A Bump On the Head

I had plan to write a series of posts but I have been very busy since my husband came back from Afghanistan. However, I thought I should explain a little hiccup my dad has experienced recently.

Starting in February my dad had been having several falls. Well one day he went to get his hair cut. On his way into the salon my dad had two falls. During the first fall, some patrons were kind enough to help him up but before he could even make it inside he managed to fall again. At this point the patrons called 911. They also were kind enough to call my mom and tell her what was going on. When my mom arrived the paramedics were there. Rather than go by ambulance, my parents opted to have my mom take him to the hospital. My dad was admitted into the ER. My mom felt that my dad should have an MRI. The ER doctors didn't feel that it was necessary to have one done since he had one two weeks prior after having sustained an injury during another fall. My mom didn't feel right about that so she called my dad's rehabilitation doctor (I am unsure of what her actual title is) who sent in the order for an MRI.

In the meantime, I called my uncles to make them aware of the situation. I honestly thought that the doctors would just patch up my dad and send him on his way like the last time. However, that was not the case. When I got off the phone with my uncle, my mom called me with an update. It turns out that my dad had bleeding in the brain. The doctors had my dad transferred from Alta View Hospital to Intermountain Medical Center. Within 24 hours my dad was to have brain surgery. It isn't easy being 3,000 miles away from your family during an event like this. There wasn't anything I could have done but being in Hawaii made me feel so helpless. All I could do is wait to see if I needed to fly home.

In the middle of a conversation with my mom she had to go because they decided to take my dad into surgery right away. What I would have imagined to be a long surgery only lasted a little over 40 minutes. About a half hour after surgery my mom was able to give me an update. In addition to the bleeding in the brain, they found a large subdermal hematoma (blood clot). Blood clots are what causes one of the types of strokes a person can have for those who don't know. This large clot would have normally stroked him out or even have killed him but luckily the clot was in the already dead part of father's brain from his initial stroke back in 2007. When the doctors went to relieve the pressure in his brain from the bleeding, the pressure was able to push out the blood clot. My dad had to have shunts in his  head for 24 hours. The doctors were surprised how well the surgery went. I was really surprised that I was talking to my dad 30 minutes after surgery.

Due to the severity of the situation, my mom had the American Red Cross send a message to my husband's unit. The Army granted my husband ten days of leave and paid for our plane tickets to go home and be with my dad. I am so thankful that the Army supported us during this stressful time. Without their help, I would not have been able to go home. Tickets were listed as 2,000 dollars per person and there was no way I could have afforded that.

My dad is now up and about like nothing ever happened. However, we have noticed that my dad's already poor short term memory is even worse. In spite of that he is doing really well.

Tomorrow, May 3rd, marks 5 years from when my dad had his stroke. It has been a long bumpy road but we are still staying on course. We have no control over what life throws us, but we have control over how we handle it. I have really come to admire the strength of my family. I love them with all my heart--imperfections and all.