I recently buried my Dad. Although he went quickly, he’s still gone. He suffered a massive stroke and died several days later. I was fortunate that I was there. However, the funny part is that the only reason I happened to be around is because I was visiting my Mom for Mother’s Day. Here’s what happened…

My parents live in San Antonio while I live in Houston, both cities in Texas about 200 miles apart. A couple of days before Mother’s Day, I called my Mom and said, “Instead of me sending you flowers, how about if I came over and spend Mother’s Day with you?” She said, “Sure!”

I drove down on Saturday and spent a great afternoon and evening with my folks. After a great meal, we all sat outside for a while enjoying the evening before going in to watch a basketball game on TV (my folks are Spurs fans). I went to bed shortly thereafter.

Close to midnight, I heard my Mom calling and saying that she needed help. My Mom is 79 and my Dad is 85 so I immediately thought one of them had fallen. I rushed down to see what was the matter.

My Mom was literally trying to hold down my Dad who was moving around the bed on his hands and knees in a random manner as if he was looking for something in the sheets. My Mom and I kept asking him what the matter was, if he was hurting anywhere, what was wrong. I finally got him seated at the edge of the bed, trying unsucessfully to get him to tell me what the problem was.

All of a sudden, he lies back on the bed and begins to snore — as if the whole thing was a bad dream and he was sound asleep. My Mom looked at me with a blank look on her face. What do we do? What would you do? Did he in fact have a bad dream or was this an indication of a more serious problem?

Worried because he was incoherent, we immediately called an ambulance. Because my Mom lives close to a Fire Station, one arrived within 10 minutes. My Dad was airlifted to a hospital (one of the best in San Antonio) and was receiving medical attention within 30 minutes. Still, it was too late.

While at the hospital, I happened to notice that it was “National Stroke Month.” How ironic, I thought. I picked up a flyer that listed the symptoms of a stroke. They matched my Dad’s symptoms to a tee.

According to the National Stroke Association, the danger signs of a stroke include:

• Sudden numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg - especially on one side of the body.
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding.
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination.
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause.

Get more information at http://www.stroke.org

Although my Dad’s stroke was massive and he did not recover, maybe knowing these danger signs will help save someone you love.

Hiram

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