A couple of hours after I posted the previous blog, just as I was leaving to pick up Justine from Kindergarten, I got a call from a nurse at Mesa Verde. She sounded slightly confused herself as she told me that the ambulance company had just called to inform her that Vernon was being transported from dialysis to Fountain Valley Hospital because he was showing “stroke-like symptoms.”  Since he hadn’t arrived at the hospital yet, she couldn’t tell me any more than that.

“What do you mean? Stroke-like symptoms? Doesn’t he show those all the time?”

I called the ambulance company, who told me that indeed one of the EMTs had seen some alarming changes in Vernon en route to the care home.  I called my mom, who had just left after two hours by Vernon’s side. She hadn’t noticed anything strange, in fact she thought he seemed better than he had on Friday.  I called the dialysis center, where I was told they hadn’t seen anything strange either.  It was a mystery.

When I got a hold of the ER nurse, I was told they would run some tests and she’d let me know if he would be admitted or not. I decided to stay put in San Clemente, at least until Maki got home from school. A good thing too, as Vernon was discharged within a few hours. He’d received a CT scan and some blood tests. The final diagnosis?  General Weakness. 

Oh. Really? Gosh, I never would have guessed it.

So that was that drama. I’m glad I didn’t put forth the energy to be caught up in it as it was a non-story, the whole time. As far as what the EMTs saw, I think its the same thing we see with him every other day. Maybe they were new, maybe this particular team had only seen him on his best days so they noticed the difference. I was thankful to them for caring enough to notice, however. For caring enough to be so concerned that they took him to the ER.

So that was today’s adventure.  And it all happened, the whole journey happened without my being there at all. In fact, it happened without Vernon knowing a single person he interacted with (except for the EMTs, who he may have just met today, for all I know.) Vernon is becoming more independent by the day!

PVOC7200

 

 

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