Prague, Stroke And Anything In Between

Five years ago, my family(my parents and my little sister- Amit) and I planned a trip to Prague.
My father wasn’t feeling well during the day of the flight, but we assume it was due to the long nights he had worked.
On the way from the parking at the airport to the airport itself, My father tried talking with us, but everything he said came out unclear. He mixed up the letters in a way that didn’t make any sense.
My mother pressed the panic button and wasn’t sure how best to continue now. The doctor at the airport told us that due to my father’s blood pressure and medical history, he shouldn’t fly today.
I’m great at stressful situations from my army days as a lookout on the border.
I handled the situation and told my mother to go with him to the hospital. If it’s nothing- they can fly together tomorrow, and if it’s something- she will want to be there with him.

Looking back, I’m not sure how I did it, but I got on the plane with Amit.

(I was 20, and she was 10)

All I had in mind was keeping her away from the trauma and stress.
When we arrived in Prague, we discovered that my dad had a stroke.
Needless to say that I was terrified. I was in a foreign country with my little sister while my dad was in the hospital, and my bestie Murphy decided to join the party, and I discovered I had left my credit card at home.
My big sister joined us the following day, and if you put aside the fact that my father was in the hospital, we had a great sister’s bonding time.

When we arrived back in Israel, my father started rehabilitation and was admitted for three months.
Nowadays, he is all better with some minor symptoms.
Two years ago, I asked Amit what she remembers from the trip, and she said, “we had a super cool sister trip, no?”. I was happy to know that she remembers it as something fun and not traumatic.