A month in a week... Part One

It happened late last Friday night. I was speaking with a friend of my husband's, patiently listening to the details of his divorce. It seemed like the perfect moment had come for me to give the phone to Gary. I slid the phone into his hand and continued typing on Facebook. There wasn't a word. I said, "Say hello, Gary. Steve is on the phone." Silence. "Come on Gary..." I thought in that second - maybe he's asleep. So I leaned towards him and nudged him, all the while hearing Gary... Gary... Gary... through the receiver.

It was then that I thought - well the joke is over. I looked at him. He was frozen. No movement. His eyes 1/2 open and fixed - one more open than the other. The sides of his lips shuffled side to side slowly and he started to drool. My mind wasn't able to make sense of this. I started to shout his name - trying to get his attention. Nothing. It was as if he was there with me but not there. I then hung up the phone telling Steve something was wrong with Gary and told my husband that I was going to call 911. He looked at me - intensely. Help me - I could see it in his eyes. Help me.

So then I called 911 for the first time in my life. I told the operator that my husband was having a stroke. I thought it was a stroke. I wasn't sure. Something was wrong with him. Please send help. Now. I need an ambulance.

It felt like only a minute had passed and apparently there was a lot of banging at my front door. My daughter had two friends for a sleepover. Kami came and told me she thought that someone was breaking in. I told her to open the door. She had absolutely no idea what was going on. Once they opened the door, the children went and locked themselves in Kami's bedroom. Three police officers, then 4 paramedics, then the head of our Fire Department - our wonderful neighbor. The outside of my home was lit up like a Christmas tree. All of them rushed into my bedroom and surrounded the bed. I stood there, still on the phone with 911 in a sports bra and underwear.

Gary snapped out of it and was looking around the room. It seemed like he was wondering what was going on. Real shock and awe. Later he would tell me that he knew something was going on but simply could not snap out of it. He passed all the paramedic tests with flying colors but I still had him transported to the hospital. I was sure he had a stroke. My friend Jill took me up to the hospital in my car while her husband took the children. It was so fast.

(Sidenote - My friend Evan from across the road told me to put some clothes on because the paramedics were adorable. I couldn't believe I was standing there in my underwear! How bloody embarrassing!)

They did a variety of tests and kept him overnight. The conclusion was that he had had a TIA - a Transcient Ischemic Attack - or a mini-stroke. At noon the discharged him and he came home.

We spent a comfortable night at home. Hopefully the worst was over.

Sunday began uneventfully. However, by four in the afternoon, Gary was unable to talk properly or read. I became "Yeshi". What I later learned was that this is called "Word Salad". It makes perfect sense to the speaker. He isn't hearing the garble. Just saying it. Needless to say, I found this quite alarming so after a quick phone call, we went back to the hospital. Was it another stroke? They didn't know at the hospital however a call from emergency to my GP scheduled an MRI and echos of his heart and carotid artery for Monday at 11:00 AM. He was released yet again. And my mind entered the revolving door of what ifs.