Worst Case Scenarios

So we got home from the huge day, and slept for two hours before Mom woke up with a tremendous headache.  Even worse, she was speaking to me in complete gibberish.  I suspected immediately that she was having a stroke, but this also could have been her talking in her sleep.  Her words were unrecognizable, except for the one phrase over and over again, "O dear."  It was one of the most frightening moments of my life.  I called 911 and went through the process there, and they sent an ambulance very quickly.  Mom's ability to communicate improved, and she was able to walk down the stairs and get on the gurney in the living room.  Maddie raced down the stairs to see Mom, who was now a bit better, and we waved goodbye to her as she was off to the hospital for immediate care.  Maddie went back to sleep as I told her I'd be back in the morning - but for now I was off to the hospital myself.

Mom was fine overall, with no numbness or tingling anywhere.  She had no slurred speech and she had full control over both arms and legs, all fingers and toes.  Her face showed no signs of stroke at all.  Yet she was having one.  There was a blood thinner given immediately, and the team of neurologists were actually thinking we were good to go when Mom started to have her symptoms again.  The nurse asked her basic questions, holding up a pen and asking what it was.  Mom could have a completely normal conversation with us, feeling just fine.  But she couldn't remember what the word "pen" was, or "shoe," or "ring."  When asked how old she was, she said she was "thirty-something."  Clearly, something was amiss.  So the neurologists all decided to give what is known as a "clot-buster," which is what it sounds like.  It's a stronger blood thinner, and sure enough, it worked really well.  When asked all these questions again a half-hour later, Mom was lucid and crystal clear - the "clot buster" worked perfectly.  The only thing now was waiting around at the hospital for 24 hours or more.  The reason for this is that the "clot buster" makes your blood so thin that they want to monitor you, just to make sure everything is alright afterwards.  

So we waited.  And that meant a long stay here, not doing much.  There's a MRI scheduled for tomorrow, but the CT scan showed us that there was no permanent damage, and that was fantastic news. 

I dropped Maddie off at school, driving back and forth from the hospital.  I spent much of the day here at the hospital, and it was great to have some visitors too, like Ye-Ye, Pastor Lance, and Josh too!

Then I had to head back again to get Maddie to bring her to taekwondo tonight.  And after all that, the two of us went over to the hospital again to spend time with Mom.

We brought some Chick-Fil-A to Mom, who hasn't been enjoying the hospital food so much.  I even brought the three "Frozen" food trays, these metal trays I got from Disney Movie Rewards so long ago, the kind you put food on as you watch television or whatever.  By "whatever," today's definition is the hospital.  The three of us sat there with our grilled chicken nuggets having dinner together, and after that, it was time for a game!

I had brought along a board game, and so the three of us spent some time together playing "Worst Case Scenarios," which challenges you to figure out the best thing to do in worst case scenarios like what to do with a grizzly bear or a black bear or a tsunami or a car bomb.  It's a fun little game, though I must confess we started out really, really slow because we didn't know the right answers for a time.  But eventually, we got things moving and Mom wound up winning the game, with Maddie a close second.

We closed our evening together with prayer together, and this part was hard:  saying goodbye.  Mom spent the night in the hospital alone.  She was super tired, so she would sleep better tonight.  Maddie and I went home, and we got ourselves some sleep too.  It's been a dramatic day.  But the Lord is good to us, so, so good.  Mom is okay, and we have every confidence that all is well.

Consider this, what if any of this happened while at the parking lot of the rally?  Or at the Highland games?  And consider how fast we got there, and got things taken care of.  The Lord is so good to us.