Dad’s Stroke
What a mixed day Christmas was this year.
About 10:00 I was about to call my brother, Mike, when I noticed that I had 3 messages – one from him. So I called him up thinking that he wanted to know what time we would be arriving at his place. He proceeds to start talking about my father being OK and "he’s at the hospital" and "mom’s with him", etc. I said "What are you talking about? This is all news to me." Then he replies "Oh, I guess you haven’t listened to your message. It looks like dad had a stroke this morning.". I couldn’t believe my ears. My dad was always the strongest person in the world. Even at 76 he’s strong as a bull and never spent a day in the hospital in his life (that we know of).
What I know is that he suffered a mild infarction in the right hemisphere. Verified by a scan. His left side has lost some mobility but I’m not sure how much. He may have some slurred speech. They kept him overnight for observation and he’ll meet with the specialist today. He and my mom seem in good spirits – almost too good – when I spoke with them on the phone last night. She’s joking about having to keep an eye on him cause he keeps flirting with the nurses.
We’re heading up that way later today and we’ll stay with them for a few days. This was our plan all along for the Holiday. So, how am I feeling about all this? I don’t know. It seems that these things take time to sink in with me. I’ll comment about it after I’ve had time to process it.
On the positive side we arrived at brother Mike’s place about 3:00 yesterday and spent the evening and night with them. They have a beautiful new place here near Concord, NH. He’s one of my favorite people and the brother I’m closest to. We really got to spend some quality time talking – one of my top priorities when I visit folks at the Holiday but most folks tend to focus on the small talk. Mike and Susie are great. I could talk with them all day.
Mike’s busy with work as COO of a small company. He’s preparing the company for sale right now cause the current owners want to cash out. He’s trying to make sure the company and the employees get treated right. He’s having some difficulty with his boss who is absent most of the time but still wants to make all the decisions. Bad situation. He’s a good talker and has the owners bamboozled. Tough situation to be in. Susie is contemplating going back to work (lawyer) now that their youngest is hitting high school.
The boys get along great with Justin and his frirend, Dejan, who came along with us. They immediately fall into the video game routine and they were playing Risk when we went to bed at midnight..
It’s earyl morning and we’ll probably leave here about noon. I just heard another soul stirring in the house so I’ll go check it out.