Tuesday

Eldest Sister was the first point of contact for The Hospital as she was the nearest during working hours so that was why it was her that got the call on Tuesday morning which prompted this message…

“Just had an update from the hospital – mum has had a small stroke in the area of the brain that relates to coordination. This is not related to the atrial fibrillation. They aren’t sure of the cause. There are also no issues with blood supply to the brain. The meningioma is in a different area and is stable. They will now do an MRI scan and she will be assessed by the stroke team later today.

If anyone wants an update, just call the ward.“

WhatsApp chaos ensues. Mum’s cousin B was going to do the visit today but I didn’t think I had any option but to go myself as well. Then it struck me that Cousin B would be armed with something for Mum to eat and she needed to be warned to check with staff before giving it to her. Turns out none of us have a mobile number for her or her partner.

I got to The Hospital shortly after Cousin B who had found Mum asleep but had managed to wake her up. Unbelievably, Mum was sitting up in bed, chatting away and even having a little something to eat. She was considerably less confused than she had been and the only sign that she’d had a stroke was that her speech had become unclear.

When the porters came to take Mum down for her MRI, Cousin B left as the procedure was going to mean Mum would be gone for an hour. I got the chance to speak to Dr M.

She explained that the scan was intended to get a clearer picture of the bleed in the cerebellum. Mum had some impairment in simple coordination but Dr M said this could be resolved with physio. To that end, Mum would be relocated at some point to the Stroke Rehab ward. Mum had also been taken off the heparin injections and this had been replaced by aspirin as it’s less of a risk after the pleural drain. She still sounded optimistic. Concerned but optimistic.

Author’s Note

My Mum is in a nursing home in a small village in the Thames Valley. The photo is not of the home. I used an AI image generator to give the reader some idea of the home she’s in.

All, some or maybe even none (you’ll never know!) of the names have been changed to protect privacy and hide real identities. If you think you recognise someone then let me know and I’ll edit the post or remove it entirely