Happy birthday to Me!!

As most of you know I had the worst and best birthday ever. After having two more days off of work because of snow - my first thought when my phone rang at 4:20 a.m. was - "What? no school again?" But it was my mother telling me that Dad had fallen and can't get up. With boots and coat on in about 3 seconds - it took a few more seconds to get across a solid sheet of ice on the road - but I do believe I was across the street in less than a minute. I found Dad - my strong, perfect father - lying on the floor, speech slurred, and upset. I helped him to sit up - I wasn't strong enough to get him off the floor. He knew me, knew what day it was (my birthday) and where he was. But his speech was really slurred. I told him I was calling 911 and he said OK. The ambulance was there quickly - along with a fire truck. Six very helpful men - helped Dad up - and after a trip to the bathroom they put him on the gurney and into the ambulance. I went home dressed , got the car drove over to get Mom and she was ready for me. Now if you know my Mom you will be amazed that she was ready. Mom is not a fast person.

When we got to the hospital - he was in room 7 - lucky number - the doctor came and talked to us. Dad was scheduled for a cat scan - right away to see if it is a stroke. Dads speech was slurred but everything else seemed OK. Off he goes for the test and now it is 7 a.m. and a change of shift was occurring. Dad is back and the new Dr. orders another blood sugar test and his blood sugar is 34 - it is suppose to be 100. So Dad gets a shot of sugar and in 10 minutes Dad is Dad again. Speech is clear and so is his thinking. We are given the option to go home or stay the night. We choose to stay the night.

Turns out Dad fell three times that night and the last time was the only time he couldn't get up. He had a bunch of tests that showed his heart and brain all looked great. So now he is going to get a monitor and start checking his blood sugar. He is home and taking it easy - hard not too - we still have a couple of feet of snow outside - and he is doing well. Yea!!!!!

So my birthday started out as my worst day - I don't think I have ever been that scared. But ended up my best day cause my Daddy was OK.

Thank-you to all of you who called me to wish me a happy birthday - the videos and photos and texts - I loved them all. Really helped me get through that day. A Big THANKS!!!

Now on a different note - 24 starts tonight - in thirty minutes my time. I can use a different kind of excitement - bring it on Jack.