My Dramatic Week Part IV

Recap: Mom had a-fib heart attack, was found unresponsive 3 days later, taken by ambulance.

After about 3 or 4 times of briefly waking and asking about Milo, the weirdness began. My mom would open her eyes, but she wouldn't be able to talk. She would try to form her mouth into a word, but it was as though it would get stuck. And she couldn't formulate the word. No sounds came out. She was just making strange faces. Then she began speaking in gibberish. Just noises, a jumble of consonants and vowels. Sometimes she would lift one hand and point. At times she would have her eyes open while speaking this gibberish, other times they remained closed. Open or not, she was there. Her eyes were glazed, and she wouldn't focus on one thing in particular.

Some moments, she would sit up, open her eyes, and stare around the room with a horrified expression on her face. She would be asked simple questions. "Do you know who I am?" I or my sisters would ask. She would slowly nod her head. Sometimes she would get the first letter of our name out. She would repeatedly fall back into an unconscious state. At one point she began speaking in Spanish. A language she has been fluent in since living in South America with her missionary parents throughout high school, but not something she would speak on a regular basis. Luckily my oldest sister can understand Spanish. She would often ask to go to the bathroom, which didn't make sense as she had a catheter in. {She didn't move, flinch, anything when the catheter was placed.}

More than anything she would say her head hurt. Very, very badly. Sometimes she would grip her head in pain.

Finally they were able to send her to a CT scan. She returned, still out of it. And strangely she returned laying on her belly. When the doctors tried to flip her she actually was able to assist them and sat up for a little while. It was then she started coming around more and more.

We had pastors stop by, and pray with us. As well as friends. The support was amazing. And much needed. There was something wrong with our mom, and we didn't know what. We were scared. At one point during her gibberish talking and spanish, she slowly slurred out I.....Love.....you. One word at a time. Spaced far apart. But so very clear. We were all crying at that point.

I couldn't help but wonder if those were the last legible words I would hear my mother speak.

Amazingly the CT scan came back as normal. We were baffled. We thought for sure it was a stroke! Her symptoms led to stroke, as well as the fact that 3 days prior she was in a-fib for 9 hours. In a-fib the heart fails to beat properly. It only takes a few seconds of not beating for blood to pool and form a clot. We just knew for sure that was what it was. Yet the CT was clean.

Mom started coming around more and speaking. Her speech was slurred, and she would often get stuck. We had to guess much of what she said, but she was speaking and was conscious and it was improvement. The doctor said that what she may be experiencing were TIA's. Mini strokes that don't show up on CT. He also thought it may be a horrible, horrible reaction to the new medication she was on her for her heart.

When I got home that night I got online and started reading. Her symptoms all lead to stroke. 100%. The symptoms for TIA's just weren't fitting. And I just had a hard time believing it was a reaction to medicine. I read that often strokes can be missed on CT and that if a stroke is assumed, but fails to show on a CT they will follow up with an MRI that will more than likely show the missed stroke. I called my mom and asked that she demand an MRI in the morning. She called very early the next morning saying they were sending her for an MRI.

TO BE CONTINUED...

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