Day 2: Bad News and Good News

DAY 2

Sunday

March 25, 2012

I was woken up this morning to my dad saying “Josh had to go into emergency surgery, get ready as fast as you can” I jump out of bed and grabbed the pair of yoga pants and sweatshirt closet to me, brushed my teeth and jumped into my dad’s truck. Luckily our house isn’t very far away from the hospital and we were down and in the waiting room in 10 minutes flat.

We got to the hospital and sat in the waiting room while Josh was in surgery. We were told that he wasn’t able to move his left arm and leg this morning around 4am so they did a CT head scan on him to find that he had a blood clot in his carotid artery. We sat in the waiting room for about an hour but it honestly seemed like it was 5 hours.

 I called my friend Tayte to let her know what was going on. This girl is such an amazing young woman that although she is younger than me, I look up to her so much. She always has a smile on her face and a positive outlook on everything. She is so true to her faith and I even though I knew the words “I’ll be praying for your family” before I even called her, I know I needed to hear that to feel a little more at ease with myself.

After I got off the phone, the doctor came in and explained that Josh was out of surgery and that the reason why he wasn’t able to move the left side of his body was because he had a stroke earlier this morning. The stroke had made a blood clot behind his eye and then shot another one into the back of his brain. This was really scary to me because the blood clot could cause his brain to swell , that kind of freaked us out but luckily mom is a medical assistant to a neurosurgeon and immediately called Dr. Martz and he gave us some comforting words.

We went to lunch across the street, we had so many friends and family there it was incredible. The whole Cahill family, Jay and Christina Balkenbush, Dawn and Gerry Yamada, Rick and Peyton Moore, and Pops and Nans were all at lunch with us. We truly have amazing family and friends to be by our side. I couldn’t imagine going through this alone.

After lunch we walked back over to the hospital. Dad got caught up talking to someone and mom and I decided to go see Josh. As soon as we got in there and said Hello to him, when we walked in and said hi to him he threw up his left arm followed by his left leg. WHAT A FRICKEN MIRACLE!!!!! We were so surprised and shocked because this is a HUGE step from where he was this morning. Dad walked in a few minutes later and mom said “K Josh show Dad what you can do” and again he threw up his arm and leg again. I have never seen my Dad look so proud and relieved in my entire life! He grabbed Josh’s arm and kissed and just started crying. This is a huge step for Josh and a huge relief on our family. My mom’s cousin Don (Pastor Don!) came in when it was just the four of us and said a little prayer. After we said “Amen” Josh gave a thumbs up. His personality hasn’t changed that’s for sure.

We went back into the waiting room where more family and friends greeted us. I kind of went into a zone and listened to “lift my hands” by Chris Tomlin. This was a song that Ellen told me to listen to and it couldn’t be more appropriate for the moment! Right now I’m sitting in my mom’s office while she does some work, after we are meeting my dad for “drinks” and then back to the hospital to see Josh! He is such a strong man! It is such an honor to be able to see him open his eyes and respond in his “Josh like manor.” It is truly a blessing that God kept him on this earth with us. I’m beginning to see the Lords mysterious workings through Josh!