It was just a normal day (or so I thought it would be) on November 19, 2017. I had spent the night at Paul's (close friend and business partner), ate breakfast and was on my way home with a replica of my daughters wedding cake. About 3/4 of the way there I started to feel weird but I shrugged it off. I stopped to get gas about 1 mile from my house and proceeded to head home. When I arrived home I realized that I could not talk correctly.
I got home at about 10:45 am (now about in this state for about 1 hr.) My wife Brenda got home from church at 11:15 am. She started with a line of questions and on the inside my answers made sense but on the outside it was different. She quickly loaded me in the car and we went to the Emergency Room at a hospital just 2 miles away. I walked in with my right side now failing me and that's about all I remember. They told her that they would have to transfer me to another hospital that specializes in dealing with people who had strokes.
I recall a little of the ride there during the 6 mile trip, went right in for tests. I slept a lot and basically it was Brenda and Paul calling the shots from this point forward. The Drs. thought they had it under control so I slept a lot on Sunday. Monday meant more tests. The stroke had doubled in size which is basically to say that the hemorrhage had become two times as big. So a tired Jayson (yes, the same first name even if he spells it wrong ha, ha) said he would take it out first thing on Tuesday morning. He did a masterful job of overseeing the removal of my blood clot.
I spent the next 5 weeks in the recovery unit with 1 week in post operative care, another week in a step above that and 3 weeks trying to get my faculties back. I was released on December 22, 2017. In 6 months (July 2018) I visited Dr. Jayson again basically to learn that I might get better or I might not.
I was the proud father of a "hemorrhagic stroke located on the basil ganglia on the left side of the brain" and I was also suffering from a heavy dose of Aphasia (an acquired communication disorder that impairs a person’s ability to process language, but does not affect intelligence, we'll take about this later in another post).
I also had a condition called Hemiplegia which involves one sided paralysis. I had right-side hemiplegia that affected my face, arm and leg. It happens because of problems that affect your central nervous system. A key part of this is known as "decussation" and results in opposite-side paralysis. At home, you can treat it using Physical therapy, Occupational therapy, Prescription of equipment, Managing the symptoms and Guidance to address the consequences of hemiplegia. There's ample evidence that exercise helps optimize health and the ability to function after hemiplegia.
So I faced a stroke and a sidebar called Aphasia. It was definitely time for that old word to kick in, PERSEVERANCE.
We will discuss next what can be done with a stroke.
