happy father's day
My dad is in the hospital.
At about 7.30 this morning, my dad was walking up the basement stairs after feeding the cat. When he got to the top of the stairs, he said he started feeling confused and saw a skinny arm on his right side using his peripheral vision. He thought I was behind him on the stairwell going to give him a hug or something. He kept turning his head, left to right a couple times, looking to see who was behind him. My mom thought he was looking for the cat and asked him what he was doing, and when my dad went to respond, he couldn't speak at all. All he could get out was a noise that sounded like "bah bah bah." He had a really panicked look on his face. The first thing we thought of was that he was having a stroke, so my brother went and grabbed him around the waist to support him in case he started seizuring, and my mom got on the phone really quick to 911.
The ambulance and fire truck only took like three minutes to get here, but I swear it felt like a half hour. By this time, Erich had helped my dad to the front room rocking chair to wait for EMS, and was able to talk again, but his voice sounded really weird, like his tongue was thick in his throat and like he didn't have full use of his mouth just yet. He still had this really wild look on his face, and his eyes were really weird looking. The paramedics did some simple tests and thought that the reactions of his right eye and hand were a bit slow.
He was taken to Mt. Clemens General, and mom followed the ambulance. I drove Erich to church because he was supposed to be part of the service and then I went to the hospital too. All of Dad's tests came back normal - his EKG, chest xray, bloodwork, and CAT scan. The doctor thinks Dad had a TIA, or a mini-stroke. She said that since the episode was so short, the cause of it might not present itself yet. She said that it could have been caused either by a bleed in his brain (like a burst blood vessel), or a lack of blood in the brain (like a clogged vessel).
Dad is staying at the hospital overnight for observation (because the first 24 hours after an episode like this are the most likely to have a repeat) and for more tests in the morning. They're going to do another CT scan to check out his brain again, do some tests on his corroded arteries to see if there's a blockage), and have a neuro doctor run some more brain-specific tests.
So much for father's day.
At about 7.30 this morning, my dad was walking up the basement stairs after feeding the cat. When he got to the top of the stairs, he said he started feeling confused and saw a skinny arm on his right side using his peripheral vision. He thought I was behind him on the stairwell going to give him a hug or something. He kept turning his head, left to right a couple times, looking to see who was behind him. My mom thought he was looking for the cat and asked him what he was doing, and when my dad went to respond, he couldn't speak at all. All he could get out was a noise that sounded like "bah bah bah." He had a really panicked look on his face. The first thing we thought of was that he was having a stroke, so my brother went and grabbed him around the waist to support him in case he started seizuring, and my mom got on the phone really quick to 911.
The ambulance and fire truck only took like three minutes to get here, but I swear it felt like a half hour. By this time, Erich had helped my dad to the front room rocking chair to wait for EMS, and was able to talk again, but his voice sounded really weird, like his tongue was thick in his throat and like he didn't have full use of his mouth just yet. He still had this really wild look on his face, and his eyes were really weird looking. The paramedics did some simple tests and thought that the reactions of his right eye and hand were a bit slow.
He was taken to Mt. Clemens General, and mom followed the ambulance. I drove Erich to church because he was supposed to be part of the service and then I went to the hospital too. All of Dad's tests came back normal - his EKG, chest xray, bloodwork, and CAT scan. The doctor thinks Dad had a TIA, or a mini-stroke. She said that since the episode was so short, the cause of it might not present itself yet. She said that it could have been caused either by a bleed in his brain (like a burst blood vessel), or a lack of blood in the brain (like a clogged vessel).
Dad is staying at the hospital overnight for observation (because the first 24 hours after an episode like this are the most likely to have a repeat) and for more tests in the morning. They're going to do another CT scan to check out his brain again, do some tests on his corroded arteries to see if there's a blockage), and have a neuro doctor run some more brain-specific tests.
So much for father's day.