It has been almost 15 years since my stroke, so you would think that, by now, I would be readily prepared for everything that life can throw my way; but, I often forget what it's like to have a simple head cold after my stroke.
Now, understand, I am not suggesting that other people don't feel bad when they have a cold; it is just that it is different for a stroke survivor. Maybe some of the other stroke survivors feel the same way: many times when I get a head cold with the congestion, suffy nose, fever, etc., it begins to feel like I'm having a stroke again. For those who don't know what this is like, let me try to explain. I get up at night, whether to go to the bathroom or some other reason, and I feel completely disoriented for a few seconds. Not like I'm groggy, but that I feel the room is spinning, I can't tell which direction I am going, I forget where the bathroom is for an instant, things like that. On the first day of this last cold, I was going down some stairs, and suddenly I became disoriented again, and I leaned to the left, the poblem is that I am in a stairway, so the only thing next to me is a wall, so I bounce off that wall. What is the natural reaction? I stumble to the other wall and bounce off that one...problem: I'm on stairs, so stumbling can have a disastrous result! Fortunately, unlike when I had the stroke, these moments of being disoriented only last a few seconds, and then I am back. But, it is scary for someone who has suffered a stroke of any type. The thinking person would say, "Hey, it's been 15 years...you should be over that by now..." Ummmmm....no. Again, please understand that I am not suggesting that other people don't feel bad whn they have a cold; but, man, it can be bad for someone who has had a stroke! Yesterday, at church, I was talking to someone and actually had to say the words to them..."I am sorry, but I am really having a problem putting words together today." Do you know how embarrassing that is for a pastor to say to someone?
I feel so good for where I am compared to where I could be, but, sometimes I am just reminded that, yes, I did suffer a stroke, and, yes, I am still going to have problems because of it!
For the last few weeks I have been experiencing some pretty terrible headaches; not the kind that you can relieve by rubbing your temples or taking Tylenol, but headaches that radiate from the back of my head. It seems as though I have tried several things to relieve them: taking naps, lying down on heating pads, taking Tylenol, turning the lights of, etc. but nothing seems to help. Now, I don't have them all the time, only a few days a week and I can tell that they are more from muscle tightness than anything else. I have been instructed to go the ER if they flare up again, because of my past history of headaches before my stroke, but most likely it is due to the muscles that were cut in the back of my head for the Craniotomy. I would say that most days I do not struggle with headaches at all; but, the days I do have headaches they are a doozy. I don't have blurred vision with them or sensitivity to light or sound; it just hurts. As I look back over the past 3+ years I realize...
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