I got a call this morning from my grandparents nursing home saying that my grandpa had problems and was being sent to the emergency room. As usual they were rather vague with a description of the situation so it left me with numerous questions.
I contact my sister and parents and let them know what is going on. Moments later my grandma calls me up and asks if I can pick her up from the hospital, since she took the ambulance there with my grandpa.
I throw some drawls on and head out the door.
I get there a few minutes later and find my grandma. The hospital is cold and eerie as usual. Then they let us go back and see my grandpa. He is laying on a hospital bed with tubes running in him, shaking, like he is having convulsions or seizures. It was scary. He tried to speak and couldn’t. It seemed like he was getting worse.
His arms were shaking violently yet he still had the ability to crack a joke. Something about how he had to watch out or he would damage his Rolex. (he wears a Timex).
I think he was just nervous, or low on fluids or something. He had to get a CAT scan, so my grandma and I had to sit in the lobby. When we returned he looked much better. Not sure what happened, but I think he was scared because he could not speak.
Well after a few more blood tests and things like that they admitted to the regular section of the hospital overnight due to his weakness. They think he may have had a mini stroke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA). After hearing the story 2-3 times told to each nurse that came to the room it seems like things were fine this morning. He ate breakfast and all that, then had to go to therapy when he was very weak and “did not look right†according to his therapist. That is when 911 was dialed and the ambulance brought him to the ER.
Some other great things between the ER and regular hospital: he had an IV in his arm, and the brainiac that brought him up to the room just set the IV bag on the bed, not on a pole… so his blood started heading toward the bag, leaving a tube full of blood half way to the IV bag. Uh-mazing.
The other scary thing is that those TIA’s are generally warning signs of a future stroke…
Anyhow it looks like all the tests are fine, he did not have an infection which made him weak. They are looking into the TIA thing to see if that’s what it was. By the end of the 6 hr hospital adventure he looked about 200x better than when they brought him there and was ready for a good nap. Hopefully they will release him out of there tomorrow. *Fingers Crossed*
So as scary of a day as it was, it was actually a good day in the end because my grandpa is okay.
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