I spent last Friday and Saturday in the VA Emergency Room swarmed by 7-8 neurologists, doctors and even more nurses only to be told I had suffered two mini-strokes.
Prior to that my wife & I had been searching for a home to buy in Florida and I was reading addresses off to her when suddenly I could no longer say anything intelligible despite me doubling my attempt to focus on enunciation. My attempt to say Magnolia Street came out like Manogloa Obbbb. I could no longer make sense out of what I was reading and I was talking gibberish. My wife & I immediately looked at each other with big eyes. I knew it was a stroke. Then it cleared up and not long afterward it happened again.
The good news is after three CAT scans and two MRI brain scans they say I escaped with no permanent brain damage. I'm now on a life of Lipitor and two other related drugs. Plus a heart scan in two weeks to check for a congenital hole in my heart that might have let blood clots into my brain triggering the mini-strokes. That would be great news if they find one because they can fix the hole non-invasively by just threading something up a vein and placing a patch over the hole if they find one. What was encouraging was when my sister said her doctor told her last year that she has a congenital hole in her heart. I hope I do because that means there's a quick fix to all this.
So I've mostly been normal appearing but I'm still a little slower right now and for the first time since last week I slowly drove 4 miles to lunch with my wife yesterday. She objected but I did fine. I at least let her drive home lol. So I'm not yet 100% but I'd say I'm around 90% and getting better every day. At times my speech slows a tad with words coming a little slower to mind but those episodes are getting further and further apart. As I write this everything feels normal and conversations are normal.
The encouraging thing is my next-door neighbor had the same thing a couple years ago, two mini-strokes exactly as I did, and he's still doing great at 84 and you'd never know he had ever had a couple mini-strokes.
The interesting and very surprising thing is I learned while watching various YouTube videos on mini-strokes is they happen to young studs too. There were videos by young 20's and 30's tri-athletes and health club owners saying how astonished they were to have suffered mini-strokes.
So all in all I'm good but I guess I'll just have to finally start have to taking things a little easier lol.
Prior to that my wife & I had been searching for a home to buy in Florida and I was reading addresses off to her when suddenly I could no longer say anything intelligible despite me doubling my attempt to focus on enunciation. My attempt to say Magnolia Street came out like Manogloa Obbbb. I could no longer make sense out of what I was reading and I was talking gibberish. My wife & I immediately looked at each other with big eyes. I knew it was a stroke. Then it cleared up and not long afterward it happened again.
The good news is after three CAT scans and two MRI brain scans they say I escaped with no permanent brain damage. I'm now on a life of Lipitor and two other related drugs. Plus a heart scan in two weeks to check for a congenital hole in my heart that might have let blood clots into my brain triggering the mini-strokes. That would be great news if they find one because they can fix the hole non-invasively by just threading something up a vein and placing a patch over the hole if they find one. What was encouraging was when my sister said her doctor told her last year that she has a congenital hole in her heart. I hope I do because that means there's a quick fix to all this.
So I've mostly been normal appearing but I'm still a little slower right now and for the first time since last week I slowly drove 4 miles to lunch with my wife yesterday. She objected but I did fine. I at least let her drive home lol. So I'm not yet 100% but I'd say I'm around 90% and getting better every day. At times my speech slows a tad with words coming a little slower to mind but those episodes are getting further and further apart. As I write this everything feels normal and conversations are normal.
The encouraging thing is my next-door neighbor had the same thing a couple years ago, two mini-strokes exactly as I did, and he's still doing great at 84 and you'd never know he had ever had a couple mini-strokes.
The interesting and very surprising thing is I learned while watching various YouTube videos on mini-strokes is they happen to young studs too. There were videos by young 20's and 30's tri-athletes and health club owners saying how astonished they were to have suffered mini-strokes.
So all in all I'm good but I guess I'll just have to finally start have to taking things a little easier lol.