Saturday morning, February 10, 2024, I was in the shower getting ready for the day. I suddenly felt a tingling on the left side of my body. At first it didn’t seem like much, and I considered ignoring it and walking it off. I’m so glad I didn’t! I got out of the shower, dried myself, got dressed, and called for Laura. I told her what was happening, so we got in the car and drove the half mile or so from our house to the St. Francis Medical center urgent care clinic in Jackson, MO.
When we got to urgent care, they checked us in, asked what was happening, and told us that I needed to go to the emergency room immediately, so rather than waiting for an ambulance, I got back into the car (I was still ambulatory at that point) and Laura drove the seven miles or so to the St. Francis emergency room in Cape Girardeau. I was still able to walk, so we walked in and I was immediately checked in. My blood pressure was spiking, measuring somewhere north of 180 /90. Very quickly I was brought to the ICU, and there they did a CT scan of my head. The CT scan confirmed that there was a hemorrhage on the right side of my brain, likely caused by the blood pressure spike.
While I was there the numbness on the left side of my body gradually increased and spread through my left leg and left arm, and across the left side of my face and torso. Over the course of that first day I lost use of my left side. I was so thankful that we did not wait to get me to the ER. The staff in the ICU would not let me eat anything that entire day, in case they needed to do surgery. They inserted an IV port into a vein on the back of my right hand, through which they intravenously gave me medication to reduce my blood pressure, which would allow the bleeding to stop – which it finally did. Subsequent CT scans verified that. I was very fortunate that I did not have to go to surgery.
There was a point during that first day where I felt that this might be it for me. I felt no pain of any kind, but I felt the vitality leaving my body. I wasn’t scared at all, but I did feel a sense of loss for Laura and my family – I just still have things to do before I cross that threshold to heaven. The time and place of my passing is not up to me, of course, it is up to God almighty. And He assured me then that He was with me, that it was not yet my time. But I had lost a great deal of functionality. Fortunately, I did not lose any cognitive capability, and the physical capability I did lose was on the left, since I am right handed.
I spent three days in ICU. On Feb 13 I was transferred to inpatient rehab to begin my journey back. The inpatient rehab staff was wonderful, and they started physical, occupational and speech therapy with me right away. Laura proved to be my loyal, loving and totally committed helper, as I always knew she would if anything ever happened to me. Laura was in there with me every day, normally in the morning. My family was wonderful as well. Mike flew down from Alaska, and he cooked for his Mom, which is my normal duty. Kristen and Gary were at the hospital with me whenever Laura couldn’t be, Gary taking the evening shift, staying with me after supper each day until I was moved to my bed by the night shift nurses. I felt bad that I could not attend the graduation of my grandson Gabriel from Army basic training and Military Police AIT (Advanced Individual Training) which took place at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri the week after my stroke. Our older grandson, Alex, had just graduated from basic and Engineer AIT the previous month at Fort Leonard Wood, and I was there for Alex, but I wasn’t going to be able to be there for Gabriel. but After Gabriel’s graduation the entire Lewis crew came to the hospital first, in uniform, to see me before going home. What a wonderful family I have!
The stroke forced me (at least initially) to be confined to a wheelchair, so we needed to have a ramp built to accommodate it. Kristen got the slope specifications from the hospital staff, and based on that spec Billy designed a ramp and developed a materials list. Kristen obtained the materials and built the ramp. We needed a stand-assist machine at home so we bought one through Amazon. It came unassembled so Gabriel put the thing together. Laura received training on it, so she was able to get me around from place to place in the house. Everyone rallied to do whatever was necessary to get things ready for me to come home. So on March 6th, the staff at inpatient rehab determined that I was ready to go home. I was taught how, and I practiced, how to transfer from the wheelchair to the front passenger seat of Laura’s Subaru.
Everyone rallied to do what was necessary for me to come home by March 6th, nearly for weeks after the stroke occurred. On that day I was released from the hospital to come home and begin outpatient therapy.