Coming from a former medic, strokes are one of those issues that present a ton of different ways. Some people are in excruciating pain, others can't move their pinky and that's it.
I've trucked in an old timer who insisted he was fine and only going to make his wife stop nagging him. Guy had a brain bleed that would have killed him if he wasn't already in the hospital.
You're completely right though, that he's fucking 81 and it could have been a thousand different things. Just pointing out how insidious strokes can be. I have no idea why he wasn't taken directly to hospital.
The secret ingredient is crime.