Monday was a great day. I went golfing, worked in the garden a little, went to a ball game, went to a concert; and oh, by, the way, i did some work, too. I know I am not back to normal, but it felt like a normal day. I know that this will be a short post, but, it was a great day.
On December 8, 2008, my life changed forever. I had a double sided cerebellar stroke with 2 brain stem compressions. It was not until December 10, 40 hours after my stroke, that surgery was finally done to relieve the pressure. Dr. Piper, the neuro-surgeon from Iowa Methodist hospital in Des Moines, told my wife that surgery was nothing more than an attempt to save my life, but that it would not erase the deficiencies as a result of the stroke. Although she admits that she did not really understand what Dr. Piper had just said, my wife, Laura, agreed to the surgery and the care team performed a decrompessive craniotomy, to hopefully relieve the pressure and allow my brain to function somewhat normally. For those who have followed my blog for the last 14+ years, the surgery was successful, I returned to the church and I now live a relatively normal life, although I do have some pretty severe, though not always visible, defieciencies. I really thought that life could not get any worse th
Just wanted to say thanks for sharing your experience. I had a small stroke in Oct 08, it was a lot less sever, I only spent 4 days in the hospital...left with the diagnosis it was a 'fluke'. I'm too young, too 'healthy' to have had a stroke, per the doctors.
ReplyDeleteSome of the things you've recorded, the being normal, but not really...the speech, coordination, memory issues, emotional extremes it's not possible to explain to someone who hasn't experienced it. I was unable to continue working at my job the stress was not a good combination with the stroke and they were not very open to cutting back my responsibilities or hours.
Since they didn't know why I had the stroke, they aren't sure if I'll have another, I'm following the current treatment plan, but my insurance changed and I'll be starting over with a new neurologist next month with a HMO.
I'm grateful to be vertical as you said in a post. I make small progress, continually. And, I believe it was grace that I got to the hospital in such a timely manner. My daughter and a friend of mine both happened to be at our home when it started and got me (not really agreeing)to the hospital.
So thank you for confirming some of my experiences of the last eight months, I hope thing continue to improve for you, too.
Sending a prayer your way...Renee