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Care Partner of the Month January / February
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Kathy Batchie
Elmsford, NY

I followed the ambulance to the hospital in the car. By the time they got him into the emergency room he was unconscious and having seizures. Finally, they intubated him. The nurse said she was much happier with that because with his getting nauseous all the time she was afraid he wouldn't be able to breathe. I didn't realize it was so bad until the nurse told me to tell his siblings and anyone else I wanted to come and to get a priest. I knew he was out of it and it was serious, but nobody told me he had a stroke. It wasn't until the doctor had taken the x-rays and called us in that he showed us where he was bleeding from and they had to operate right away. I really didn't have a strong reaction because I usually don't think very far ahead like that. I just thought that everything was going to be okay.

The doctor was great. He answered all our questions, but he didn't try to pad the situation at all. He told us how serious it was and that anything could happen - he could die on he operating table or anything. And after that he said they had to put drains in and anything could happen when they tried to take the drains out and a lot of things like that. But he was very good and I had confidence in him. I liked him a lot and even though I had just met him, I thought everything would work out.

The stroke happened about 7:00 p.m. and we were there all night - it was exhausting. Me, my husband, his girlfriend and her father were all half asleep on the waiting room couch. The nurse came in to get his father and he went in then came back out and told his girlfriend that Larry said he wanted to see her. So she went in and I went in and I was shocked because he wasn't in any pain or anything and he was talking just fine. He said, "Mom, I'm gonna be alright." And I said, "I know."

We stayed all of the first night and next day, but when they put him in the neuro-ICU there were only two patients there and three nurses. One of the nurses stayed at the bottom of Larry's bed and that's where she stayed all night. He was her only patient, so I felt like I could go home for a little while. They were very good in that they gave me numbers I could always call and they had my number so there was never any problem. I really didn't have any rough times emotionally because as soon as he came out of the surgery he seemed to be doing just fine.

Larry was in the hospital for two months then moved to rehab where he caught pneumonia and had to return to the hospital for a while, then back to rehab for a month and a half. I didn't go to work for the whole four months. First thing in the morning I would call the nurse and see how everything was, then I had to call my husband's mother and my mother and anybody else who wanted to know how everything was, then I'd go to the rehab center a couple of times a day. I always brought him food - he had a good appetite - he would eat anything, even the hospital food. Sometimes he'd eat a complete dinner then go downstairs and eat again. I had to be there because sometimes they would move things on him and he couldn't reach the phone, he couldn't get out of bed or he couldn't reach his meal. A lot of times I'd call his room and couldn't get him so I'd have to call the nurses to go to his room and move the phone to where he could reach it. We were very lucky that our house was so close to the hospital. I was back and forth several times a day every day for four months.