Dad's Stroke

I know this is morbid to take this kind of a picture but this
experience means something to me and this helps me
remember it.

As I was headed out to lock the Church this evening, Alicia opened the garage door and with the phone to her ear motioned for me to stay. She informed me that Jen had left a message and Dad had a stroke earlier this afternoon. We called her immediately and found out that he suffered a stroke around 3 pm this afternoon. He was in the bathroom at the time behind a closed and locked door and he was not found until 6 pm so by that time, the stroke had caused severe damage.

I quickly locked the church and then drove down to emergency room in Provo. There I found Jen and Susan a bit shaken up. I hugged them both and then went to Dad's bedside and grabbed his hand. He was laying down with a furrowed brow, closed eyes, and lots of wires hooked up to his body. I said hello to him and returned the greeting and then asked, "How is Alicia doing in recovering from her surgery."

I was floored. He was in the emergency room, paralyzed on his left side, in pain from having about 30% of his total brain tissues been damaged from the stroke and he asked very first thing how Alicia was doing. I laughed as I held his good hand and said that she's doing fine and thanked him for asking.

He was later transferred from the emergency room to adult intensive care. I had the privelige of staying at his side as Susan and Jen went home to get some rest before coming back for another shift to watch over him tomorrow.

About this time last year Mom had medical needs and we organized a 24 hour watch over her. That was a dramatic and sad time but it was also a precious time that I got to spend with her. Dad now has similar great medical needs and the family is organizing a watch over him in just the same way. It's feeling like we're getting to be professional at this but I don't begrudge it. I don't usually get to spend a lot of time around Dad but tonight I'll be able to be by his side for half the night.