Tuesday, October 25, 2005

My Grandfather Had a Stroke

I got an email last week from my mother (she could not find my phone number) She told me that my grandpa had a stroke.
My grandfather has been like a dad to me my whole life. with my bio dad being out of the picture-my grandparents helped to raise me. My grandpa is the only father figure I have ever had. He means the absolute world to me.
6 weeks ago they were out at my moms house. My grandpa felt sick so they decided to leave. As my grandma was driving home, he passed out. When he woke up he got sick. They took him in and the dr thought it was inner ear stuff. Fast forward to this last Friday. They were at my cousins game. When they went to leave..grandpa said he felt like he got stuck..couldn't get in the car. That is when he had a stroke. Saturday he couldn't walk...had slurred speech. Had to use a cane and could barely walk with that. He kept falling and fell when he was going to feed the horses..and banged up his face pretty good. Monday they took him in and the dr said he is having strokes..and it seems to be progressing fast.
So we drove down. He doesn't look too good. His facial muscles are not really affected, but his speech is pretty bad. he has a really hard time talking and he has a significant memory loss. his right side is almost useless. he has a walker, but refuses to use it. so we had to help him move everywhere. I had a talk with my grandma. he had this stroke on friday and she did not take him in until monday! if she would have gotten him in earlier, they could have given him the medication to help reverse the affects, but she didn't realize that a stroke had happened. we talked about the seriousness of letting the dr's know what is going on-and that she better not hestitate again. she asked me how I deal with it...with Kaitlyn and the worry. she then told me that grandpa won't let go of her...every time they go to bed he just holds her so tight and will not let go of her. He is so scared. but I think I got through to her. he is in therapy..and went in for a CT scan yesterday. they are also doing some cartoid vascular study this week.
By the time we left on Sunday, you could really see the changes in him. He was more positive, but his speech was worse. It was very slurred and he couldn't remember everyday words.
We are still waiting on test results. But I am just not ready to lose him.

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