Today was quite the day, to say the least. I was supposed to work the late shift at work, which means 11:30 a.m. - 8 p.m. Not a really fun shift to work, but there's a 10% shift differential, and I usually go in at 9 a.m., so I get 2-1/2 hours of time and a half, PLUS I get the extra 10% on those 2-1/2 hours. Can't beat that! Anyway, I got up around 6:15 to start getting ready for work. When I came out of the bathroom, Greg, who was still in bed at the time, has this conversation with me:
Greg: I'm confused. Do I have a job?
Me: HUH?
Greg: Do I have a job that I go to every day?
Me: What are you talking about?
Greg: I'm serious. Do I have a job that I go to every day?
Me: Greg, you're disabled. You haven't had a job in three years.
Me: What is going on? If you're messing with me, I'm going to hurt you!
Greg: What day is it?
Me: It's Wednesday. What do you do every Wednesday night (he goes to prayer group at church)
Greg: I don't know.
Me: What did you do on Saturday? (He went to a Christian men's conference)
Greg: I don't know. What day is it?
And on it went! I was really scared at this point and thought maybe he was having a stroke. He was blinking his eyes really fast and looked SO confused! I called our neighbor, Wendy, who is a nurse and asked her about it. She had me ask him to smile and see if one side of his face was "droopy." He smiled, as much as he could, and wasn't droopy. I then asked her if I should just drive him to the hospital, she thought it would be better for me to call an ambulance, because if he WAS having a stroke, if something happened on the way to the hospital (about 25 miles away), I would not be able to deal with it, so I ended up calling an ambulance.
You know, we've been pretty used to Greg being ill and being in the hospital, but this was DIFFERENT. It wasn't the "normal" heart failure that he's had numerous times that I was used to. This was SCARY, because I had NO IDEA what could be going on and what was happening to him. I was actually quite scared! I don't like that feeling!
After the ambulance left, I called Pastor Will and his wife, Pastor Jen. Neither were available at that time, but when I was riding to the hospital with Erica (she drove), Jen called me back. I was totally OK, until she started asking about how I was doing! I just about lost it, and almost started to cry. I knew I couldn't do that, because Erica was in the car with me and driving (Abby was a short distance behind us in her car with my dear friend, Jessica, who made all kinds of arrangements to have her kids taken care of so she could come to the hospital and be with us!). I had to be strong! It's really HARD sometimes to be so strong! This kind of stuff isn't about me, it's about Greg, so when someone starts to ask about me, I get all choked up, because no one ever asks about me! It's not like no one cares, but it's because the main focus is on the sick person, not on the caretaker.
Once we got to the hospital, Greg had already had blood taken for testing, an IV had been set up, and they were just starting to do some heart tests, because of his pacemaker. The tests all came out fine, including when they tested his pacemaker. Thank goodness!
I have to thank Pastor Will and Pastor Jen. She had some stuff to do in Wausau and Will went with, so while he dropped Jen off to do her shopping, he came to the hospital to be with us! I do LOVE our church! It was awesome to have him there, along with my friend Jessica. Thank you, Father God, for putting these people in our lives! I don't know what I'd do without them!
Next, they took him for a head CT. The good news from that was that they shot some dye or something in his IV and were able to see all his arteries leading to his brain. All of those were clear! They said that while everyone has to worry about a stroke, in a normal sense, all of his arteries were clear, so he had no reason to worry any more than a normal person! YAY! That was GREAT news to hear!
It turns out that Greg was having a reaction to his meds. He's taking about 15 different ones, and they're tapering him off some, and increasing some others. So, all is well! Greg is fine and we were back home the same day.
Praise God! All is well, and Greg is as normal as he can be! LOL
Blessings to all!
Julie
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