(Note: to avoid pronoun confusion, I will refer to Kel’s mom as "Nana", which is what the kid’s call her.)
Last Monday (12 March), when Kel and the kids got home, she said "hi" to her mom (and Nana replied in the same fashion) and then went downstairs to change. When she came back up, Nana was largely unresponsive. Concerned about her blood sugar being low, Kel tried to ask when she last had something to eat. Her mom either responded incoherently or said she was tired.
Concerned, Kel came out (I was talking to the siding guy) and asked me to come in. We couldn’t get Nana to eat anything so we called 911. While they were dispatching an EMT, they asked if she knew her own name. Kel kept trying to ask, to no success.
The EMT determined that her blood sugar was fine. Now concerned about a stroke, they took her to the hospital. A couple of days later, they determined (definitively) that she DID have a stroke. Kel visited her at the hospital a number of times. She was still unable to speak coherently and couldn’t move her right arm.
The day before yesterday, Kel took her mom to a rest home/rehabilitation center.
I got back from my business trip to California yesterday late afternoon. Kel’s dad told me that Nana was doing much better - that she was able to lift her right arm, and could talk well enough to get across her thoughts, although she still struggled with words on occasion.
So I thought it would be good if the kids and I visited her on the way to school/work this morning (after all, I haven’t seen her since the day of her stroke, ten days previously). (Kel also stopped there on her way to work to handle some paperwork and visit. We ran into her as she was leaving.) She seemed to be in good spirits and said that she was going to work hard to get better.
Like most of us would, she struggled to use her non-dominant hand (her left) for tasks that she’d normally do with her partially paralyzed hand (her right).
She was very happy to see Dyson and Keira and bragged about them to the nurses.
She wasn’t able to say everything she tried to say, but did pretty well.
It’s too early to say how she’ll do with the rehab on her right side. She doesn’t seem to be getting as worn out as last week (per Kel’s observations).
One of her brothers and his wife (Bob & Annette) is going to visit her today, and couple of other brothers and their wives (Tom & Joan, Clair & Barbara) will visit next week. (The brothers are all heading to their oldest brother, John’s, birthday party on Sunday - he’ll be 90.)
I feel bad I haven’t gotten by to see her yet. Hopefully, I can do it in the next couple of days.
Comment by Donna — 23 March 07 @ 9:47 pm
I’m sorry to hear about your MIL’s stroke, but she looks pretty good in the photo.
My dad had a stroke right after we moved to Northern California, a pair of them, while he was still in the ICU after surgery …. surgery to prevent a stroke. It was still kind of experimental at the time but his doctor didn’t tell him that bit when he was setting it up. One of the strokes was massive and Dad’s left side was useless for a couple of months. At the ten day mark he still looked like he was dying.
Long story short… too late for that, but a year later you’d never know he had a stroke at all unless you watched his left hand for a while, and even then it was hard to spot. Therapy has come a long way since then, and hopefully Nana will recover.
I wish you and your MIL well,
Jeanne
Comment by Jeanne — 24 March 07 @ 3:56 am
We wish you all the best in keeping your spirits high and Kel’s mom to keep up the hard work in therapy :)
Comment by sherri — 24 March 07 @ 8:06 pm
Doug, thanks for keeping us informed. I know Sharman would like to come down…let us know how mom is doing and dad, too?
Comment by Ross — 25 March 07 @ 12:45 am