The Answer continued...

...is that Mike's body created it's own ability to divert the needed blood flow to circulate around the blockage and take up the slack for the now gone and useless artery.  At this point I have to say last night was the worst for both of us.  He could not articulate anything he thought or wanted to say to me.  He couldn't follow the commands for the "speech" part of testing his abilities every few hours.  Moving arms and legs were a breeze - touching his nose and the doctor's finger was no big deal for Mike to handle.  It was the talking beyond yes and no that was his biggest challenge.  My heart broke every time he tried, ending with shaking his head and in tears.  We only heard "It won't" or "I can't" through each testing.  I witnessed a man who has always known his way around a computer let a piece of paper with "passwords" come between him and success.  The only man on earth who was able to tame this wild girl I call myself was totally lost in a world of wanting to say something expected for hope of recovery.  And he couldn't - there was nothing I could do for my husband but wait for him.  As the night grew longer Mike grew worse.  I had said something that actually drew a spontaneous laugh out of my husband during that harshness.  As happy as I was to hear him laugh out loud I realized that the right side of his face was no longer responding.  And we still had not heard back from the Specialist.  Today was a very long day, but somehow Mike was improving with each tick of the clock.  I think every Therapist in the hospital showed up in our room!  But, it paid off with both sides of his smile.  His face was back to normal and he was able to say what he remembered more readily, but with one exception...  Everybody was born in 2000 something!!!  LOL!!!  We were instantly all young again!  We could work with that if only the Specialist would show up with the bottom line prognosis.  And that took all day long.  The man had "business hours" it seemed.  We were bottom of the list and he was wrapping up "his" day with "us" and our unanswered questions that had been burning through the night and into today.  The Specialist put Mike through the paces again.  Yes - there was still some lasting signs of his stroke, but no more paralysis of his face.  Yes - over time he will recover with a more rapid response time.  Yes - the blockage was permanent, but no operation would be forthcoming.  Yes - Mike would be on medication to help his blood circulate easier.  No - there should not be any lasting effects from this stroke after a period of time relative to Mike on his own volition.  

YES - ALL OF YOURS AND OUR PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED!!!

The following video is dedicated to my husband, Mike Burnett...

all my love, Kay.