[GH85Carrera]

When my dad was 83 he hated the term elderly. He said it was an ageist slur.

He lived alone at home and one day did his typical routine 5hit shower shave and got dressed up to go to a dermatologist appointment. For him that meant nice slacks and shirt and shoes and his watch. He was going to wind one of the old clocks and he noticed his hand did not operate normally for him to rotate at the wrist to wind a clock. He realized something was wrong so he went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror and tried to smile. It was a very messed up smile. He realized he had had a stroke so he went to call 911. They answered and then he realized he could not speak. He said it was like in the movie Young Frankenstein at the monks house, all he could do was moan MMMMuuuunnnmmm.

The operator asked if he needed help and he just moaned again. Fortunately the policy is send the cops and the fire department paramedics. They arrived quickly and a cop came to the door and he opened it and the cop asked if everything was OK. Of course all he could do was imitate the Frankenstein monster.

He could write his name and gave them his ID. They started to prep him for transport to the stroke center and he handed the cop his cell phone. He pointed at the dial button and it was set to call me. I get a call from dad's phone and it is a strange voice of a cop.

The cop telling me my elderly father has had a stroke and they will transport him to the stroke center and I can just go straight there. Every time the cop said the word elderly my dad would moan like the monster. He was trying to say he was not elderly.

They got the right meds into him in time and by the time I got to the hospital he was talking slowly. He was upset that all he had caused the commotion but mostly upset with the cop that kept saying into the radio that an elderly man had a stroke. The cop showed up at the hospital later and was telling me he has a new story to tell. He said he my dad moaned every time he used "that word" and he said if in the future he is in a similar situation he will not use that in the presence of the elderly person.

He had a perfect recovery in a day and I took him home the next day. He recovered completely from that and lived for over another year until a heart valve quit and he died. I still miss him.