My childhood had been plagued by lack of endurance and migraines. In my midlife, I found that miracles had kept me alive. I believe that I’ve always had an angel with me. In the last article, "Migraines and Miracles in My Life", I gave details of my life with migraines and the problems they caused and how I believed angels are always with me, keeping me safe and alive. There had been a beautiful snowfall on Thursday night in February, so school was cancelled and I didn’t have to teach. I was being plagued by a severe headache that wasn’t going away, even with medicine. Taking a break from cleaning, I thought I’d enjoy the weather and clear some snow from our driveway and boat for half an hour. The weather was sunny and warm, but I needed to finish my cleaning so I went back inside.

My youngest son had just gotten home from college and was talking to me when a big, loud pop happened. My ears were ringing and everything sounded funny. I was squatting in front of the television putting up videos. I asked my son to help me and he started laughing. I thought he was laughing because I asked him to help me. So, I repeated my request but he again laughed and asked what I was saying. I lifted my arm and waved over the videos to tell him that I wanted him to help me put the videos away but then realized that I wasn’t talking right. I asked him to "come", to show him the videos but then I realized that my arm and hand were just flailing between the ceiling and the floor.

He quit laughing and hurriedly came to me and helped me get to the sofa and said there was something wrong with me. He took my blood pressure and told me to calm down. He wanted to call 911 but I shook my head and managed to say "wait". He continued to monitor me until his father came home within the hour. Within a couple of hours, I could speak a word or two, very slowly and decided that I must have had a TA, which is a ‘small’ stroke. It was late Friday and I didn’t want to spend the weekend in the hospital, so I took it easy by trying to read and write. By bedtime, I wasn’t writing very well or reading and understanding.

The next morning when I got up, I couldn’t walk very well and still couldn’t talk right, so I decided I needed to go see my doctor. She gave us a list of tests to have done after she scolded me for not going to the ER. After blood tests and MRI, I saw a neurologist, who confirmed it was a stroke. He tested to see what caused it but didn’t find any of the usual things that are evident during a stroke. I didn’t have high blood pressure or plaque in my arteries. I didn’t smoke, I wasn’t obese and did not have uncontrolled high cholesterol. The neurologist put me on blood thinners and sent me to a cardiologist who also started to perform tests. This story is  continued in Part 2

Author: CD Mohatta

 

Testing Benefits Of RTMS Therapy After Stroke
“We are very excited to contribute to research and development of rTMS as a promising new treatment for improving recovery of function after stroke.” By: McGill University

CAM taking advantage of stroke patients
They don’t know the mechanisms, the long term effects, the rate at which recovery can be expected, if recovery is maintained after the drug is discontinued, etc. If they did any of these animal studies,[..]

Depression, Anxiety Hinder Stroke Recovery
While caregiver burden decreased significantly over time, 43% of spouses still scored above the cut-off point for burden three years after their partner’s stroke. The study also found that the number of spouses with depressive symptoms.

Recovery From Stroke – Five Worthwhile Basics
Still, if you want a life after stroke? It is all-important to go on being positive and imagine past the angst and work hard to go back to to undertaking all the undertakings that were attained prior the stroke came about.

The miracles were very evident to me during this time because I was able to see the neurologist almost immediately, which was amazing. He knew a great cardiologist who also put me right in to his schedule, another miracle. My cardiologist did a number of tests and found that I had a congenital heart defect called ASD, which is an Atria Septum Defect, or a hole in my heart. Yet another miracle had occurred because my angel had been protecting me my whole life. Heart defects can kill a person if not fixed early and they could cause serious blood infections that could kill a person having dental work. I was fortunate having my angel always there to protect me, keep me alive, and blessed.

It was a miracle that I had not died during numerous, involved dental visits. It was a miracle that I did not suffer a massive stroke. It is a miracle that I have not been left with serious handicaps from the stroke and it is a miracle that so much function has been restored to my body. It is a miracle that my son was home and a miracle that I had wonderful doctors who took me right in to find the cause of the stroke and have connections with surgeons who could operate immediately.

All medical professionals have very strict schedules, yet they treated me quickly, as if I was in the hospital and not an outpatient. I have been very blessed and give thanks for my angel and for all the miracles that I have received. The next step after finding the cause of the stroke was open heart surgery, but first I had to find a surgeon. For the weeks that all my medical tests were being done, I continued to look online to see what was going to happen next. I found that a skilled cardio-pulmonary spet could do my surgery as non-invasive, meaning that my chest would not need to be cut open and cracked. The surgery could actually be done through a serious of small holes and one small incision. I hoped and prayed that we could find such a skilled surgeon.

As my luck would have it and the way I was being blessed during this period of my life, there was a surgeon at the hospital the very day I was having a heart catheterization. My cardiologist put a call in to him and before I left the hospital, I had actually met the surgeon who would be doing the heart surgery on me. We discussed the minimal invasive surgery and he said that I was a good candidate for that type of surgery. Again, I was blessed to be in the right place at the right time to receive the miracle of skilled surgeon being at same place as me who was willing to meet with me with very little notice.

You can read about all the miracles that happened in my life as my heart surgery is continued in "The Greatest Miracle in My Life". One thing I learned from having a stroke is "that time is of the essence" and if you or anybody you know suffers any of the symptoms that I did, don’t wait but go immediately to a hospital. There is medicine that can be given in the first few hours that will prevent serious brain damage done by a stroke. Know the signs and act, if they ever happen.

Author: CD Mohatta

 
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target=”blank”>Rays’ Zimmer Recovering After Stroke
ST. PETERSBURG Don Zimmer acknowledged Friday that a stroke he suffered last month has slowed him down a bit, but he doesn’t plan to let it keep him off the baseball field.  

Recovery and treatment of aphasia after stroke
Recent findings: Studies of recovery of aphasia have highlighted the importance of right inferior frontal gyrus activation, especially early after stroke, when it correlates with language recovery.

N. Korea’s Kim recovering
N. Korea’s Kim recovering ’significantly’ from stroke: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is making key decisions, recovering “significantly” from a stroke.

Current Opinion in Neurology
Summary: Many therapies are emerging as potentially useful to promote improved recovery after stroke. Continued advances in biomarkers are providing new insights into the neurobiology of both spontaneous and therapy-induced brain repair.