The Stovebolt Site Forums The Side Lot Southern Bolters Out of pocket for a few -- wife in hospital

COPIED FROM FRIDAY GREASY SPOON:
If I happen to be a little scarce on the forum or slow to answer PM's for a few days, please bear with me. After several hours of testing today, my wife was admitted to our local hospital this evening after experiencing several small strokes over the past couple of days. Her ability to grip things with her right hand is just about nonexistent, and walking and talking is an effort for her. She's also a little slow to understand what's being said to her. Her neurologist has suggested some more specific tests for tomorrow, and a consult to decide on a course of treatment that will hopefully produce a full recovery. A little knee mail would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Jerry

SATURDAY:
Two years ago, when I was an inmate of the same hospital while they squeezed every dollar they could out of Medicare and my secondary insurance carrier while warehousing me for "Covid 19" and waiting for me to die, I swore I'd never set foot in the place again if I was coherent enough to refuse, but it seems the quality of care has improved a little since then. Our family practitioner who has been treating us for 30-something years is no longer allowed to see patients there- - - -they have "hospitalist" doctors, most of whom consider English to be a third language. We were very fortunate to deal with three real Americans this time around, including a neurologist who had treated my wife previously. He's a former USAF flight surgeon, which speaks volumes about his qualifications. He believes a heart condition (atrial fibrillation) produced the blood clots, and they made their way to her brain and produced several small strokes. New meds have been prescribed (Plavix) to prevent, or at least minimize the risk of further clotting.

She's home now- - - -so my daughter and I are rearranging the furniture for better wheelchair mobility to bedrooms and bathroom, etc. That might also involve some carpentry work to widen doorways, etc. There's a Hover-Round power chair we inherited from my parents' estate, but it's likely to need some serious rehab to put it in good working order, since it hasn't been in use for the past 4 years or so. The joystick would need to be swapped over for left hand use, and she's definitely NOT a lefty! Fun and games on the home front!

Many thanks to everyone for all the support and encouragement!
Jerry

Jerry,

Sorry to hear about this. A series of strokes, a-fib, unable to process info, weak hand ... sounds much like my ordeal. I already was in w/c so the docs couldn't figure if I lost anything below my injury level. The first stroke I was mostly unable to process info. That was very strange. When at hospital, about to go in for scan, I had another and THEN my whole arm went dead. That was a panic. But it only lasted about three seconds. (Thank you Lord!) Since I was on the gurney, they rolled me in and found the spot on my brain. Same issue as you with stinky hospital. We found out very little and practically were ready to call the undertaker. Blah.

Over time, some stuff came back. It is truly amazing how the brain works. I could only do numbers one at a time. And I was needing to finish our income tax. It took me about ten times to total the one page. With a calculator. It was hard to do a phone #. Couldn't remember if I punched the number each time. Start over. Start over. Wrote down the # in a line and used my finger. But then, I wasn't sure if I did the number that was on my finger, or that was the next one. Yayaya

It was actually interesting to see how the brain processes info and it gave me some insight as to how difficult it actually is for little people to learn how to talk and read.

Will keep you all in our prayers and please keep us posted.

John and Peggy

Thanks for the insights, Peggy! Like when I see some of the "I think this will work" comments here on the forum, the voice of 60+ years of my experiences at making a living fixing these old rigs wants to scream "Oh No- - - - -You Can't Do That!" Sometimes I'm more diplomatic about saying so than others!

With your permission, I'd love to print your comments out, and let Mary read what you've had to say. A "Been there- - -done that" perspective is great, whether it's about fixing trucks, or stroke recovery. Thanks!
Jerry

Sure you may. I will be happy to help via PM if that will help. John should be part of this, too. Since he very much was a BIG part.