Oh great, as if I needed anything else to go wrong

I had another stroke a few weeks ago.

Four years ago, I went to work like I normally do. All of a sudden the left side of my lips went numb. Not my face, just my mouth. Then my left hand went numb. I was dropping things because I couldn’t feel them. This continued through the day, and was still the same the next day. I went into work and said I was going to DHMC to get checked out. Someone told me she had noticed that I was walking kinda funny. I hadn’t even noticed, but I guess I looked like my left leg wasn’t moving normally. So I went to the emergency department, told them what was going on, they sent me for CT scan and MRI, then told me I had a stroke. Given the results of the MRI it was most likely from clogged blood vessels in my brain. Best guess, my diabetes caused it. I spent a few days in the hospital, and was released when they were satisfied it wasn’t going to happen again right away. The numbness had gone away everywhere except in my left hand. The fingertips were still numb but everything else went back to normal.

I immediately started changing my life to prevent it from happening again. Cut out carbs from my diet. No more Jolt Cola. No more chips and dip. No more chocolate lunches. I also changed jobs. Part of what was contributing to my bad food choices was working 14 hours a day with no lunch breaks. I was eating while I worked, and more often than not I’d get pulled off lunch because a customer only had time to come in during their lunch break, so I had to give up mine to deal with them. I wasn’t getting dinner because I was working until 8pm some nights. I guess being Service Manager meant I had to be a service tech for 8 hours, then spend 3 more hours doing manager type stuff. Turns out I didn’t manage that well, and both jobs were suffering. I finally decided that my health was suffering, and that had to be more important, so I left my service tech job to work for the school district where I still am now. It didn’t help that I had lost sensation in the fingertips of my left hand - kinda hard to do repairs involving small parts or screws when you can’t feel to pick things up.

I thought I had a good handle on my diabetes. I had drastically changed my diet and tried to eat more regularly. I was using a continuous glucose monitor and an insulin pump. No more injections, just hit a few buttons and done. Well, I guess there was still room for improvement. The weekend before Valentine’s Day I started having trouble walking straight. I also had a bad eye strain headache. I went to the ER at New London Hospital on Sunday. What a waste of time that was. Doctor tells me they were unable to do an MRI on me until Tuesday, and sent me home. Said if things got worse to go to the ER at Dartmouth Hospital. Sunday night I started having trouble moving my left eye. I was unable to look up and down - the muscles in my eye hurt to even try. Went to bed thinking I just needed sleep. Monday morning woke up like I was going to work, but my left arm had gone numb. I thought I had just slept on it, but when I got into the shower I realized that the entire left side of my body was numb and I could not feel hot or cold water on that side. My wife took me to Dartmouth, where the stroke team swarmed me. I remember one doctor yelling at me because I had waited too long to come in. Hey, don’t blame me, another hospital delayed my diagnosis and treatment for 24 hours because they were not equipped to help me. Spent a few days there, was sent home to rest. They changed some of my meds and put me on a blood thinner.

I spent about a week at home. I was not able to stand so my wife had to do all the cooking. I finally started to get better. The problem with my eye had gone away, and I was starting to walk normally again. My blood sugar had gone way down. My wife and mother conspired to feed me stuff that was not only low carb but also low cholesterol. We went to a doctor appointment, then to Rite Aid to grab new prescriptions. I was walking normally. Then I woke up the next morning and I couldn’t walk. The headache came back, and I had an odd tingling in my left foot, but I could feel the floor with it. Sent a note to the neurology department asking if this was normal. Got a call from a nurse saying I needed to get to DHMC to be evaluated in case this was another stroke. Called an ambulance, they took me to Dartmouth, where I sat in a triage section for 2 hours. So much for timing being critical. Then someone comes in and says I was being admitted for observation. They sent me for another round of MRIs. I ended up laying in a hospital bed in the neuosciences wing for hours before finally the neurology team told me that this was a recurrence of some symptoms but not another stroke. Then physical therapy comes in and tells me that there were problems with the nerves in the back of my neck. Something something occipital cervical something. Those nerves use the motion of my neck to help keep balance, and they were not working. Joy. Combination of the stroke plus my brain trying to adjust itself meant I needed to learn how to walk straight but this time it meant using a walker.

So, I am back home. I have now been away from work for 3 weeks. My wife is still doing all the cooking. I’m looking at 8 weeks of physical and occupational therapy. No idea when I will be able to drive or return to work. All because I did not take proper care of myself.