2/18/09 -- Small Moments

It goes without saying that there is nothing good about a close family member suffering a stroke.  The life of both the patient and his (or her) family is changed, suddenly and irrevocably. Literally overnight, you are thrust into a new and foreign world of medical jargon, test after test, doctors and nurses, therapists and pathologists, medication upon medication and, most of all, worry.   

Yet along the way there are small, unexpected moments that make all the rest of it just a little easier to handle.  One of those moments happened for me last Saturday.  It was Dad's first full day in the rehab hospital, and I was alone with him.  (The other members of my family -- who had been with Dad almost continuously since his stroke -- had either gone home for some well deserved rest or were starting the work of preparing my parent's home for Dad's eventual return.)   It was a holiday weekend and the hospital was fairly quiet.  For most of the day, I simply sat next to Dad's bed, watching him sleep and reading the stacks of stroke-related material we had accumulated.   Occasionally, Dad would wake up and we would talk for a while. One of those times, Dad started telling stories, mainly about his time in Korea.  This was really surprising, because over the years I had seldom heard him talk of those days.  For almost half an hour, he talked and I listened.  

 A small moment, but one I will always remember.