Aunt Shirley called Saturday night. Mom had a light stroke that morning. Shirley had taken her some food and washed the dishes for her.

Melissa and I went over immediately. We tried to persuade Mom to go to the emergency room, but she didn't want to go and be poked and prodded all night. Besides, she said, she had gone to the hospital before after having these light strokes, and they hadn't been able to tell her anything or do anything.

We asked her to come home with us, but she didn't want to leave her home. She pointed out that Tana (my sister) was with her, and could call 911, and that her house is closer to a hospital than ours, which is true. In the end I decided to spend the night at her house, which made her and Melissa feel better. I also had her take some aspirin, which can reduce heart damage caused by strokes or heart attacks.

She was much improved this morning, and could stand up easier, and her grip was much stronger. I made breakfast, got the paper, and walked the dog over at the college. When Eric (my brother) came over he and I washed the dishes. I came home after that.

Melissa was more worried than I was, because I had seen mom after these light strokes before, and this one was pretty mild. In particular, her speech was much less affected. Though most people are terrified of the word "stroke," there is such a thing as a light stroke (also known as a Transient Ischemic Attack, or TIA). Lots of people have them as they get older, or as the result of an injury. The same day mom had her light stroke, a friend of Melissa's had a stroke following a car accident the previous day.

Even a light stroke can be serious, though, and may be a warning sign of a bigger stroke or a heart attack. NINDS states that one-third of TIAs are preludes to larger strokes. TIAs should never be ignored, because they are always a sign that something is wrong.

In mom's case, her earlier strokes were a sign of high blood pressure, which is one of the major contributors to stroke. She's taking medicine for it now, but Melissa just found out on Wednesday that mom is only taking one of her blood pressure medications because the other one is so expensive. I'm going to start paying for it to make sure she takes it. The trick now is to use gift certificates, charge accounts at the drug store, or some other method to make sure the money gets spent on medication. Otherwise she could still decide that something else comes before the medicine.

I also bought her a bottle of 81 milligram (low-dose) aspirin tablets, which NINDS recommends for patients who are at risk of stroke. Low daily doses of aspirin are good for the heart, and new research suggests that aspirin can reduce the risk of colon polyps and various forms of cancer, including lung cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, and colo-rectal cancer. Melissa and I have both been taking aspirin, and are more glad every day that we do.

A few years ago mom had several small strokes after taking Metabolite, the over-the-counter diet medication that was all the rage for a while. Metabolite contains guarana, which is loaded with caffeine. People with high blood pressure should restrict their caffeine intake.

Here are some informational links that Melissa found:

• Transient Ischmeic Attacks (TIA)
  
• NINDS TIA Information Page
  
• TIA - Health Risk Factors
  
• Know the warning signs of stroke