Over two years ago, I had a comparatively mild stroke. I realize now that in some ways I was stupid, lucky in other ways, and smart in a few.
I didn't go to the hospital right away, which was stupid. In my defense, I didn't realize what had happened. In most cases, with a stroke, there is paralysis on one side of the body and/or slurring or speech. I had neither. What I had was a splitting headache, balance issues, and vision issues. It was only after some research I I realized what it might be, which was confirmed when I did go to the hospital.
I was lucky because, even though it was a hemorrhagic stroke, it was very mild. That type of stroke is far more likely to result in death. The fact that I'm writing this means I didn't die. I'm also lucky in that it didn't cause paralysis or speech problems. Oddly enough, I'm lucky because I ate something and got very ill and threw up all I ate. I'd been considering taking some ibuprofen for the headache, but that is a blood thinner, which could have exacerbated bleeding in the brain. Because I got ill, I decided against taking the ibuprofen, but that was also a bit smart. I was also lucky because it all happened pre-Covid so the hospital was not overwhelmed.
I was smart because I kept my head elevated, both immediately after and when I slept. That helped minimizing the bleeding and probably helped keep it from being any worse that it was. I was also smart in doing physical therapy to help improve my balance.
In the immediate aftermath, I walked like a drunken sailor, and could not get both eyes to focus on the same thing. In the hospital they found that I could not move my eyes to look up or down. I could tilt my head, but not move my eyes that way. The CT scans and MRIs found evidence of the bleeding, but showed that the bleeding had stopped. They showed no evidence of aneurysms and I did not have high blood pressure, which is common with that condition. As best we could tell, I had banged my head, probably weakening the blood vessel. When I turned my head sharp and fast, it caused the blood vessel to rupture.
My balance is pretty much back to normal. I had some mild balance issues before that, and still take care. The vision in my right eye is terrible, and when I had an eye exam, they told me that correcting the right eye to normal would end up giving me double vision. Apart from that, my vision is almost normal again. I spent two days in the hospital, one in ICU, and one in a regular room. The only other times I was in a hospital were when I was born, and when I had my tonsils out as a child.
What are the signs of a hemorrhagic stroke?
* Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg (especially on one side of the body)
* Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding speech.
* Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
* Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination.
* Sudden severe headache with no known cause.
