I wish that was the start of a great joke, but it’s the actual truth. A blood clot struck his brain and caused paralysis of his left side.
When the alarm went off last Thursday morning, (one week ago) he couldn’t get out of bed because his left arm and leg were numb. Daughter and I got him into my car and called 911 and told them we were bringing him in to St. Mary’s Hospital (the closest one). They tried to get us to accept an ambulance, but Husband didn’t want to do that so we started for Blue Springs. The emergency operator called back and said there was no point in going to St. Mary’s because they didn’t have a neurologist on staff and asked us to let an ambulance take him to Centerpoint Hospital in Independence, Missouri. She kept insisting that we let an ambulance meet us along the way and transfer him, but I knew that would take longer than me driving him. I told them we were already on our way and that I would drive him to Centerpoint. We got him there and took him in to the ER. They gave him some medicine to lower his blood pressure because it was 222 over 180. The ER tech looked like she was pretty scared when she saw those numbers. They gave him several doses of blood pressure lowering medicines and kept him there until they could get a room upstairs. He was assigned Room 633. He was well enough that he made a joke about it not being room 666. A staff doctor came in and checked him, and said it looked like a full-blown stroke instead of a TIA, and that they would need to run a bunch of tests.
They ran a ton of tests, CT scans, MRI’s, heart echo, cardiograms, sonograms and more that I can’t remember. The doctors confirmed that he had a full blown stroke, located in the parietal area of the brain. We had hoped that it was a TIA, a transient ischemic attack, (a mini stroke) but with those you regain motion in the affected area pretty quickly, and his damage is still there. His left leg has some mobility (he can lift his leg about three inches off the bed, but when he tries to stand on it, it buckles under him). His left arm just hangs (or lays on the bed). The doctors still think that with therapy he will regain a good deal of use, but they aren’t making any promises. When the therapist worked with him yesterday, they were able to get him to focus on the leg and straighten it enough to “lock” his knee into place. This allowed him (with assistance of two therapists) to take one step towards the chair to sit in. With the arm, they had him use his right arm to lift the left one and exercise it. When they had him hold it up at chest level, and pull his wrist toward his chest he was able to get a little jerk motion happen from the muscles, which was encouraging that some of the neural pathways are still intact and can be rebuilt.
He was transferred to the hospital that is closer to us now, because they have a floor that is a dedicated in-house physical rehabilitation unit. (I hate saying my husband is going to rehab - LOL)
Already seeing some progress though, as he has regained a little movement in his arm, and can stand up with a walker. They put him in a wheelchair and he is able to drag himself forward with tiny steps. (Can’t use the wheels because the left arm is paralyzed and if he only used his right hand he’d just go in circles. I’m not being cruel, that was HIS joke - LOL)
If you know any good clean jokes, please share them, as Husband is getting daily visits from the chaplain and they are exchanging jokes. Plus I could use a good laugh.
Thank you for your love and support.
Categories: Family
Posted by Marti @ 
Sending prayers your way!
Will email jokes!
June 5th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I’ll send you some jokes, if I can find any clean ones. I’m glad to hear that your husband is improving. My father-in-law’s mother suffered a stroke when she was somewhere in her 50s and made a complete recovery. I’ll pray that your husband does the same thing. {big hugs}
June 6th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Oh Marti,
I am praying for you both.
There’s a ton of jokes on the Reader’s Digest website: http://www.rd.com/clean-jokes-and-laughs
Enjoy!
June 6th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Hi Marti, very sorry to hear about your hubby’s stroke, it sounds like his attitude is good, that’s very important and also the signs are good for his recovery.
Sorry to report that I don’t know any “Clean” jokes, that’s why I post the ones I do.
I’ll keep you both in my thoughts and hope there is lots of good news in future posts.
June 7th, 2008 at 3:48 am
So sorry to hear this Marti but I’m glad that he is showing some positive response to treatment. I’d send you some clean jokes, but I don’t know any;)
I think it is great for your family that you still have a sense of humor (in rehab…that still cracks me up) during this time.
Take care and we’ll be thinking about you all.
June 7th, 2008 at 7:45 am
I am so sorry to hear about this. A prayer for steady and complete recovery for him.
Here is a joke he can share with his doctor:
The famous female Olympic skier Picabo Street (Peek-A-Boo)
is not just an athlete, she is a nurse. She currently works
at the Intensive Care Unit of a large metropolitan
hospital.
She is not permitted to answer the telephone, however, as it
caused simply too much confusion when she would answer the
phone and say, “Picabo,ICU.
June 7th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Aw, this is no good. I’m sorry for you and for hubby. Here’s a short one for him, which might amuse:
“Worst Analogies From High School Essays”
“From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and ‘Jeopardy’ comes on at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30.”
June 7th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Hi Marti,
After open comments night closed up I got in and saw that your husband had a stroke. Therapy, even though many physical therapists seem to have had past lives as members of the Inquisition torture squads.
, is much more effective now than it used to be, and I’m glad he’s responding to it. Keep working at it. You’re both in my prayers.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Wow - I’m so sorry about all this, but it sounds like he’s going to make some good progress.
My prayers are with you.
June 11th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Oh, Marti, I am so very sorry to read this., You have had so many things to deal with lately. I hope he makes good progress. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
June 12th, 2008 at 8:34 am
Dispatcher: 9-1-1. What is the nature of your emergency?
Caller: My wife is pregnant and her contractions are onlhy two minutes apart.
Dispatcher: Is this her first child?
Caller: No! This is her husband!
Good luck to you and the hubby, kid,.
June 20th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
I’m afraid that my cleanest jokes are old ones that you already know and love…
I’m praying for you guys and thinking of you often.
Hugs, hugs hugs,
Amy
June 26th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Marti, I’m so sorry to hear about the hubby’s stroke — it’s one of my personal nightmares that my wife or I will have one and the other won’t have the guts to do what’s necessary. I apologize for the month’s delay — been a little busy, myself. Sadly, as an old reprobate, I wouldn’t know a clean joke if it bit me on the ass.
If there’s anything you or the old war horse needs (aside from clean humor) do let me know.
July 6th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Okay, I just stumbled across this clean joke on another’s blog. Enjoy!
I was walking past the mental hospital the other day, and all the patients were shouting:
“13….13….13…”
The fence was too high to see over, but I saw a little gap in the planks, so I looked through to see what was going on…..
Some jerk poked me in the eye with a stick!
Then they all started shouting:
“14….14….14…”
July 6th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Wow, Marti, I’m sorry I’m just now hearing about this. I’ve been busy, but not like you have. I’ll keep those prayers coming!
August 5th, 2008 at 11:53 am