So, my dad had a stroke on Wednesday...

I got a call at about 11am on Wednesday. It was my Mom: "He's okay, but I wanted you to know -Dad's in the hospital, he had a stroke." Not that it was a shock, really. In fact, I've always counted on getting this call. My dad's really never, you know, taken care of himself...

Luckily, it was mild. He has mild facial paralysis and his speach is impared, and, for awhile, so was his ability to understand I am told. His right side is slightly weaker than the left, but he's walking just fine -in fact, I'm not sure my Mom has noticed this yet.

I spent the day at work on Wednesday worrying about what was going on. I didn't get another call from my Mom until I was ready to leave work at 4pm, and at that time nothing had changed. The ride home from work was long; my thoughts were on all of the fun my dad and I have had together when I was little: doing woodworking projects, family vacations, etc. -And the present: he and my Mom just bought a new car, and have been taking road trips. Things seemed to be looking up for them after a long bout of depression... Now this.

Thursday, yesterday, I took off of work and went to go see my Mom and Dad. Dad looked better than I had feared. No facial expressions, but he was walking fine. His words were jumbled, but every once in awhile, with great effort, he'd get one or two out. It seemed he understood what we were saying -the doctor asked to shake hands, and my dad did, etc. But he was MAD! Most of the words we understood contained four letters, and he got more and more agitated as the day went on.

To be fair, he was admitted to St James in Olympia Fields at 8:30am or so. They did all kinds of tests including a swallow test and they all came out good. He wasn't able to get water down, but thick liquids he could swallow just fine. There was no bleeding in the brain, etc. He finally got into a room later in the day where he was waiting for an MRI to make sure there were no more clots that would cause any more strokes. As of 4pm he hadn't gotten the MRI yet, nor had he been given any food. In fact, when I got to the hospital the next day, at about 11am he still hadn't had the MRI or food. At about 1pm he was taken for a more complete swallow test, which was good, but lunch time had passed and he wasn't even given a snack. The nurse said he'd be in for the MRI by 2pm, but 2pm came and went. Seems the machine was down in the morning, and they had a back-log.

At about 3pm my Dad put his pants on and started to walk out of the hospital. At this point he was able to get short phrases out, and they weren't nice. My Mom was freaking out on two fronts. First, he was very agitated, and she was afraid to bring him home in this state. Second, he was still undergoing treatment and needed the MRI. She didn't want to see him have another stroke... But, he was deemed mentally competant, so the hospital was unable to force him to stay. They took out his stint (for the IV) and had him sign a paper that said he was leaving without medical consent. Then he was out the door.

We were given his new perscriptions, the name and phone number for his doctor, and some advice on his diet ("mechanically soft": pasta, mashed potatoes, bread, etc) and my mom took him home while Ed and I picked up his perscriptions and some food. By the time I got to my parent's house, my Dad had made popcorn, ate it and went to bed. My Mom was hysterical. I tried to explain that there was nothing we could do until tomorrow. Leaving her like that was difficult. I'm not really sure what anyone can do, though. She's going to call his VA doctor tomorrow. He trusts that guy, and maybe he can convince my dad to let himself be admitted to another hospital. He's just so angry! I hope he doesn't try to harm my mom -or himself!