On 8 January this year I had a stroke.it started with a bus journey when I totally missed my stop. WE now believe I passed out on the bus. I got off about six miles from home and thought the bus had just diverted off the route. Oddly the street I was now in in had the same name as the h street I thought I was in but it didn't look right. SO I opened Google maps and found I was actually over six miles away from home. I phoned my other half but he couldn't; work out where I was so I sent for an Uber . It arrived. I had trouble doing up the seat belt so the driver did it for me then refused to move. He sent for another Uber. We now think he must have thought I was drunk The second Uber was much better rand just took me straight home.o My OH was suspicious as soon as I phoned him. I was slurring my speech.
Also my face was distorted. Fortunately my husband he realized and phoned 999 at once. The ambulance was supposed to take forty minutes but it arrived after ten. The emergency service operative and the he paramedics agreed that it looked like a stroke.
Fortunately we'dh hear it a lot on Classic FM
nth useful mnemonic-
fFace drooping.
AArms weak lift up both arm and if one one drops as you try to push it dowhThe stroke is on the opposite side of h the brain.
SSlurred speech
TTime is of th essence of h essence. – If the stroke is caused by a blood clot the clot needs to be zapped within in four hours.
Thy were waitingwing for me at A& E when we got there got there.Iook eight minutes with blues and twos.By car on a good day we can get here in twelve minutes tsos.I was admitted very quickly. A CT scan confirmed there was a blood clot. The thrombolysis must be administered withinn four hours of the stroke happening. I was also very sick and vomited copiously so was given medication to stop that. I was on the admissions ward by 2.30.a.m. But I had no sense of waiting for hours.
I was moved to the stroke ward the next day an in fewer than twenty-four r hours on to the rehabilitation ward.
Then ca e a regime o awful food, bed- pans and of people taking care of my personal needs Both a CT scan and an x-ray a day later showed that the thrombolysis had caused a massive bleed,. SO- two brain injuries within forty-eight hours.There followed many many visits from the occupational and speech therapists.
My l ft side was affected, especiallayly my vision.
I'vve since had an eye tet sand my vision with glasses on is perfect. Now I'm waiting n to hear from the DVLA if I'm allowed to drive. I've had a follow up by a stroke doctor and a GP and have been pronounced fit by both.
I was in hospital for just under three weeks. The average stay on the rehab ward is three and a half months.specch/ swallow and Occupational therapy carried on at home but I was discharged when I could eat a biscuit efficiently n an I dcoulddtand for a shower and scored100% in a cognitive ability test. And l could get pills out of o blister packs. I still miss objects on my left and walk into furniture. I still have little appetite and find eating a chore.
I did have carers comein once a day to starteith eih – to help me get dressed in the morning.But they smade somee noise about theyy couldn't; come just to help me wash my back and put on my sdtockings, I thought this a lttllel nffoair fiasr as other laddies being discharged at about the same etimaad me a were getting four visits a day and thoswere the ery things wheehata I needed help with , bu I was discharged fromnthis service as well once we had a shower stool and n it was clear my husband would be ableltotohelp me with anything remaining.
Unfortunately I was discharged with the noro virus and a urine infection.
Th medics say I have made a very good recovery but I actually don't feel as if I'm fully recovered.I have a brain fog and I can't; type, technology seems alien to me and I'm constantly locked out of webs istes I've formerly been permanently logged into. I even managed to lock myself out of my phone.
I can't type- you should see the number of squiggly red lines in this text.
Yesteday thy looket t (ENT? MRI)an here is something that can be done.And I'm waiting ont the DVLA to confirm that I'm allowed to drive. All the evidence is available to them. I'm'spendig a fortune on Uber at the moment.
I sill feel quite tired and can only work for four or five hour work s day: I used to do seven or eight.
One advantage:I sleep much better now than I ever have as an adult.
