Lost for words…

Hello there,

I’m a newbie on here - passed my 3 year goal, only 7 years to go! That was bad advice though well intended.

It’s a long, harrowing, journey but on here we are together in spirit I suppose. So, I’ll say “I’m sorry” for not getting involved sooner. You never know, it might help.

So, my sordid affair was the weekend before my fateful Monday, where I had a migraine. Not the usual ‘taken myself to bed for week, with loads of drugs, to sleep it off’ kind of thing, no. It was an aura migraine, filled with weird but wonderful sights, like looking down a kaleidoscope and it developed across the weekend.

Waking to the bird singing when the migraine was gone but it has replaced with a humming in the right ear and a kind of pain inside my head, so much so I messaged my boss saying I shall take the day off to remedy myself.

It was Monday and with my wife’s blessing, I was about to order a Starbucks when I had a stroke.

About a week I was out, literally. As in, “there is no hope, leave him be” the doctors explained this to my wife and put me on the DNR, whereas the paramedics (Sarah) stood fast and hounded at them saying “I’ll drive him to the Southampton hospital”. Thank you Sarah!

Looking back, I’m sorry for my wife. When the doctors saying this way, the nurses saying that way, friends saying nothing of note, it’s up to her. I wish, when Im in the opposite position, that I’m emboldened to do the same thing for her.

Anyway, the stroke was an ischemic stroke with complications of blocked arteries (1 and partially 2) in my left brain. The brain damage was quite extensive; it’s like a large orange, slightly squished, but dead. Not me you understand, just my brain!

The journey was long and arduous but the 3 years mark, with my wife beside me, I can still do it! I still have my poorly right leg but is coming along nicely, probably 50%, but my dropped foot is rather annoying, my right arm is paralysed, and I cannot feel the whole right side, including my face. I have proper migraines now, once a month, and headaches every other day, but i have a walking stick - yippee!

All that said, I can work on the list but my voice is one at the top. I have a second list dedicated to my voice. It’s a harrowing reality check, not communicate with anybody, especially my wife.

Good days and bad days, mostly bad so I’m reaching out to you not for advice but more like kinship and sharing.

There’s more to share, but for this episode, the moral story is get your head inspected if you have an aura migraine. It might save your life!

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Hi MattJc, great to have you join us, you are amongst friends here. We are all on different stages of our experiences, so somewhere there will be answers, hints and tips. We’re a good crew always ready with something to say, or a bit of advice. I do hope that you will enjoy your time with us. I’m almost two years post stroke and enjoying life these days. My stroke was not so dense, but as with all of us, it made its presence known. Look forward to hearing more from you. Welcome, Best wishes Norma

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Thank you! Where are you? Not your postcode! :rofl:

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I live in West Yorkshire. nx

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Hello @MattJC - Congratulations on passing your three year goal and welcome to the community.
Thanks for sharing your story and looking forward to further episodes :slight_smile:
Namaste|
:pray:

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Aye, crippled but not crushed. It’s sometimes an oxymoron but we weigh the benefits over the deficits and strive on. Brain injury goes right to the heart of the individual, another oxymoron, and still we rally our damaged brains and make our points. Pure troopers in a world that sanitises itself in the logic of its own idiom.

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I know that place, especially Bradford and Leeds. Well, it’s nice to meet you. I’m in Bournemouth! I can’t stand it!

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Hi @MattJC

Welcome to the community, I’m sorry to hear about your stroke. I hope you’ll find the community helpful for your continued recovery, there is a wealth of knowledge here which I’m sure you’ll add to with your experiences too.

If you need anything whilst you’re using the Online Community, please don’t hesitate to tag me using the @ symbol and my username.

Anna

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Welcome. It sounds like you’re smashing it. Your strength shines through.

Can i ask whether you have had problems with your swallow?

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@MattJC

If you’d like to have a go at saying hi to me today (Friday 11th July) I can give you a link so we can at least look at each other. No pressure but I’ll send a link if you want to give it a try.

It’s easy for me to set up. No strings no obligation.

Just say by posting here.

Me? I had a stroke 3 years ago and am disabled but keepin on.

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@EMG72 the bird or the intake of breathe/dinner/just general swallowing? I guess it’s the latter. With my right side seemingly numb it’s not my swallowing but it is slight drooping on the right meaning I dribble a lot when I’m not paying attention.

You?

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@Bobbi hello to you!

I’m really not ready to have a chat yet, no offence. My voice this week is dire, despite those voice therapy which I passed all that they had (6 syllables words but I can’t string a sentence together).

:disappointed_face:

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@MattJC

Hello to you too.

It’s great to chat here in the online community area.

I’m not offended and am pleased to have met up with you here.

Over the years I have found this a good place to express my feelings, share my story and offer my opinion. The folk you’ll meet here are going through or have been through what you are experiencing so you are not alone.

We all have our struggles and our triumphs. Progress,like a piece of string, can be great or small, but progress is progress and here is a good place to share it.

Hi @MattJC and welcome to the forum :slightly_smiling_face:
I too have mild aphasia and even now, over 4yrs on, I’ll still defer to my hubby or kids for speach when my brain and mouth don’t want to coordinate or cooperate :roll_eyes: But on the whole I’m pretty good now…though there’s always room for improvement isn’t there :smirking_face:

Have you tried Magnesium Glycinate for your migrains? I was left with a constant pain and pressure at the top of my skull and found the MG keeps it at bay. And it is something the medical world recognise to alliviate migrains. Might be worth giving it a try🙂

Look forward to seeing around the forum😄

Lorraine

I’m very insular at the moment. When I went back to work, I started to open up to my peers and boss but the redundancy hit me out of nowhere (and my peers and boss hit the same redundancy) and since there’s no job on the horizon, I’m back to insular again.

Only this time, I’ve got an outlet - this forum!

:hugs:

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Make good use of it and those you meet here.

keep on keepin on
:writing_hand: :grinning: :+1:

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@Anna_Moderator hello you. Thank you for this. One question, I am a film producer, do you mind if post a link on Vimeo e.g. Lost for words which is my story?

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Hi @MattJC

If it’s your personal story and you think it could help or inspire others, we’d love to see it. Go ahead and post the link when you’re ready! :slight_smile:

Anna

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It was for Santander albeit I loaned the film to Santander. I produced it in my own free time. It’s not perfect but the feedback was amazing.

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@MattJC
I’ve been doing some very amateur movie making and would love to see what you have produced.
I’m sure others on here would like to view your work too.

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