I hesitated to go in. That's how confident I was that this was just another severe headache. Hesitated, but finally woke up enough to realize that I really needed to go in and support both Mom and Dad. My brother and sister came as well.
Dad was coherent, but nauseous and clearly in a great deal of pain. It didn't take long for the CT scan to confirm our fears; Dad has had another stroke.
It's in a similar area of the brain, and it's also hemorrhagic. We hoped for something minor, but the blood spread very quickly and to a wide area. Having looked at the results of the scan, it was odd to see Dad still so coherent and capable of movement. As of this writing, he is still able to move his limbs upon request, and although very groggy, capable of communicating.
We've now talked with several physicians associated with his care at one level or another. I can sum up the current situation by saying that we're in a holding mode. Nobody thinks surgery is called for at this time, the bleeding seems to have stopped sometime this morning. Good news. It would appear that the bleeding hasn't caused substantial damage over what was done with the first stroke. More good news. They won't consider this incident to be over for 48 to 72 hours. Worrisome news.
For now, Dad is in the ICU under constant monitoring. They are keeping him pretty well medicated between the anti-nausea and pain medications. The idea isn't to put him so far under that we can't continue to monitor the situation, but to provide him with enough relief that he's able to sleep.
Now, we wait.
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