My Mom

Last Wednesday night after I had gone to bed, I received a dreaded, middle of the night phone call from my dad - my mom had suffered a stroke.  They were going to bed and were at the bottom of their staircase when my mom said that she felt funny, had a headache and could only see half of him.  Luckily, my dad recognized the signs and called 911 almost immediately.  At the hospital, they worked to get her blood pressure to a low enough level that they could administer a drug called tPA that would break up any clots in her body.  The drug must be administered within 3 hours of the stroke and miracle of all miracles, her pressure lowered right at the 3 hour mark. 

Even though we only had about 2 hours of sleep that night and both Bill and I were fighting off fevers - Audrey, of course, was just getting over an illness and was on antibiotics - we drove to Ohio first thing Thursday morning to be with everyone.  Those first few days were ROUGH, which is really an understatement.  My mom slept most of the time and when she was awake, was barely coherent, could only talk in one word sentences and often times spoke gibberish.  Tests proved that she couldn't read or interpret pictures and we weren't sure if she was able to comprehend what was going on around her.  The stroke left the right side of her body numb and extremely weak.  Her eyesight was even worse - her entire right field of vision was gone.  I didn't know this but each of your eyes sees both the right and left fields - it's not like your right sees the right and the left sees the left.  It's as if each eye is split in two.  While her actual eyes are fine, her brain can no longer process the right half of each eye's sight.  Crazy, right?  Anyway, due to this, in the beginning, she basically ignored her right side, including people standing and/or talking to her from that side.  We found out later that she had a large stroke in the back left side of her brain - this area controls vision, speech and comprehension.  She did recognize family and friends even if she didn't remember or couldn't say names.  She went nuts when she saw Audrey and we had to keep her from ripping out her IVs and getting out of bed because she wanted to hold her.

Thankfully, by Saturday afternoon my mom had very quickly turned a corner.  Her memory lapses and confusion weren't as prominent and she was looking better.  I, on the other hand, ended up in the ER TWICE that day for two ear infections and the worst pink eye you've ever seen - what a waste of 3 precious hours of the day!  By Sunday my mom was able to be moved out of the ICU and could speak at even greater lengths without issues. She was also acknowledging her right side and people in that direction.

Now, one week later, my mom is at an in-patient rehab facility and will be there for at least 3 weeks.  She has improved dramatically.  The feeling and strength on her right side is slowly coming back and she's even able to walk with a walker.  She still has trouble finding words and forgets things but we're hoping therapy will help her with that.  She struggles to read and write but think that over time this will get better, if not resolve itself completely.  In the end, we still don't know if she'll ever be able to walk unassisted, drive, if her vision will improve (it's doubtful) or what the long standing issues will be.  Time will tell. 

It's amazing how in a few short seconds, your brain can become so damaged but that it takes months to heal itself.  I believe my mom has a very long road ahead of her but I have no doubt that she's up for the challenge.  Afterall, she has grandchildren to read to and take to the zoo, and a daughter to guide.  I don't know where I'd be without her.

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