Aug. 29, 2023

August 29th, 2023. Labor Day Weekend. 8:00 AM

I called my wife who was 2 hours away by car, alarmed that there were some very strange things happening at the farm. Somebody had, 1) hung cornstalks in a tree, upside down, 2) there was a blue insulated food carrier in the kitchen, 3) there was an empty red gas can sitting by the car, 4) there were food items on the island in the kitchen somebody had put there, including veggies from my garden...what the fuck was happening?

She calmly, (and I don't think there was anything calm about her) asked me-

Who are your grandchildren?  (Crazy question….

Marcus and Delia.

What about Lawrence? (What is wrong with her…

Whose Lawrence?

Your new grandson. (Oh dear, something is wrong with Lynn…

Who do you think had a baby?

Gerry and Nancy had a baby.

What? When??

Four months ago, in April. (????????????!!!!!!!!...

I think I have had a stroke.

You may have noticed I had the car two hours away from Lynn, my bride of 24 years. She was on an island in Muskoka. She called the Ken, neighbor across the road from the farm and arranged to have him take me to emergency while she started to make her way to her husband who she thought had had a stroke.

That journey involved a boat ride to a neighbor on the lake. Another boat ride to a dock where the neighbor had parked their car and a very nervous hour and half ride to the hospital where Ken, across the road from the farm, had taken me.

By the time Lynn arrived, I wanted to go home because there was nothing wrong with me. And there wasn't. I was recalling everything asked of me by the Doc except what day it was and I rarely know that in the best of times.

We stayed for a CAT scan. Nearly 9 hours in Emergency. Result?

Doc, “Cat Scan’s clear. Nothing seems amiss. Go home, take a baby aspirin, the Stroke Clinic will be in touch.”

Okay, off we go. Marching orders issued. I drove home, shopped for food, picked up baby aspirin, had a beer when I got home and started to worry about having another stroke or TIA as they call mini-strokes.

The next day we packed the suspect veggies and food in the blue insulated food carrier, filled the red gas can with gas for the boat all to the gentle rustle of the cornstalks I had hung upside down to put on the front porch with pumpkins this fall.

The Stroke Clinic never did reach out.

My family doc did. She is a rockstar. Before she entered into family practice, she was an circus acrobat and a chef in San Francisco. Being performers, we are both actors, Lynn and I thought we hit gold when she took us under her wing. And we did.

 She called mid-day on Tuesday. She had been sent the details of my emergency visit and the Cat Scan results.

Don't think it was a TIA.

What?

I think you had a Transient Global Amnesia episode. (WTF is that…

What is that?

We don't know much about them. (What? It’s 2023, isn’t it…

Could it be stress related?

Could be.

Okay, what do I do?

I am going to give a prescription. Continue the baby aspirin.

Can I run a chainsaw?

Yeah.

I won't drive, though, right?

Correct. Four weeks. Insurance won't cover you if you are in an accident after an episode like this. (Insurance asshats…

Cool. Thanks so much Doc. You are the very best.

Stress Related? What could have me so stressed? We are essentially retired. We have so much it's embarrassing including a new grandson who is a light in the world and our lives. What? What? What? What could have caused this?

Ahhhh! On August 1st, four weeks to the day of the episode, I discovered my biological mother and father through a friend who knows how to use an ancestry website.

I am 69 years old and I have been searching on and off for my biological mother since I was 18. I guess I was pretty twisted.