Squirrel Friday - Bumpy

I call this squirrel Bumpy because of the bump on her nose. She is the only one who is not afraid of me. She comes up very close hoping for a hand out. Once and awhile she actually takes a peanut from my hand as she did this morning. She is pretty bold and cute. Check out the large version for more whiskers.

I'm lucky I managed to get any photos at all today. We have had a family "adventure" that began last night around 11:30. I was doing my blips on my iPad in bed as I often do just before I shut the light. Arvin came to bed and began saying something to me. His words were slurred and his sentences made no sense at all. I immediately got worried and asked him what was going on and if he had taken some medication as that seemed to be what he was talking about. I asked him to come with me to the bathroom to see what had happened and he could hardly walk. I pulled up a chair, sat him down, and immediately call 911.

They talked me through some tests and luckily he could evenly smile and raise both hands over his head. They told me to secure pets (I put the cats in the bathroom) and unlock the front door and then stay with Arvin. They got there very soon after and took over testing and checking him out. When they started asking what date it was I warned them that Arvin has early dementia and can't tell you the date even when he's fine. Next the medics arrived. By this time Arvin's speech was getting better and he was sounding more normal. After checking, the medics said that even if all seemed normal, obviously something had happened and they wanted to take him to the hospital. I agreed.

I was to follow them in our car but I was feeling really shaky. I called my brother Steve who came over and drove me to the hospital. I woke Helena to warm her what was happening. Steve and I stayed at the hospital until they decided to admit Arvin. It was after 2 am. No evidence of anything serious yet but they wanted to do more tests. When I got home I was hungry so I had a snack and Helena came upstairs and I updated her on the situation. It was 3:30 am by the time I finally got to bed and it had been one of our early mornings so I had been up since 6 am. Yikes.

This morning I called the hospital and they were still doing tests. At the end of the evening tonight they let Helena and me take him home. The final verdict was that he had had a TMI and they found that he had calcium on his aortic valve which may have caused a small clot or piece of calcium to temporarily lodge in his brain causing the TMI. Luckily no permanent damage and he is now on meds to thin his blood in hopes that this or something worse won't happen again.

Tonight I'm really tired. I did get a nap today which helped. And I happened to have a therapy appointment this morning which really helped. I really like my new therapist (this was only the second appointment) and she really helped. I am so glad I went to my appointment! So now it is after 10 and I am going to bed. Arvin seems just fine. He was mostly bored at the hospital and was acting like his own self from soon after the weird behavior that caused me to call 911. Luckily I did and now he is better protected from strokes. What a day.

No comments tonight everybody. Thanks for all your visits and comments on my photos. I really appreciate your loyalty and friendship. Thank you!