The World Turned Upside Down
Sep. 25th, 2014 08:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davidgillonThat moment when your life turns upside down.
My dad had a stroke a week ago. Thankfully I was visiting, and could say to my mother 'dial 999 now' (though if I hadn't have been there she probably would have dialled even faster). The paramedic was at our door before she had finished the phonecall, the ambulance not long after. They whizzed him through to the regional stroke unit at Durham and he was okay by the time they arrived, so they didn't hit him with the clotbuster protocol on the theory it was a TIA mini-stroke that had cleared itself, but he then had another one, so got the clotbuster at that point, but it's left him paralyzed on the right hand side.
There was a massive improvement between Thursday and Monday, but he's having to be tube-fed and there have been problems (he's pulled the damned thing out three times during the night when he's tired and confused), so he's been tired and grumpy the last couple of times I've seen him and that doesn't help the clarity of his speech (though I've just spoken to my sister and apparently he's much better today). Nor does his insistence on using an unintelligible paragraph rather than a single clear word (though 'Bloody Hell, man!' comes through remarkably clearly). OTOH he's clearly with it when he isn't tired and has been reading the football results in the paper, he even had me stretching out his hand on Saturday when he could barely make himself understood yet, so the desire to get better is clearly there. Once they have the feeding tube etc sorted out he should be transferred to the rehab unit at our local hospital, which is 5 minutes walk from my parents house (vs about 40 minutes drive to Durham), so will be much more convenient, and it's apparently got a rep as one of the better stroke rehab units out there.
My mother has been amazing, and has practically lived at the hospital for the past week, my sister much the same within the constraints of her job, but back and forth to the hospital every day was wearing me down so I've been sent home for a few days (I was due to travel home today anyway), the plan is I head back in about a week and stay for at least a fortnight, but that depends on what's happening. So if I drop out of contact I'm probably back in the internet black hole that is my parent's house.
My dad had a stroke a week ago. Thankfully I was visiting, and could say to my mother 'dial 999 now' (though if I hadn't have been there she probably would have dialled even faster). The paramedic was at our door before she had finished the phonecall, the ambulance not long after. They whizzed him through to the regional stroke unit at Durham and he was okay by the time they arrived, so they didn't hit him with the clotbuster protocol on the theory it was a TIA mini-stroke that had cleared itself, but he then had another one, so got the clotbuster at that point, but it's left him paralyzed on the right hand side.
There was a massive improvement between Thursday and Monday, but he's having to be tube-fed and there have been problems (he's pulled the damned thing out three times during the night when he's tired and confused), so he's been tired and grumpy the last couple of times I've seen him and that doesn't help the clarity of his speech (though I've just spoken to my sister and apparently he's much better today). Nor does his insistence on using an unintelligible paragraph rather than a single clear word (though 'Bloody Hell, man!' comes through remarkably clearly). OTOH he's clearly with it when he isn't tired and has been reading the football results in the paper, he even had me stretching out his hand on Saturday when he could barely make himself understood yet, so the desire to get better is clearly there. Once they have the feeding tube etc sorted out he should be transferred to the rehab unit at our local hospital, which is 5 minutes walk from my parents house (vs about 40 minutes drive to Durham), so will be much more convenient, and it's apparently got a rep as one of the better stroke rehab units out there.
My mother has been amazing, and has practically lived at the hospital for the past week, my sister much the same within the constraints of her job, but back and forth to the hospital every day was wearing me down so I've been sent home for a few days (I was due to travel home today anyway), the plan is I head back in about a week and stay for at least a fortnight, but that depends on what's happening. So if I drop out of contact I'm probably back in the internet black hole that is my parent's house.
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