About two weeks ago, I noticed that a new fish of Dad's looked sick. It was not moving and it looked like it might be stuck by the filter. I asked Dad to come up and check him out. As soon as he came upstairs, the fish decided he was fine and swam off. Dad started to talk to me about fish but in the middle of the sentence his words slowed down and he began to slur them. I asked a few times if he was OK without a response. I knew something was wrong. Then he slowly said the next word and sped up to normal conversation as if nothing had happened. I wondered if I'd just seen a stroke. I was really worried but I didn't think Dad would believe me if I told him he needed to go to the hospital. He obviously didn't remember anything strange happening. Mom was on her way home from work and I called Nathan who said I might be right about a mini stroke. When mom got home I told her about the episode. She said that a week before Dad had fallen at night and been strangely disoriented, but she'd brushed it off because it was night, and he'd been really sick with the flu the night before. I told her I didn't think Dad would believe me, but I was worried because Dad was now talking about driving off to go rock hunting. Mom called his doctor who told her that he needed to be taken to the ER immediately. That night we found out that the major artery in Dad's brain is completely blocked. The doctor told him, he didn't even know how he was still conscious. Dad had lots of tests done at the hospital. They found that other arteries are compensating for the blockage, but three others have some partial blocks. He is now on a very low cholesterol diet as well as medication, and exercise regimen to keep things flowing. It is too dangerous to try to remove the blockage.
Dad hasn't felt sick at all through all of this. He has no recollection of the episode. It is scary to think that if he'd stayed downstairs in front of the TV, we'd never have known about his serious condition. Being here right now was not our plan--but the Lord sees the bigger picture. I am so grateful that I could be here so that Dad could get help before it was too late. I am a little nervous right now. I get after Dad if he mumbles at all. He says I'm now the enunciation police. He also says he doesn't want to discuss fish with me anymore. It's amazing how all of the little things worked together so that I could be present for that little, very telling, conversation. The Lord works in mysterious ways. Hopefully, we've done what we need to do so now we're ready to move.
