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As My Wife Lay Dying, One Singular Moment Proved More Impactful and Profound Than Any Other
It was, effectively, the formal notice of my pending new reality.
Introduction
The day before my wife of nearly 23 years, Lorie Girsh-Eisenberg, was placed in a medical coma to save her life following a hemorrhagic stroke caused by the bursting of an undetected aneurysm, she beckoned my head close, told me she loved me and rubbed her nose against mine to allay my fears.
I thought she was, in essence, telling me she was going to be okay.
As asked by the neurosurgeon, Lorie also read simple words, wiggled her toes and squeezed fingers of medical staff as well as my own.
As with the first time these actions occurred eight hours earlier, in the emergency room of Mission Hills, California’s Providence Holy Cross Hospital, a nurse who witnessed them said these were “promising signs.”
“She’s being responsive,” she added, “but you’ll need to speak to the neurosurgeon for more.”
When the neurosurgeon returned to the ER, he informed me Lorie’s aneurysm had been successfully coiled and drainage of her brain fluids appeared to be having a positive effect.
