Dad

Last weekend we traveled to my sister's house to visit my nephew and celebrate his third birthday. We planned to stay Friday night and return Saturday evening while the girls were sleeping. 

The prior Monday my dad started experiencing severe vertigo. He was unable to drive himself, walk very far without leaning on the walls or others for support, or even stay upright for long. He was spending most of his days in bed sleeping. He went to an urgent care facility and was given an antibiotic and something for the vertigo. They assumed it was a sinus or ear infection. When he wasn't improving he called a few days later. They told him they wanted him to finish his antibiotic before being seen again. 

By Benny's party on Saturday dad still wasn't feeling any better. He came to the party but spent most of the time sitting or laying on the couch in the corner. He was super low energy and just looked awful. He said he was so nauseous from the vertigo that he couldn't eat much. With everyone's urging, his girlfriend took him to the ER after that party. 

As we were sitting on the couch spending the last few minutes with my sister, car packed full of stuff, we got a call saying they found out that my dad had had a stroke. It was then that we knew we were staying another night. 

The following morning we went to visit dad at the hospital. He seemed to be doing better and said the vertigo had improved. With lots of further testing in the following days they were able to find a small blockage in his cerebellum (the part of your brain responsible for balance and coordination). He was given something to break up the clot and was able to go home Tuesday night.  

Dad has a lot of follow up appointments including an ENT because they found a small mass on his thyroid. We're all hoping this serves as a wakeup call and that he starts to make choices to get healthier. He seems to be in denial now, but I just hope he realizes how lucky he was. A blood clot can be extremely devastating or even fatal. The fact that he had one and is now seemly fine really is lucky. 

I'm just so glad that my dad is okay.