God gave Mama a miracle! I truly believe it. I always go play cards with Mama on Tuesdays. I had done that, but Noni was in Texas visiting Pawpaw and I knew Mama was missing her so I was thinking I should get over there again sometime that week. Wednesday and Thursday Boo had a basketball tournament. I thought about going over Wednesday but the timing of the games didn't work out.
Thursday Boo had a game at noon and if she lost there would be one at 1:15 and if she won there would be one at 4. They had been doing really well and won the day before so I figured they would win and we would have to stay in town until 4 for the second game. However they ended up losing so they played at 1:15 and they lost that one so they were out. It was 2:30 and since I had been planning to stay in town until 4 anyway (God). I told Boo and Lou (the others were at home) that we would run over to Mama's to play a game. I gave Boo the option of going home with a friend and getting dropped off but she decided to come with us (God).
We ran a couple of errands and got to Mama's at about 3:15. We started playing cards and at 4:05 Mama's hand cramped up. She reached out but she couldn't flip her next card over. She gets cramps every now and then so I didn't think too much of it. She kind of worked her hand around until it started working again and we kept playing. We were almost finished with our game, and just as we played out the last set her hand started bothering her again and her words became a little garbled. I texted Papa that something was wrong and sat with her. She was slumped over the table a bit and her words were not coming out well. The left side of her face started drooping and it was like she was talking out of only that side of her mouth. I could barely hear her and only if I put my ear right next to her mouth. She said, "I don't feel right, something is wrong."
I didn't want to yell for Boo in the other room or leave her so I just sat there with her until Papa came. He did a couple tests on her, we used her blood pressure machine, and I sent T a text at work to let him know what was going on. I told him it looked like a stroke and he just happened (God) to be standing next to a woman who had just quit working at the hospital that Mama normally goes to. She told him they weren't equipped to take stroke patients and would just send her to the other hospital. Papa ran for the car and I got her shoes and coat. Boo finally came into the room and I said in one big breath wethinkmamaishavingastroke. weneedtotakehertothehospital. canyoustaywithLouandputonamovieforher? Daddywillcomepickyouup. Boo found Mama's purse and did a great job handling the outpouring of information.
Thankfully Mama was able to walk with her walker and we got her in the car. Papa had got a hold of Noni and they were all praying. In the car on the way to the hospital she had another episode where her arms were flailing around and she said again, "Something is wrong." T called ahead to the hospital and let them know that we were coming. Papa got us to the hospital in record time and he got her out of the car and into a wheelchair while I ran in to the front desk and gave them her information. I felt bad for all the people waiting who we bypassed, but so thankful that within minutes they had her in a room and getting into a bed.
At that point she seemed very tired but her speech and the left side drooping were already improving. They ran her through test after test, and a while later a neurologist came and told us he didn't think she'd had a stroke. He said it could have been a TIA, but he was pretty convinced it wasn't a stroke. They did a CT scan and didn't see a whole lot, but went ahead and did a MRI to be safe. The MRI confirmed that she did indeed have a stroke...a pretty serious one in fact, but because of her lack of symptoms the first neurologist didn't even believe she'd had one.
We'd been there a couple of hours when they felt confident enough to move her to a secondary room. At that point she was almost totally back to normal! She was shaky and tired, but otherwise her speech was completely fine, the facial drooping was gone, and she was doing so well! T came to pick me up and I told her I could stay longer but she said, "I'm fine dear, you go on home and get those babies to bed." Papa stayed with her.
They later admitted her and she ended up staying two nights, and getting lots more tests. The second neurologist was so nice and wanted to get to the bottom of why she had the stroke and prevent a second one. Apparently you are at high risk for another stroke for 2-3 weeks after a major one. Another God thing is that the neurologist in charge of her care was looking in her file and saying that it can be difficult to coordinate care with the primary physician, but he was surprised to see that her primary care doctor was his wife! She works at a different hospital and that was the first time that had ever happened for them!
Her doctors were all amazed at how well she was doing and the only explanation is that God healed her. With that type of stroke she should be relearning how to talk and walk and who knows what else, but she is completely fine! Praise God! He's not finished with her yet, and selfishly I am so thankful. She is such a huge blessing to me, our family, our church, and to countless others that she ministers to. We are so so grateful that we get to keep her a little longer.
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