I had no clue how my life would change after the last post. I was so looking forward to my vacation to Missouri. I would see Duane, play with Alyssa and see my parents, aunt and uncle and my sister. I did get to do all that but not exactly the way I had planned.
On June 19th, my mother had a pretty normal day up until about supper time. She heard a clap of thunder and went around the house unplugging all the appliances that she normally unplugs when a storm comes up. When she returned to the kitchen, she experienced a severe pain in her breastbone area that left her breathless. My dad asked if he should call 911 but she asked him to eat his dinner while she rested on the couch. She walked to the couch but then couldn't get her left leg up on the furniture. He helped her. He ate his supper...quickly and went to see how she was feeling. Although the pain was gone, she was unable to move her left leg at all. At that point he called 911.
The paramedics thought Mom was having a stroke and got her to Boone County Hospital as quickly as possible. Once there, it was determined that she did not have a cerebral stroke but they could not find any explanation as to why she was unable to move her left leg. They ran multiple tests and finally on Monday, they were able to determine that she had a spinal stroke. It is a rare ocurrance, happening in only 12 out of every 100,000 strokes. It has little or no chance of recovering what was damaged due to the fact that the spinal cord does not have many blood vessels allowing for a natural repair of the body. Thus, it appears as if Mom will never again have use of her left leg.
Never say Never is a good motto. Mom is at Rusk Rehabilitation to work on regaining her functionality and independence to the best of her ability. We will see what can be accomplished in the next month or so. Hope does spring eternal.
The most amazing thing has been all of the emotions I have gone through as I have watched my mother receive and realize the news. I have become fiercely protective of her and angry on her behalf. I have comforted her while she has cried and have tried to help both of my parents in whatever way I can. Unfortunately, though, my way is not the way of my other siblings. I have crossed swords with Charla and have been hurt that Craig has not responded to my calls to him. I have cried more than once for her and suspect I will cry more for her.
This journey is not over. The battle has not been fought and we are still just trying to figure out where the enemy has hidden himself. There will be many more blogs on this I am sure.
As for the rest of the vacation with Alyssa and Duane: it was absolutely wonderful. I am too tired to write about that tonight, but I will write. For Duane, Shannon, Chris, Michael, Alyssa and Cat became MY rocks. I realize how blest I am to have each and every one of them in my life at this very moment. I'll try to write about them tomorrow. Good night.
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