Fall and Rise

Last week my wife got a phone call early Monday morning. Her reaction was nothing short of panic. Who could blame her. Her father had a stroke. We live an hour away so we rushed to get her to the hospital while I stayed with the kids. The original prognosis was not good. The word Massive was never used, but a rather large stroke was indicated with statements such as "50-50" chance of ever walking again. It was diagnosed as something called a Left Neglect which basically means that the left side of his body becomes useless. I know next to nothing about strokes and the information came in slowly and sketchilly, but things were not looking good to say the least. Well it seems that the doctors jumped the gun a bit. It is now 10 days later. He has been transfered to a rehab unit and has successfully (with help) been able to get up and walk a few steps with a walker. His speech is slurred compared to before the stroke, but if you didn't know him from before you would not be able to tell. It has been quite a jump from the initial hours. It has also been quite a process. You'd like to think you can be prepared for such things, but the reality is always more of a challenge than you would expect. Aside from the physical issues, the mental stress involved with everyone is tremendous. Does he need to go into an assisted living facility? How will he manage? What will it cost? The questions just keep coming and daily life doesn't stop. Our children are only 2 and 3 and they don't understand why they can't see mommy for a couple days. And you can't just put them in the house and go sit at the hospital. They need to continue with their lives and you need to find a way to maintain normalcy for them and still take care of the needs of the person who has been hospitalized. It isn't easy. But my parents were here to help with the kids and my wife's family rallied and provided the necessary support to keep spirits high. My wife's father was the real hero though. He hasn't stopped telling jokes yet. Hopefully it continues because he has a long road ahead - being 83, he's succeptable to additional strokes as well as other complications. But so far so good. We've got our fingers crossed and we're looking for many more steps in the right direction.