Terrible Day

June 2006 has Sucked!
Thursday morning my father was scheduled for an outpatient surgery to remove a bone spur. For the better part of a year he has been experiencing progressive right-side shoulder pain. The bone spur was irritating a tendon, causing him pain. The advanced irritation and friction lead to tissue loss on the tendon, resulting in today's surgery.

After the procedure my mother was told the surgery went well and my dad would be released from recovery within 30 minutes. Two and half hours later my mom was worried and questioned the staff about his condition. Long story short, my mom demanded to see my father and overheard them calling for an ambulance. She heard the doctor use the word "Stroke" with the 911 operator.

My mother was able to see my dad before the ambulance arrived. Needless to say he was in bad shape. The right side of his face was drooping, he was drooling, he could not move any of his extremities, and of course could not talk. Montgomery County Hospital District EMS transported dad to Conroe Regional Hospital Emergency Room.

I arrived at the hospital within minutes and found similar signs and symptoms. I was appalled that the ambulance crew took him to Conroe Regional Hospital, because they DO NOT have a neurologist on staff. Either way, he was in better hands than the outpatient surgery center. My initial sight of him was most upsetting. He was trying to talk, but he could only mumble. He was frustrated with the inability to talk and you could see this weird lost look in his eyes. I've been a paramedic for 13 years, so I naturally thought I would walk in and save the day. But when my dad stared at me with tears in his eyes, I couldn't have been more lost. I did my best to keep him comfortable, but you would have to know my dad... he's a talker. Not being able to talk must have been torture for him.

Within the first couple hours he had regained a small amount of movement in his extremities, yet there was a marked neurological deficit on his right side. The recent surgery made matters worse. Bleeding, open wounds, ulcers, surgeries, and a host of other things are a direct contraindication for any medications they might use to break up the clot.

Per the MD, the prognosis for my father is good. He may have a slight right sided deficit, but he should return to his normal (talkative) self within a couple days. The next 24-hours are the most significant to his outcome. If your the religious type, please say a small prayer for my father: William Wayne Cox, Sr.

While watching over my dad, my mother tells me that she is losing her job to outsourcing. She has been a custodian for the Humble ISD school district for more than 10 years. The heartless bastards at Humble ISD are laying off tons of employees to save a few bucks. Outsourcing the janitorial services has been done at other school districts and failed miserably. Aldine ISD recently tried this and the company pulled out halfway through the contract, leaving the school district high and dry. My parents are really good people and it kills me to see this happening. They live just above the poverty line and now my father has become the victim of a stroke and my mother faces unemployment. Where's the fairness? Why them?

What a day! Oh yeah, when I got home the air conditioning was not working in my house. I'm writing this post inside an 85 degree house. Try to understand if I don't feel like blogging much in the days to come.