Coping With Stroke

hi my name is angel and jan.16,2010 will forever be etched in my mind. that day i recieved a phone call from my mom telling me that my dad had passed out and they had called 911. when i got to the hospital and was finally able to see my dad he was having trouble breathing his blood pressure was sky high and his blood sugar was in the 500s.

the doctors told us that they think that dad had a stroke and after a cat scan it was confirmed dad had had a hemorrhagic stroke they told us that they were going to have to transport dad to kettering hospital because they were better equipped to handle dad and then they had to told us they were going to have to intubate dad and when i saw them getting dad ready i lost it
this was the first time that this had ever happened to dad and it was hard to see. i guess no matter how old a girl gets she still thinks that her daddy invincible. so that night they transferred dad to nicu at kettering and we all went home for the night but none of us slept it was just too hard to sleep because we all were worried about dad. the next day we all got there and when we saw dad it was hard there was my poor dad laying there looking so ill. they had to put dad on a respirator and he had all kinds of ivs everywhere. and he looks so pale.at that moment i wished i could of traded places with him. he 55 and im 32 im younger and stronger. so my mom me and my sister all pulled up chairs and we sat around dads bed holding his hands and praying to god. the hospital had called mom and said that dad had swelling in his brain and they needed to put a drain to drain the fluid and they told mom that dad had a clot right on the brainstem which is the worst place to have one. they then told all of us that dad was very critcal and he might die.

i remember thinking that i just wanted to sream and slap the doctor for saying that.(but let tell you that everyone that cared for dad there at kettering were wonderful they took great care of dad). it was just so hard to hear someone say that about my dad.
so as the days went on we all came and sat with dad everyday he wouldn’t open his eyes or respond to us. Then the time comes when my poor mom had to make the decision to have a traech and g-tube put in. it was a very hard decision that she had to make but she did it and we all support her. well after they did all that dad finally opened his eyes and i felt like i had just won the lottery. and as the week went on we were able to get dad to answer yes or no questions with blinking his eyes.thats when we found out that dad could see and hear us. we all felt truely blessed.

but all the sudden about 7 days later dad started spiking a temp and they couldn’t get it under control and this went went on for weeks and finally we found out that dad was having neuro fevers. and it seemed like the longer dad had the fevers he lost what little improvements that he had made. we were very heartbroken.

then they finally get dads temp under control but by this time its 25 days post stroke and we had to have dad moved to lifecare at sycamore. when dad got there he got sick and asperated some of it and he got very sick for about 4 days. they had to put this machine on dad the regulated his temp because he had spiked another fever. but dad isnt responding to us and its so hard i want my dad to come back but the docters say that we just need to hurry and wait that its just a waiting game we have to wait for the clot to dissolve. i sit at dads bedside holding his hand and watching my poor mom shes just heartbroken right now. she misses him so much and just wants him to wake up. she is by his bedside everyday from sun up till sun down. i see it in her eyes that shes getting tired but she doesnt let it get to her when i asked her to just take a day and sleep in she told me that she cant because her place is there with dad she married him in sickness and in health and right now she has to be dads voice since he cant speak for himself.

i hope that im as strong as she is one day. i love her so much. she is very steadfast in her prayers for dad as we all are. i know that my dad will get better hes a fighter and mom thinks dad will get better but it does do good to hear stories of people who have either had this type of stroke or has a loved one who did. mom worries herself to death and hearing stories about other people seems to help easy her fears so please any advice for my mom and me would be greatly appreciated.