That was Scary

What a week. After all the Halloween stuff was over, my mom and I decided we would head to Columbia to get started on some Christmas shopping. We decided to go on Wednesday, after all the Tuesday election stuff was over. My dad had different plans for us. My family had an early lunch and then we took Andrew to pick up his truck after getting a tire fixed. I was just getting ready to drop Andrew off at the office when Kaitlin called and said my mom had taken my dad to the hospital. She said he had some numbness and tingling on the left side and that he had mentioned something about a "TI or "TIA." I told her that a TIA is what they call something that is like a mini stroke. I told her to call me when she heard more. I debated over calling my parents, but thought I would wait in case they were in the middle of stuff. But before I could get home, my mom called and asked if I could come to the hospital. I turned right around and dropped the kids off with Kaitlin and headed to the hospital. I got to see my dad in the ER and then they took him to have an MRI. They admitted him to the CCU after that and the MRI showed that he had an actual stroke. He had felt the numbness and tingling all morning, but decided to head to work and see his morning patients. He never wants to worry anyone. He thought he may have slept on something wrong. He had his nurse take his blood pressure around noontime and it was really high. So it was the high blood pressure that caused the stroke. He looked in such good shape to me that it was hard to believe he had a stroke. So contrary to all the different rumors going on around out there, my dad didn't have a heart attack or paralysis. He never had any speech problems or other things you associate with a stroke except the numbness and tingling.

We contacted all of my siblings and they all headed home. Of course my dad didn't think it was necessary because he didn't want to be a burden, but they would have nothing to do with that. Everyone (even Amanda, Todd, and Carson) were back by around 10pm. The next day was hard because my dad was taking a medication that gave him a horrible headache. Thus they tried several different pain meds and he was still in pain plus drowsy. They quit the medication, but it took awhile to clear out of system. He said he woke up around 4am and it was gone. He was going to call my mom, but decided to wait until later in the morning. He even felt up to some humor. There were some jokes about the election causing my dad's stroke and he even called down the finance office and told the lady (one of his patients) that Obama would take care of his hospital bill. Thursday was a much better day and he really enjoyed seeing his grandkids. I even saw him at one point playing behind a curtain acting like he was a ghost. His nurse for his last two days in CCU was Kristin. They took "dual-purpose" walks together-to start alittle physical activity for him and to try to induce labor for Kristin. She is due in just 10 days, so hopefully we'll have a new little cousin on the Farwell side soon. My dad felt bad though, because he was supposed to deliver her after she found a couple of months ago that her original OB was going to Nepal to work for 6 months and wouldn't be here to deliver her. Now Kristin is on to her 3rd OB.

My dad got to come home on Friday. He is doing great. He got to come home to a lot of his yard work being done. My siblings and in-laws worked hard on Wednesday-they finished closing the pool, put away the patio and pool deck furniture, raked and mulched leaves, covered the hydrangea bushes, and brought up some Christmas decorations from storage for easy access when it is time to decorate. We knew my dad would have to sit around the house for awhile and it would drive him crazy if he could see that all that stuff still needed to be done. Now he'll just have to find something less strenuous to do while he sits around home. I think he may be heading back to work part time next week-I think this was a compromise with his doctors. I think some people are coming back over the next couple weekends to put up Christmas lights and other things so again, my dad won't try to do these things. We have spent the past couple evenings with my family and my dad is looking great. Here are a couple pics with the kids. Ellie likes her coffee just like her Papa, but now they are both drinking decaf.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and kindness. It has all been greatly appreciated. God is good!