Chris and Anna, taken on the Ocean City beach, June 26, 2016--look at how wonderful and sweet she is...oh, and how good Chris looks, also!
So, this has been a tough month around here, but things are getting better, slowly. One month ago, on May 28th, my husband, Chris, had a stroke. I really can't believe I am typing those words, even after a month. Stroke.
In short, Chris had a stroke on Saturday night of Memorial Day weekend. He had taken everyone but Anna down the shore, and after a very full day of activity, etc, he kind of blanked out on the couch while he was talking to Jack. Jack apparently kind of knocked him to see why he had suddenly just stopped talking, and Chris began speaking gibberish, and just stared straight ahead. My boys chalked it up to him being tired. He apparently was unable to focus for about two minutes, then just got up, and went to bed. On Sunday, he woke up, and was very active--they all went bike riding, to the beach, walked to get lunch on the boardwalk, etc. The boys claim there was no sign that there was anything wrong with him all day.
As soon as I got down to the beach with Anna on Sunday afternoon, however, it became apparent to me that there was something wrong with him. Chris took off that week because we had an incredibly busy week (Anna's graduation on Saturday, Metropolitan ballet on Sunday with practices this week, and Jack needed to be brought up to NYC on Sunday to start his job) and so we were talking about all that needed to be done. We were talking about the schedule, and I realized that Chris couldn't remember that the thing for Lily is called ballet. I noticed he couldn't remember where he was supposed to go to get Jack's suits (Jos. Banks.) I knew there was a problem. When I asked him questions to see what was going on, he couldn't remember where he went to college, and he really couldn't remember our children's birthdays,We all immediately got off the beach, got into the car, and drove right back up to Jenkintown. I took him right up to Abington Hospital. Late that night, the doctor came in and told me that he had had a stroke. I knew it.After a month, I really do think he is going to be okay. He has no physical impairments, which after a month, I realize is really a huge blessing for a stroke patient. If you saw him, you would never know. However, for now, he does have some issues for which he is being treated.So, that is about it here. Really, it could be so much worse, and I am thankful that this is all it is. I am very grateful that it seems like that we caught this stroke before he had a far worse event (i.e. a larger stroke that could have physical consequences.) The doctor said that this type of stroke is very rare in someone of Chris' age.Over the last four weeks, my almost daily job has to be get Chris help, and I finally feel like Chris is slowly getting the medical care/therapy he needs. Every day for the last 3 1/2 weeks was spent on the phone trying to get appointments, getting referrals, talking to people about getting him care. I know it sounds like it couldn't possibly have been that time-consuming, but it was. It was the last thing on my mind at night, and the first thing I thought about in the morning.
Nonetheless, life does go on, and it (life) is itself very time consuming and busy around here, even without a stroke. Anna graduated from high school (kind of), I took Jack up to NYC to begin his job, Lily had her ballet recital, then end of year stuff, Timmy had his award ceremonies, and other end of year things, a big competition for TADA (like a junior Olympics), and Matthew had his share of end of year field days/class trips kind of things at his school. Going to these things for them, and covering the stuff for Chris and making sure he was taken care of properly, was just unbelievably difficult for the last couple of weeks. They are all finished school as of last Tuesday---it is actually much quieter.
I really don't mean to complain about this--I really do think we are unbelievably lucky it isn't worse, and that Chris has no physical impairments. But it has been hard to get him here. I am very hopeful he will improve---Anna and I were actually laughing today about how awful everything is right now, so it must be getting better--at least now we can laugh about it!
I really don't mean to complain about this--I really do think we are unbelievably lucky it isn't worse, and that Chris has no physical impairments. But it has been hard to get him here. I am very hopeful he will improve---Anna and I were actually laughing today about how awful everything is right now, so it must be getting better--at least now we can laugh about it!
