My first stroke happened on the morning of Friday,February 9, 2023, as I was having coffee with my wife at the table in the kitchen. I started slurring my words as if I had been drinking. I tried to stand up, but my legs would not hold me and fell forward very fast on to the stove. My wife screamed in disbelief at what just occurred and grabbed my hand to see if I was still alive. She helped me slide across the floor to the living room and promptly called 911. Her quick actions saved my life. I will add that when EMS arrived I could not understand what was happening and initially refused to lay on the gurney for a ride to the hospital. Fortunately, my wife calmed me down and I agreed to do things the right way. After I arrived at the hospital, as they were preparing me for a brain scan, They told me I would be gone if my wife did not react so quickly. I thank God for her every minute of every day. I had very few adverse stroke affects with the exception that I had to learn to write legibly again., I was in the ICU for five days. When discharged, I walked out of the hospital like nothing ever happened. I spent the next six months in self-imposed coordination rehab by clearing our backyard with a chainsaw, machete, ax and a tractor. No problems when you have the determination to succeed.
The second stroke occurred on Friday, November 8, 2024, a little over a year later. I was at the dining room table researching on my iPad approximately 3 AM, when I felt a dull pain behind my eyes and was dizzy. I stood up, holding on to anything near me, leaning against the wallls for support and moved towards our bedroom. Out in the hall I called for my wife, who was sound asleep,and told her I thought I was having another stroke. She quickly dialed 911 and I was soon on my way to the hospital. The second stroke affected me much differently in a horrible way. The doctors surgically inserted a heart recorder in my chest to monitor my heart rhythms,I lost my eyesight, became partially paralyzed on my left side, lost my balance and my brain decided to suspend many of my motor functions. In the hospital and subsequent rehab/therapy center they had to move me around with a hoist-machine called a Hoyer.Once more I had to start to learn how to use my arms, hands and legs! My mind races with emotions of how I would love to ride horses with my wife once again, Take long walks on the beach holding her hand and dancing with her to our special love-song by Justin Hayward and The Moody Blues. All this and more motivates and drives me forward every day. Over a period of six long months of intense therapy, my eyesight slowly returned, my left hand, arm and leg are only partially useful, but I am learning to walk with a walker and I can write with my right hand. In my next post I will define what I discovered to be the qualities a person needs to focus on to help start recovering from a stroke.
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