Grandpa Jem hurt himself getting out of the shower last Saturday and had to be taken to the hospital. Everyone is really worried, including myself, and although he has hurt himself before, it has never been this bad. No one is quite sure what will happen because he hit his head on the floor and had lost consciousness. He is more aware now, but doesn't remember the fall. It took him a few moments to remember who Dad was when he woke up in the hospital, which scared everybody, but he soon remembered everyone, although he seemed more confused about why he was there than who anyone was. The doctors say that he may have had a serious "concussion" and may have bleeding in his brain, but they have to take tests first to know how much damage was caused. What makes matters worse is that he had been feeling sick a lot lately and that he may have had a "stroke" or maybe fainted and that is what caused his fall.
Dad has been trying to hire a nurse for Grandpa to take care of him even though Mom and Dad help him with almost everything, but Grandpa has refused to allow that. So, Dad was outside tending to the horses and Mom was cooking breakfast when Grandpa decided to take a shower and get out without anyone's help. I was getting dressed and didn't hear anything, but Dad eventually came in and found Grandpa lying on his bathroom floor unconscious. He quickly yelled to me to call 911 and Mom heard Dad and came in and took the phone and told the 911 people what had happened as Dad was yelling to her that Grandpa's head was bleeding and that he was "out cold" which means to be unconscious, but was still breathing. It took the local ambulance 15 minutes to get there which seemed like two hours or more and finally they came in and put a mask on Grandpa and slowly put him on a stretcher while wrapping him in a blanket. Dad told me later that he started to wake up in the back of the ambulance, but then lost consciousness again.
Everything in my life seems less important right now and all I can think of is Grandpa Jem and that he gets better. Although, I was curious and to help pass the time in the hospital I looked up a few of the words I have heard from the Doctor.
A "Concussion" is a "temporary unconsciousness caused by a blow to the head. The term is also used loosely of the aftereffects such as confusion or temporary incapacity."
A "stroke" is "a sudden disabling attack or loss of consciousness caused by an interruption in the flow of blood to the brain, esp. through thrombosis." "Thrombosis" is "local coagulation or clotting of the blood in a part of the circulatory system". It sounds like this "thrombosis" is what may have cause Grandpa to have a "stroke" and fall which caused a "concussion". I read that last sentence to Dad and he said that "one small problem can cause a lot of damage".
Dad seemed very relieved when Grandpa opened up his eyes, but I have never seen Dad look so worried and his worried look still hasn't gone away.