The Anonymous Widower

I’ve Had a Stroke

Yesterday morning, I woke up about five  and I felt rather strange around my top lip.  I was dry and put a lot of this down to half-a-bottle of red wine the night before.  I thought nothing more of it until after I went downstairs and tried to talk to one of my overnight guests in the kitchen.  My speech was all slurred.

In the end I phoned NHS Direct and they put me in touch with the on-call doctor, who phoned within about fifteen minutes.  He suggested that I get to hospital quickly, as it was a possible stroke.

Perhaps by a quarter past eight, I’d been driven to A&E at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.  I was interviewed by a triage nurse and then registered.  I then had all the usual tests and the feeling from the doctors was that it was more likely a virus that had got in a facial nerve.

But they wanted me to have an MRI scan just to make sure.

But as it was Monday and that is usually a busy day, so they were talking about an overnight stay in hospital.  But I’ve never spend a night in hospital since our first child was born over forty years ago and I really didn’t want to break that seqence now.  But luckily I got a cancellation.

If you’ve never had an MRI scan, everybody warns you about the noise and claustrophobia.  It’s not too bad, although I’d like to see a big counter that would tell you how long each phase has got left.  I had a small window and I could she the reflection in the glass of a counter, but I couldn’t read it.  Although, I could tell when it was coming to the end, as a digit disappeared.  This was my second scan.

I said luckily I got a cancellation, but perhaps it was unlucky as it confirmed I’d had a stroke.  And this had not been the first, as there appeared to be another older one.

I saw the Stroke Team before I left with my middle son at about five.

How do I feel now?  Miserable!  But at least the fact that I’m fit might have meant that the stroke wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

At least I was able to eat a good meal last night.

Perhaps the worst thing is that I won’t be able to drive for a month!

March 16, 2010 - Posted by AnonW | Health | MRI Scan, Stroke