The Power of Prayer, or Another Johnson Family Health Scare

The Johnson family had another health scare this week.  This is to add to everything going on with Chris and dad's recent cataract surgeries.  Wednesday morning, while my mom and dad were praying together dad realized he was slurring his speech.  He immediately called the doctor to check up on this.  That in itself is a big step, since until even recently I suspect he would have said no big deal and kept right on going.

The doctor ordered an MRI.  My dad has always been dealing with pain in his left calf.  The doctor said it could have been a minor stroke, or the pain could be from his sciatica, which has given him a lot of problems.  They were told to go home and the doctor would get back to them when he finds out more.

On the drive back to the house, my dad got a call: "you had a stroke, go to the ER right now."  So, they went to Methodist Willowbrook, right near the house.  They told the nurse there what had happened and were told to wait.  Normal stroke protocol is to be seen within an hour.  Two hours later, they were still waiting.  Long story short, turns out there was some bad communication (the nurse said that they said they needed an MRI, not that dad had already had one, and there was little to no communications between the doctors who knew what was going on and that he needed to be seen and the ER staff).  Eventually he got into a room around 4:00 pm, but then basically nothing until 10:00 the next morning.

That's when the fun began.  A battery of tests to see what's going on.  Confirmation that it was a stroke (though the nurse said it was "old," probably to cover her butt).  Patient advocates coming to apologize and basically begging to not be sued.  At one point my dad was put on an IV to lower his blood pressure and he started to become flushed and had labored breathing, quite scary to say the least.

I went by to see them in the afternoon.  By that time he looked and felt a lot better.  They basically just had to wait for test results the next morning.  The most noticeable difference was he had a slight dip to the left hand side of his mouth. 

Test results all basically came back fine.  It was called a "silent stroke" because there are no manifestations of disability, which was the best news.  They also found he does have a bulging disk, hence the problem with his leg, but that's much better than the alternative.

In the end, the family is grateful for all the support and prayers sent dad's way during these couple of days.  Understandably it was a very emotional time.  For my dad it was mostly the thought of leaving mom alone.  Thank God he it was not more severe.

There is an interesting anecdote from this episode.  My parents were rightly upset about the mistreatment from the hospital.  Instead of blowing up about it, they prayed.  The First Letter of John to be precise.  This gave them a peace about the situation and allowed them to immediately forgive those involved.  The power of prayer in action.  That's not to say they will forget and will certainly not return to the "leading stroke hospital."  I think you can find a correlation to the reconciliation of sins here.  God forgives the penitent, heals the wound, but the scar remains.  All I know is I am thanking God that dad is ok.