I was grossly engaged with what had become my routine Saturday activities of hanging around in the office to attend to student-related issues when a call came in from my sister who stays in the same city as me.
"Hello", she muffled.
Her voice sounded quite unusual. Immediately I knew something wasn't right, but summoned all the courage in me to be calm and attend to the conversation.
"Hello, sister," I replied.
"Where are you? Please come to Daddy right away. I just received a call that he's not been able to talk. I'm also on my way as I'm talking to you."
I took a big exasperated sigh. Is my greatest fear in life about to become a reality? I've always dreaded the day my old man will take his last breath and when I will have to bury him with my own hands. We may not be that close, I can't even say categorically if what I have for him is love, but I see myself in him. While I have tried my best to be dutiful to him...okay, lemme stop before I digress too much.
By https://www.scientificanimations.com/ - http://www.scientificanimations.com/wiki-images/, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
"I will be on my way immediately," I replied and hung up the phone.
It took me a bit of time before getting to his house due to a flat tire I had with my car. I thought of the worst while driving. On getting home, I wasn't entirely taken aback by his physical condition, perhaps because I was mentally prepared.
Slurred speech, partially paralyzed boy.
I requested for a blood pressure measuring machine to be brought and checked is BP, it read 154/93. That's really not bad for his age, I thought out loud. He is above 75 by the day. His speech improved a bit upon my arrival. I asked if he had eaten and he said no. I requested that food be brought for him. I tried feeding him knowing that he could not move some parts of his body but he declined. Albeit unsteadily, he fed himself a meal of rice and beans.
I requested a cleaner pair of clothes be brought and helped him change. It took a bit of time but I eventually got it done with. I sat down to ask him some key questions relating to his relationships with people; who are his debtors, his creditors, his bank details, etc. I wasn't wishing for his death but all that information needed to be let out while he could still talk. We don't know what may happen and it is better to be safe than sorry.
With the help of my younger brother who lives with him, putting each of his hands across our shoulders to support him on both sides, we lifted him to the car and headed straight to the hospital. He was a bit incoherent throughout the journey but hearing him talk gave me hope. We drove straight to the accident and emergency unit of the teaching hospital in the city.
Leaving him, my sister, and my younger brother in the car, I parked the car in front of the A and E unit and headed straight to the front desk to inform them of a new patient. Luckily, I saw someone I knew very well, a nurse, and explained the situation to him. He immediately called a doctor who upon asking some fundamental questions, requested that we go for a CT scan of the head. He handed the scan request to me and we drove straight to the radiology unit.
After some to and fro and having to work without a wheelchair, we eventually got the scan done in about 2 to 3 hours. We headed back to the A and E units with the result. I handed over the film to the doctor who examined it, asked further questions, and then announced that he was having an ischemic stroke.
A bed was quickly prepared and he was admitted.
- What is ischemic stroke?- What are its possible causes?-Can it be reversed?- What happened after my dad was admitted?
These and more I will be answering in my next post. Please stay tuned.
Thank you all for reading.
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