We had a huge family scare yesterday.

I was on a playdate at a friend’s place all day. Some time in the afternoon, Mum called and asked me if I was driving home soon. I said no, as Hunter had just gone down for his nap, and asked why. “Oh, nothing.. just a small issue. I’ll work it out”, she said casually and then put down the phone.

During the afternoon, Chris had also called twice. He didn’t really say much, but would just casually ask what I was up to, etc. Thought nothing of it, and simply asked if he wanted a lift after work, which he declined.

I got home, and saw Mum, Dad and Chris getting out of their car as well in the carpark. “Heh. How coincidental!” I thought and waved at them.

It was only THEN that they told me the whole story.

Earlier that morning, Dad told Mum that he was heading off to their club’s gym, and would drive home afterwards. He does this all the time, so no worries.

But hours later, he hadn’t yet arrived home. When he finally did, he was in a bit of a daze, and quite confused, asking “Where was I? What did I do?”.. stuff Mum couldn’t answer ‘cos she had no idea where he’d been either!

After him thinking really hard and trying to retrace his steps, turns out he’d gone to the gym as per usual… did his exercise and weight-lifting as per usual…. and then……

*blank*

He couldn’t remember anything else after that AT ALL. Only that he found himself a bit confused, driving back home (thank goodness his long-term memory wasn’t affected and he could get himself home!!!), because he didn’t know what he was supposed to do at that point.

It means he’d had a total memory loss/blank for around 2-3 hours! 

Since he had (fortunately) driven himself back home safely, Mum called Chris (she said she didn’t want to call me for fear I’d panic and drive back unsafely with Hunter in the car), and he left the office to go get my parents and drive them straight to the doctor and then the hospital.

They checked Dad over and said he’d be alright for now, but scheduled an EEG and MRI for the next day to eliminate the threat of a stroke or epilepsy.

Really can’t believe NOBODY – not Dad, not Mum, not Chris, not even my aunt that was informed – told me about this entire episode!!! I know they didn’t so I wouldn’t freak out, but sighhhh.

So we had a very worrying and fretful night, and I woke up early this morning to take all of us to the hospital. For 2-3 hours, Dad was hooked up to machines and scanned etc etc.

Then we all headed in to the neurologists office and tuns out…… Dad’s brain is perfectly healthy and unaffected! In fact, his arteries leading up to and inside his head are as healthy as someone half his age – a real testament to how healthy and fit he (enviably) is 🙂

Dad was diagnosed with Transient Global Amensia. I won’t elaborate on what it is, since you can read all about it at that link, how it occurs, who’s at risk etc. The good news is that it isn’t recurring, and there are no after-effects. The bad news is… Dad will never recover his ‘lost’ 2-3 hours of time 😛

Anyway, I wanted to share this with you, because it is truly scary if something like this ever happens to yourself or a loved one. So, please read the information at that link, so if you are witness to this happening, you’ll know what it is and how to deal with it.

I leave you with a picture of Dad’s brain scan – a superbly and unusual picture of health that’s apparently rare among 60-somethings. I’m very pleased. After all, he IS my Dad, and Dads live forever, right??