Rushed Dad to the Hospital

What a day!

We had all gathered at La Vista in the evening to be measured for our gowns for Zhar and Rod's wedding in August. After dinner, as Lai and I were finally having our turn, Reese comes into the room and starts to tell us in a slow voice that Lolo Boy was----

And we were basically distracted by all the commotion outside.

Apparently, Dad had started seizing while being seated at the dinner table, enjoying the conversation of everyone else in the room. All of a sudden, his arms stiffened, his eyes rolled up into his head and he bit his tongue. Spit rolled down his mouth and he started shaking. Dic jumped up to rush to the kitchen to have the car brought to the front door while Zhar ran to the kitchen for Mike and Eldon, the nurses. Mom started telling Dad to try and relax, while the rest of Zhar's family sat there in shock, poor things.

The kids, who heard all the commotion while in the den, thought that it was picture taking time and rushed upstairs to witness the whole thing! Sigh! What a situation, eh?

Rod, Dic, the nurses and Chris (Zhar's brother in law) hurriedly carried Dad in his chair to the front door and loaded him into the van. Mom rushed to get his purse while maids were scurrying about rushing to get cellphones, the blood pressure machine and the blood sugar stuff ready. Dic and Rod plunked themselves into the van with the nurses and Mom and Oca stepped on the accelerator as Manuel and the other drivers hurriedly opened all the gates. Man!

As there was nothing else for us girls to do, we did proceed with the fitting, but in a more somber mood. We were done in about an hour, although the boys did keep us up to date with what was going on with dad. They told us not to go to the ER yet, as nothing was being done, and that we had guests in the house. There was nothing for us to do at the hospital anyway.

When we finally got to the hospital, we rush into the ER to find that Dad had been brought OUT of the CT scan because he kept moving. He had to eventually be sedated enough so that a scan could be performed on his brain to determine what caused the seizure. Luckily, Roby was there to help us with the doctors in the ER, and Tito Norman was on hand to readily read the CT scan results.

In short: there was NOTHING on the CT scan to explain what caused the seizure. Tito Norman had initially thought that it could have been a tumor or some growth in the brain that caused the seizure, or maybe a stroke. The scan showed nothing. According to Dic and Rod, Dad was incredibly STRONG physically throughout the whole stay at the ER when he had regained consciousness: he was trying to rip off his oxygen mask, he was attempting to sit up, he was attempting to roll on his side! Incredible!

I know it may be medically impossible, but I am hoping and praying that a stroke reversal of some sort may happen. That Dad WILL get stronger as a result of tonight's situation. That he'd be more limber, more agile, more.....normal. Hoping, and praying. Nothing wrong with that eh?

It is still a mystery as to WHY he had had a seizure...but Boydee mentioned that Dad had been a bit down the past few days, right after he had been xrayed after being suspected of having pneumonia. The pulmonologist apparently had told Dad that he MAY have either pneumonia or a growth or tuberculosis, based on his reading of his xray film. So Dad being Dad, immediately thought of the worst and assumed that he had TB!!!!

Sigh! And the STRESS of all that thinking ---OVER-thinking, if you ask me---probably triggered the damn seizure!!! I'm hoping it's this simplistic explanation rather than a cancerous growth in the brain, which is a waaaaaay better explanation for what happened tonight!

So to whoever is reading this, prayers from wherever you are in cyberspace for Dad will be much appreciated. He is in the acute stroke unit right now, and will be there for a few days until they are able to perform an MRI on him. He needs to be monitored closely and the ACSU is a better place for him than the regular ICU.

Ok, I need to go and get some shut eye. I have a wedding to go to in a few hours....if I can get up. Either that, or go to the hospital during the meager visiting hours allowed for ACSU patients.

TTFN!