Mackenzie Updates: Diary-like quick entries, and more.
My daughter, Mackenzie Grace McFate, suffered an ischemic stroke, a stroke caused by a blood clot, on the afternoon of October 31, 2024. She spent a few days in the ER and neurology units at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) in Iowa City and was discharged on the afternoon of November 4. By Tuesday, November 13 she had nearly fully recovered with very few visible signs of minor impairment. Unfortunately, at about 1:30 PM on Wednesday, November 13, while resting at home she suffered a second ischemic stroke impacting the same parts of the brain. I’m thankful that very quick action on the part of many saved her life, but she has a longer road to recovery now and many friends are asking what happened and what they can do to help. So…
I began sharing daily updates with a group of friends and family on November 14, and I think it helped us all cope with the situation, perhaps me most of all. In order to catch folks up, and remember myself, I’ve elected to open a new blog section here that begins with those “Mackenzie Update” posts.
I’m sorry to share bad news, but I hope you find it enlightening and uplifting as I did, at least some parts of it. There have certainly been moments in this journey that made us laugh and smile as the old Mackenzie finds her way back into our lives.
-Mark M.
She had a restful day in ICU, is sitting up a little more, eating a little soft food, and is speaking just a little. Her left/right functions are nearly back to normal. Speech therapy was here and pleased that she can swallow again. Feeding tube is still in but she is clearly looking forward to getting that out later.
She just took the TV remote from me and is channel surfing again!
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Lots of people asking how Mackenzie is doing so here is this morning’s update…
I was working from home yesterday, Wednesday, November 13, and took a break at about 1:30 following a meeting so I could check on Mackenzie. She was in bed and sitting up so I asked her how she was feeling and she said she was tired and hungry. I asked her what she would like for lunch and she did not answer. Another question went unanswered so I called 911. At that time, I asked her to lay flat in the bed and she understood and did that, but her right side was almost completely non-functional. We had a policeman at the door within about two minutes and the ambulance was there in about 10 minutes. She was taken to Marshalltown ER and directly in for a CT scan.
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