16 July 2015, in the evening. Grandma (Aaron's grandma) was at home, and suddenly got very dizzy. So much so that she couldn't stand, or walk, and started throwing up. We (all the family) were concerned, but assumed it was an inner ear issue (Aaron thought it might be the flu).
I went to work Friday morning, and got a call from Sophie (Aaron's cousin) that the ambulance had come and taken Grandma to Good Sam. Janet (my MiL) was watching Bertie (as she does whenever I go to work), but left him with my FiL. Not knowing what was going on, or if things were dire, I left work and went to the ER. Aaron met me there, and Sophie met us as well, with Bertie in tow. Bertie was tired, so after a bit, I took him home. Aaron stayed all day, except to come home and pick up lunch. Through a CT scan and MRI, they were able to see that she'd had a stroke (a clot). It was small and in the back, center of her head. (None of us knew that severe and sudden dizziness was a sign of a stroke. It's not on mentioned in FAST). She was admitted and treatment began. She was still funny though. She said "See? And you thought it was all in my head. And you were right!" She was really thirsty but was NPO until she could be evaluated for swallowing (which anyone could tell wasn't an issue). But day 3 she was doing much better. She was eating like normal, walking around, and back to her old self.
On Wednesday she was moved to the Mission Oaks Good Sam campus for rehab. This is a better set up than the hospital. Much quieter, no shared rooms, better sleep, and no age restrictions on visitors. (So Bertram and the other great-grand kids can visit. The hospital is 13+ only). She does three therapy sessions a day OT, PT, and sometimes ST. She's doing really well. If I didn't know she'd had a stroke, I'd never have guessed. Which is amazing and a huge blessing. We need our 91 year old matriarch. She's slated to come home on Tuesday.
Angioplasty.
22 July 2015, early in the morning. My dad went into Good Sam to have his 2nd angioplasty procedure. After his heart attack, he had one. At that time they were only able to clear one artery and left the "widow maker" blocked. (I should mention that my dad is the type that should not have a heart attack. He's always treated his body well, maintained a healthy weight, and before Crohns was an issue; he was, in general, in good health). A few weeks back, his cardiologist, Dr Kao, suggested they try a second angioplasty to see if the blockage could be removed. The previous procedure used a vein in the wrist, this one would be done in the groin (femoral artery). I was nervous, because I know the femoral artery is more risky, and it is messing with the heart. I took the day off work, and picked him up at 5.45am. They took him back fairly soon, and told me it would be a couple hours. I sat in the waiting room for a while, and then went to a walk. I checked in after a couple hours, they said it was going fine, but they'd started a little late. I waited, worked on my crossword puzzles. A little after 3 hours, I checked again. They said everything was fine, it was just taking longer than usual. I was starting to get very anxious at that point. I think around 3.5 hours the nurse came and said he was in recovery, everything went well, and Dr Kao would be out to talk to me soon. He told me everything went well. They tried to go after the clot the back way, but were unable, and had to back out, and go the front way. Because of this, they had to open the femoral artery in the left and right legs. There were actually two clots (blocked 99%), but he was able to clear both, and put in 2 stents in one blockage, and one in the other. He checked the original stent, which was still doing its job. His heart should be good to go for a while. He was feeling ok after the procedure, except he couldn't pee. So he ended up needing to be catheterized. He stayed in the hospital for 24 hours after the procedure and then I drove him home. He has a follow up with Dr Kao later this week.
Party.
26 July 2015, today. Sophie threw Janet a tea party for her 70th birthday. I was kind of surprised she went ahead with the party (due to grandma's stroke), but the show must go on. I went over yesterday to help with set up a little, mainly I watched Sophie's two little ones (and Bertie) while she and her hubby picked up tables. I made cucumber tea sandwiches, and sugar cookies.
Everything was beautiful. The food was good, people had fun. Well, except Bertie. He was really tired, and refused to nap in someone else's crib. We left before a lot of the guests, though not appreciably early. Baby fell asleep after 4 minutes in the car.
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