I got a call at 6 am Wednesday morning from my mom - my dad had been admitted to the hospital and was in the ICU - he had a stroke. He only left Miami on Saturday! Just got there on Monday. Then Tuesday night he wasn't feeling so good and my mom got a bad feeling. She kept calling him over and over and he didn't answer. Finally he answered and said he felt terrible. She could tell something was wrong - he sounded confused and was in pain. So she called everyone within reach to rush over there. He was in the guest house by himself - it was the middle of the night and all the help had left. He was all alone - that just breaks my heart.

My dad's best friend and his son came over as soon as they could and took him to the hospital. By the time he got there, docs said he was confused, didn't remember anything that happened and didn't even recognize the people who brought him. His best friend for the past 50 years - he didn't recognize. So my mom packed her bag last night, got a ticket for this afternoon, ran to the office to sign the checks and stopped by the bank. My bro dropped her off and she's on her way. I only hope that she gets there and he is recovering - and nothing happens in the meantime.

I called the doctor who said it was a mild stroke - he is fully conscious, now is less confused, can move all his limbs and can comprehend questions. It seems to have affected his speech - he knows the answer to the question but can't express it verbally. Poor dad! anyone who knows him will say how articulate and eloquent he is! This has to be so frustrating for him. He can recover, but the next few days are so important. He has in increased chance for a recurrance - they are monitoring him, he's on blood thinners, but of course the diabetes is complicating everything. She said she could not give me any more answers and we will have to wait and see. They may decide to do a surgery - to remove the plaque from his brain, the area of the clot. So of course I went online and did my research - its an ischemic (is-keem-ic) stroke - caused by a clot in the carotid artery. Its not hemoragghing.

But eerily enough, we all knew this was coming. My dad keeps saying his time is up, as if he wants to make this prophecy come true. I knew the way my dad is - he would keep going full steam ahead until one day he just dropped - and that is exactly what happened.