Life & Death...

Scary week for us...

My mom arrived last Tuesday in SLC at my sister's house to spend a week visiting up here with her kids and grandkids (4 of her 6 children live up here). On Wednesday morning after she had taken a shower she realized that she was experiencing numbness in her left arm and her speech was slurred. She immediately alerted my sister (who, thank goodness, is unemployed at the moment so she was at home with my mom) and my sister called 911 who arrived in a matter of minutes. They got her to IMC very quickly. By this time my sister had called her husband and then me and I immediately left work to meet them at the hospital. The stroke team was called in to assess my mom and she was taken for a CT scan. They started her on a medication that thins out clots and within an hour sor so he was very much improved in her speech although her hand still had some numbness/weakness.

They eventually put her on the stroke floor and she was required to lay flat on her back for 24 hours. They also took her to have an MRI and she was assesed by many differnt Dr.'s for many different reasons and we were all surprised at how well she was doing. My uncle (her brother) and one of our cousins husbands came that evening to give her a blessing which was really nice. The MRI results showed very minimal damage and she does have a small amount of long term memory loss that she will not get back but other than that she seemed to be doing really well.

By the next day she was doing so well that they decided to discharge her from the hospital with the understanding that she would come back the following Monday to be hooked up to a heart monitor for the next 2 weeks so they could monitor her heart and watch for any atrial fibrilation. She has high blood pressure and high cholesterol but until this actually happened I don't think any of us ever thought it COULD happen...our mom is very healthy...she has never drank alchohol, she has never smoked, she does not overindulge in anything! This was such a huge shock...came from left field and kind of slapped us in the face.

Thursday evening all the siblings that live here in SLC took our families over to visit mom at my sister's house (mom really wanted to see everyone...that's the reason she was in SLC in the first place). We had dinner and visited and then mom went to bed early as I'm sure she was tired.

On Friday around noon I received a call from my sister saying that mom was experiencing dizziness, numbness on the left side of her head and in her foot (she had not had numbness in these areas 2 days prior when she had her stroke). She said that they were going to head back to the hospital; I agreed that was probably best and told them I would meet them there. Mom was again assessed by the stroke team but she was not having any speech issues or partial paralysis like she had previously. She was taken for another CT scan and eventually we were told that they wanted to monitor her heart and they were going to admit her to the hospital again.

Mom was admitted to the Telemetry floor that day (Friday) and taken for another MRI. She was hooked up to a heart monitor so they could start monitoring for any atrial fib. Our sister that lives in SG arrived on Friday night. Our sister that lives in Sacramento flew in on Saturday morning for the weekend. I don't think any of us really thought that mom was going to die but we all wanted to be here for her and I think mom didn't really let on how scared she was and I think she was very glad to have all her children close by...just in case.

We spent most of the weekend at the hospital and my sisters took turns spending the night with mom while they were here. For some reason on Sunday we still did not have her MRI results back and the Dr. recommended she stay one more night so they could continue to monitor her and wait for the MRI results. She was finally released yesterday (Monday). The MRI didn't show any significant change from the first one and the Dr. said it's common to have episodes like she did after the first stroke.

As of right now she is doing ok although my sister says she has had some episodes of dizziness this morning and she thinks she has a bladder infection (damn cathedars!). My sister is taking her to Instacare to see about the bladder infection today and she also is taking her to a chiropractor. My mom has a bad back and laying in the hospital for all those days didn't help.

So...it really takes something like this to remind us that we are just human and that we won't live forever. At no time did I actually think my mom was in danger of dying but then maybe I chose not to look that in the face. I guess it is still a possibility...no matter how well she seems to be doing...that something else could happen and she would be gone...but I refuse to believe that at this point. Like my sister says "I need 20 more from her"! My mom will be 65 this month...that is way too young.

My parents were married for 30 years and have been divorced for almost 10 years so my mom lives alone in SG although one sister lives only a few minutes away. How blessed we feel that my mom was not alone when this happened to her. Although she immediately recognized the signs of a stroke the possibilities of what could have happened if she had been unable to get to a phone or even dial 911 had she been by herself are not pleasant thoughts. Although I'm sure my sister does not see her unemployment as a blessing; it is indeed a blessing that she was at home that day when my mom started having her stroke. It's also a blessing that my mom is very practical and is not the type of person to keep the symptoms to herself while telling herself that they are no big deal. While my mom never wants to "put anyone out" she is smart enough to realize that something wasn't right and that she needed help right away.

There are so many things to be thankful for at this point...that my mom is still alive, that she seems to be recovering well, that the damage is minimal, that she wasn't alone when it happened, that all of her children have such wonderful spouses and family support so that we were able to spend time with her at the hospital...and so many more things. I have to wonder if she is out of the woods and at this point she probably isn't...and maybe she never will be after having this stroke. But my mom is alive and we still have her and I'm thankful for that.

Over the next few weeks while she rests and recovers some decisions do need to be made. Should she stay in SLC for the time being? Should we allow her to return home and continue living alone? I'm sure alot of things will depend on how her recovery goes and whether or not she has any other incidents.

I love my mom so much...she is such a huge part of my life. She loves me unconditionally and never judges me or pushes me to be someone that I'm not. She accepts me for who I am even if she wishes deep down that I would go to church, etc...she never pushes anything on me. She never meddles in anyone's life and only wants what is best for all of us. I love her beyond words and I can't imagine my life without her...here's to 20 more at least...LOVE YOU MOM!!!!