This week must be one of those long unforgettable weeks in my life.
We got a puppy Corgi last weekend, on the 9th May, and had thought that our weeks ahead will be filled with taking care of the puppy. How I wish it was just that, even if it meant cleaning the puppy’s poo twice a day.
On 11th May, Tuesday morning, dad suffered a stroke and he was in a daze sitting on the floor, presumably fell after the stroke took place. We called the ambulance, rushed him to the nearest hospital, and after hours of resuscitation and observations, he was finally put into the acute stroke unit ward for further treatment & observation. He went through a couple of scans, and doctors confirmed that he had a large stroke, damaging his front left hemisphere of his brain. Consequently, the ischemic stroke had affected the mobility of his right body, and his speech ability.
We were worried, and at some point, frightened by the incident. Dad had always been very independent and self proclaimed to be healthy, so his stroke incident really took us by surprised. On hindsight, we could have taken some cue from some slowness in his actions & slurred speech over the last few days, but we had somewhat dismissed them thinking that its part of his aging process. So to some extent, I felt guilty of his current condition, and just pray and hope that he would recover well enough so that he can continue a normal life routine, albeit with some form of assistance like walking stick and such.
As anything, we have to look at things positively, and so I like to think that the incident has brought our family closer than before. Personally, I learnt to be even more appreciative of people around me, and never take them from granted, especially with my family members. May God bless him and wish him a speedy recovery …