On Friday, November 20th, my dad, Ernie Lopez, came home complaining of numbness in his left hand. My dad is a hair stylist, he spends his days on his feet and working with his hands—after 35+ years of this type of work, everyone thought the numbness was probably a sign of carpal tunnel syndrome. So he went on, as we all have done  before, ignoring what seemed to be a minor issue and proceeded with his weekend plans to head over to Las Vegas and help a friend move. But, while in Vegas, the numbness spread to his left leg. His wife, Miriam, suspected he was having a stroke and had him rushed to the closest hospital. A decision that saved his life.

In the ER, they confirm that he was having a stroke and identified both physical and mental deficits. As soon as we heard the news, my family and I began making arrangements to make the drive to Vegas to be with him and my step mom. When I called to tell him we were on our way, my heart nearly shattered to hear his voice slurred and slightly incomprehensible. I had no idea if my fun loving, charismatic dad would ever be the same.

It took nearly 24 hours to get him a room at the hospital. During that time, he was sitting in a chair placed in a hall closest to the nurses’ station with Miriam by his side.  While he tried to rest between getting tests done, Miriam stayed to advocate for him as best as she could in a hospital overwhelmed with the emergent cases that were constantly coming in. Finally, Monday morning, he was admitted to a room and began the long wait  the to hear the results of the tests.

 We learned that he suffered from an ischemic stroke in the right central part of his brain and, luckily, the heart echo results came out normal and found no atrial septal defects. The doctor said he was very lucky, it could have been so much worse. Along with the challenges that come with a stroke, his blood pressure and blood sugar was very high. The next steps in his care was to manage the blood pressure and blood sugar through medication, and also to assess what type of physical therapy he will need to recover. The doctors said he would only need to stay at the hospital for another 24 hours for observation (making his tentative release date scheduled for Tuesday). 

He spent a total of seven days in the hospital. The first two days, Miriam was able to spend most of the day with him but on the third day, there was a hospital wide halt of visitations due to COVID. So he spent next five days, including Thanksgiving, alone. 

To be released, the hospital had to coordinate in-patient occupational therapy; couple that with the upcoming holiday and him being categorized as a high risk interstate transfer, arranging this was not straight forward and ultimately extended his stay. As each day went by, it was becoming increasingly more difficult for him to stay in good spirits. But he did is best to focus his energy on his recovery by going on assisted walks and performing his dexterity exercises.

On the seventh day of his stay, the doctor and his physical therapist noted how much progress he made! They deemed him stable enough to go home without medical transport and eligible for out-patient physical therapy. This news was such a blessing, being alone for so long and not knowing when he could go home was really starting to wear on him.

Now that he is home, the next steps are to get his primary doctor up to speed on his case, set him up with a local physical therapist, and continue steps to manage his blood pressure and blood sugar with medication and lifestyle changes.

Like I said in the beginning, my dad is a hairstylist, his livelihood is dependent on the use of his hands. While he has made strides in his recovery, he still has a long road ahead of him and no means to generate income to help pay for his care. Please help my dad by donating. The funds will be used to pay for medical bills incurred from his hospital stay, medication, and his continued care while he works towards making a full recovery. Any amount is helpful and greatly appreciated!