I intended to do a bit more blogging today, as we planned to attend a party for the Little Admiral, our granddaughter, who turns 2 today. I had my digital camera at the ready for a bit of instantaneous photosharing. Unfortunately, while we were shopping for her presents this morning, the First Mate started feeling oddly and slurring her words. Fortunately, we were right around the corner from a hospital, and I got her in through the Emergency room. It turned out that she had a transient ischemic attack (TIA), which is related to a stroke but causes no permanent damage; it's sort of a blockage that clears itself rather quickly.

We knew that the First Mate ran the risk of a stroke because of the high blood pressure that comes from diabetes and kidney failure. Since we're only nine days away from the scheduled kidney transplant, we had hoped that she would be spared that. Now, with this new development, we're not sure if she'll be able to do the transplant next week or anytime soon. She's in ICU for the night, and they'll run some tests in the morning. She's been fine for several hours but everyone wants to take a close look to be sure we're not looking at something potentially catastrophic.

Keep your fingers crossed -- we'd all appreciate it. I'll be back to blogging sometime late tonight or tomorrow, depending on my mood.

21:51, CDT: I'm back from the hospital. The First Mate is doing pretty well, but they're keeping her in ICU to monitor her blood pressure, which means she'll sleep like a baby -- up every two hours. She's exhausted, and so am I, as you might imagine. I'll post more tomorrow morning after I talk with her.

UPDATE 5/31, 10:55 AM: I spoke to the First Mate this morning and am on my way out to see her right now. I told her about all of the wonderful, supportive comments we've received from all of you and she says: "Tell them thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. It's so nice of you, and it means a lot to me." She's coming out of the ICU this afternoon, but she'll stay in the hospital at least for a while longer.

Update 3:04 PM: I'm hijacking a computer port in the First Mate's room right now and I'll blog a little while I'm here. (I'm incorrigible.) She's doing well at the moment -- the blood pressure has come down and she's taking a nap. She wanted me to tell everyone again how much she appreciates your comments. So far, we're hearing that the doctors consider this an isolated incident, but they keep using the word 'stroke' instead of TIA. That's a bit worrisome.

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