Hi everyone.
It’s been almost 5 weeks since my TIA diagnosis. It was a Saturday and myself and my husband had had a really nice day after a fairly stressful work week. He had already gone to bed and I was getting myself ready for bed when I suddenly noticed my left arm had gone completely limp, I then felt very dizzy so sat on the bathroom floor but couldn’t get back up. I managed to kick the wall which alerted the dogs and then him. He got me up and recognised right away that I was having a stroke as my left side of my face had dropped too an my speech was slurred. He go me into the spare bedroom and called the ambulance. After a 2hr wait they finally turned up and took me to A&E where I was scanned straight away and they confirmed that I had had a TIA. The stroke doctor wanted to admit me but the hospital was in critical and there were no beds available so I spent the night in a chair. Fortunately the left sided weakness resolved by the morning and I was discharged hom with Aspirin and Clopidigrel and told not to drive for a month. Two weeks later I had a 24hr heart monitor but still waiting for the results which they said would take about 6 weeks. Referral was made to the TIA assessment team in the community but I have still not had an appointment to see them.
The first week home I didn’t feel too bad but the second week I felt like I had hit a brick wall with fatigue, and feeling very unwell (husband was ill that week with flu symptoms and so I assumed I had caught something from him. I tested for Covid which was negative. I then developed a chest infection which affected my asthma, along with dizziness and vomiting and numbness in my fingertips. I saw a duty GP this past Monday and he said he was sure it was Covid and that the infection had caused Labrynthitis causing the dizziness and prescribed antibiotics, steroids and anti-sickness tablets. I also have a vile taste in my mouth and everything tastes and smells horrid at the moment making it difficult to eat very much. I mentioned to him my concerns about going back to work because of some cognitive changes I was feeling and he completely dismissed it as not possible after a TIA even though my husband and a couple of friends have noticed them too.
Luckily my manager is very supportive and doesn’t want me to come back until I have had my assessment. Just before xmas I had applied for a partial retire and return thus reducing my hours to 27hrs a week as I will be 60 in May. She’s happy to do a phased return also but she said today that work is very stressful at the moment because of being short of staff and doesn’t want to bring me back into that stress. I work as a medical secretary in Oncology, mainly work from home but one day a week in the office in the hospital. Due to the nature of the patients I deal with every day I would be mortified if I made a mistake and that is my biggest worry along with dealing with the stress of the job.
Sorry for the long essay but any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated.
