His wife, Maggie, had dropped him off at a doctor's appointment, and it was something about his hand.
His cellphone kept slipping from his left hand. Later, a piece of paper was slipping, as well. He wasn't feeling well.
"I remember walking downstairs going through the security there at the BOK, there was a young lady that I worked with," says Mellott, 63. "I said something to her, and suddenly my phone fell and it was all in parts."
"She said, 'What's going on, Joe?' " Mellott recalls.
If a stroke is real bad, he said, it comes on suddenly, and you know what it is. But if it's minor - like the Transient Ischemic Attack, or mini stroke, that Mellott had unbeknownst to him at some point in the past, recognizing it early and seeking treatment doesn't necessarily come as quickly. Early recognition is also difficult if the stroke comes on slowly, like Mellott's case that day in March.
He said his speech was a bit slurred afterward and, more significantly, he'd lost a great deal of feeling on the left side of his body.
Five months after the stroke, however, Mellott and his wife are in Tulsa on a visit from Arkansas. He's in town to see the Rod Stewart concert, check on the couple's condo and, once again, say thank you to his physician.
He's walking into Kaiser Rehabilitation Center, beaming and holding a bottle of wine. His wife is smiling, too. Dr. Perri Craven makes a joke about the gift, and they all laugh. Mellott can't say enough about how happy he is that he's improved so quickly. An avid golfer, he mimics his swing.
He's still working on that left hand, though. He repeatedly opens and closes both hands - the fingers of the right move effortlessly; the left are responding slower.
"I can't go any faster than that," Mellott says. His fine motor skills with this hand are improving all the time. The more he does the exercises the therapists taught him, the more the ability will come back.
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Stroke-recovery patient says he's lucky damage wasn't worse