Plus I wanted to be of some help.
Mom was amazing. She was very calm and knew what to do. I was a mess. I am a crier as everyone knows. By the time they got Dad into the ambulance Dad was starting to come to. He wasn't responsive, but his eyes were open.
Daniel came and got Mom and me and we followed the ambulance to the hospital. Then it was the waiting game. We had to wait to be let into his room. We had to wait for him to wake up again. We had to wait for the doctor to give us information. We had to wait for the results of the blood work and cat scan. Luckily it seemed to go pretty quickly. Dad kept waking up and falling back to sleep quickly. Everything came back normal. So by 11:00 AM Dad was released from the hospital. He was given some seizure medicine and a prescription for more, which he will be taking twice a day. He did get a nasty cut on his tongue from biting it, but other than that, he is mostly just tired.
Dad slept most of the day. We were happy he joined us for dinner. Plus we are so happy he is still here. I was really scared for awhile that he wouldn't be.
The doctor informed us that the seizure was caused by the stroke. Some stroke victims have strokes and some don't. Unfortunately Dad was one who did. The weirdest part for all of us is that is was exactly one year since his stroke. I hope next year we can mark it a better way.

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