Alvah had a Stroke – Monday December 1st

Last Monday night, I received a call from mom at around 11pm. You can imagine that my heart jumped a beat, since my folks tend to not be up much past 8, maybe 9 or 10 when mom stays up watching a jazz game. Mom had found dad on his knees on the floor. Nothing really out of the ordinary there, in the past he has always tried to stoop down when he saw something on the floor or ground to pick it up. It always amazed me to watch him do this, since he has fallen in the past and it often seemed to me that trying to pick up something on the ground wouldn’t be worth the risk of falling. Sometimes I think that dad was trying to prove to himself that he could in fact stoop down to pick up the item.

Mom could not help him get to his feet because he was too weak. She called Mike over, and in the course of helping him up and looking him over, they decided that maybe they should take dad to the hospital. Over the course of a 3 day hospital stay, it was determined that dad had in fact had a stroke. The MRI showed some fairly major damage to the front right part of his brain, as well as some small spots on the back of the brain. Dr. Berg told us that this area affects the personality.

After spending a few days in the hospital, it was clear that he was not going to quickly recover, if at all, and that his situation required much more attention than what could be provided to him at home. We found ourselves needing to make some plans for where he would stay and so Friday he was transported to Murry to a care center.

I’d just like to thank those family and friends who came by the hospital while we were up there over those 3 days. Your love and support were deeply appreciated.

Ryan