Have you had one?
I just had a stroke last week,man what a life changing event THAT was.
Lucky for me my wife hadn't left for her job running the local library yet, or I might not be
typing this post.It started out as a normal day,went to the bathroom to do my thing,
then got back in bed for a few minutes.
My sweet wife comes in to say goodbye before work,and suddenly my left ear starts ringing so LOUD,like she had an air horn in her hand.
Now I've had many bouts of Vertigo,so I just assumed it was that as the room started spinning too.
Tried to get up and out of bed and my whole left side,left leg and especially the left arm felt totally limp.....THIS AIN'T VERTIGO!!!!
I screamed for my wife,she comes running in,calls 911...Fire and Paramedics arrived in minutes.
I'm barfing my guts out riding in the back of the ambulance (which is BTW one of the roughest riding vehicles I've evr been in).Get to the ER,they determined I was probably having a stroke that sent a blood clot to my brain.The Neurosurgeon on call suggested giving me tPA to try to desolve the blood clot or limit it's damage...But I had to sign a waiver as tPA only works 30% of the time.I go "what about the other 70%","well you could die" said the Neuro,but seeing how you got to ER so soon,this would probably be our best option.
So after a couple days in ICU,a BUNCH of IV drips,2 brain MRI's,4 CT scans an Endoscopy to see where the internal bleeding might be coming from,and about 3 days
on the Neurology floor....they seemed to have gotten a handle on theings!The entire satff at Dixie Regional are all top notch,my wife and I can't thank them enough.
Turns out I have Atrial Fibulation,which can randomly cause clots to be thrown out from the heart chamber...one went to the left cerebellum which controls your speech ( mine is slurred) and left side funtions.They gave me a regimen of Eliquis,Amiodarone and Lipitor.
HEED THE WARNING SIGNS!!! Which I had a couple,shortness of breath (but only when talking not playing golf or any other exercise).For the last couple of months I could also feel my heart speeding up on it's own then back to normal in just a few seconds....I thought it must be some form of arrhthmia,no big deal...THAT was the A-Fib going off!Plus I've always considered myself to be in pretty good shape,6' tall 185lbs,never smoked,quit drinking 28 yrs.ago,played raqcuetball at a pretty high level for 30yrs.
Now I'm learning to walk and talk all over again!And 10 days ago I was working at the golf course (cutting tee box and fairway markers),playing some golf with my bud's,basically enjoy the good life and great weather.
If anything this 'episode' has taught me how fragile life really is,and that we tend to take too many things for granted....
Sorry for the long winded essay,BUT if you have any warning signs about anything,DON'T BE STUPID LIKE I WAS! See a Dr. before it's too late!