This particular Sunday started out like any other Sunday. A great breakfast with my family followed by church with my mom, niece and nephews. We all shared a lunch at McDonalds or the Truck Stop. I ate a salad as usual and had some more salad at home after lunch. After gassing up the car, I packed up my things to begin he journey to NY. I hit the road a bit after 1PM with a bright sunlit sky greeting me as I hit the interstate.
Just like most other Sundays, the traffic was alternating between light and heavy. A non- eventful drive was what I looked forward to this Sunday. I talked to a friend and a relative (both on hands free of course, everyone.) I next observed the requisite bathroom brake and merged on my way home with concerts just ahead, I felt that my students were well prepared, ready to perform an awesome concert next week.
I felt a stomach twinge and wondered if my lunchtime salad was about to give me some of the much-dreaded indigestion that I often suffered from. I snarfed down a few tums and felt better. I also ate a few pretzels, which helped calm down my stomach. I had just said good-by to my friend when I once again felt extremely nauseous, worse than I could ever remember. I had a headache and felt that my eyes were struggling to focus as I drove.
As I continued down the road, I felt sicker and sicker. I slowed down a bit and looked at my hands, which were shaking while clinging to the steering wheel. My vision was also blurred, my eyes were spinning and watering as well, and I was barfing everywhere. I immediately slowed down and merged into the right lane. Just at that moment, my car “spoke to me”.“ You are not feeling well. Who would you like us to call?” It said. I was very stunned and said nothing because I felt that I was imagining all of this. Who was this “voice”? Where did it come from? I said nothing and in another 10seconds it repeated the same message to me. I resisted the urge to respond sarcastically and instead responded that yes, I did not feel well. What in the world was going on, I thought.
(Just as a point of reference, all cars manufactured in the last 2 years (2018 and 2019, and those after that time forward) are equipped with this safety system. I called Toyota and they confirmed this with me. A friend consulted her Honda manual and it has the same system. Thank goodness it was there when I needed it!!)
“What would you like us to do? Who should we call? The police? EMS? Your family?” my car said, and then I knew what I had to do. “Call the EMS”, I said. The Prius responded that the EMS would arrive in 1 minute and 30 seconds, whereupon I heard the sirens approaching from the distance In the meantime, the PRIUS slowed down and was “driven” off the interstate and stopped by said ”unknown voice” who reminded me to stay in the car until help arrived. I was warned not to leave the car for any reason. Feeling too ill to do otherwise, I started to cry. The car then ”told me” to try to “remain calm “ and “that help was on the way.” I cannot remember at all any ambulance ride to the hospital. To be honest, I remember almost nothing after this point on this day, now evening. I had had, according to the ER and my family, a brain bleed or what is more commonly called a stroke.
My family was then called at 3:28 pm and arrived much later that night. I do not remember ever speaking to them. The first EMS crew took me to one hospital but rather quickly transferred me to another that could better treat my serious condition, now defined as a stroke. My family met me at the second hospital in the intensive care wing. I was a total mess. I asked my family to get me “out of of here” but I was to remain in the second hospital for two weeks. I have no memories of my arrival at the second hospital, but I did recognize my mom. I wanted “out” ASAP.
My memories of my early days in the second hospital are fleeting at best, but were vividly remembered by my family. I was first placed on a ventilator to help me breathe. I had a tube draining the blood from a blood bleed, which was creating pressure on my brain. I was under observation for possible blood clots ; I was monitored at six different locations in the hospital, watching for possible blood clots on my brain. Multiple tests (CAT scan, MRI, angiogram, among them) determined that a blood pressure spike had caused my brain bleed or in simple terms, my stroke. (More neurological data to follow from Dr. Nicole.) For two weeks, I was monitored 24/7 to lower my ever spiking blood pressure. My days were already filled with PT on a very limited basis. Within a few days, I was out of bed and sitting in a chair, and in about 2 weeks walking about with a walker. Wow. I had IV nutrition, including milk shakes. I ate very little, had no appetite, and rapidly lost weight. I was calling friends and my employer and family and had no recollection whatsoever of making any of these calls!! What a weird experience this was.
I was soon moved to a yet a third hospital which was much more vivid in my memory. I was sent there for rehabilitation and made tremendous progress at this place. My appetite was still poor and I had lost about 15 pounds. My clothing was baggy, loose fitting, and totally hanging on my ever-shrinking frame. What a way to lose weight! I eat gluten free and eat no meat and have a fish allergy but this hospital did its’ best to prepare meals for me. The hospital cook even paid me a visit to check in with me about her gluten free/meat free meals. They were great. I was totally surprised; I actually thought that she was just another person who wanted to draw more blood. Christmas eve brought a special treat. I lifted the lid on my food tray and lo and behold, I had sauerkraut, one of my favorite meals ever. I had this meal four more times before I was released from the hospital. Actually, nearly 5 as my final day’s meals were missing and the cook offered me sauerkraut once again. My appetite had finally returned and I started to feel more like myself.
I soon started my therapies. Fun! The first, occupational therapy, began early, around 7:15am each day. I learned to clean up every morning, complete with shower and hair washing followed by ball throwing and other balance exercises. I was fine with the therapy, but at 7:15 in the morning? That continued for about 2 weeks. In all honesty, it did help me a lot. I learned to care for myself, and was actually thrilled to bathe myself and to especially wash my hair. Feeling and being clean did a lot for this feisty lady.
I then ate some breakfast soon to be followed by PT in the “gym”. The floor was cleaned by a rather foul smelling disinfectant, which made me ill on a regular basis. Gluten free pretzels and ginger ale eased the nausea somewhat, but my scrambled vision did not ease up. My eyes were constantly non- focused, rambling, scrambling, and not focusing no matter how hard I tried. I seemed to be often throwing up, later to be confirmed that my lack of vision focus contributed to this nearly constant nausea. The PT was moved to my hospital room and better progress ensued.
Soon to be added was speech therapy. Anyone who truly knows me is well acquainted with my love of the gift of gab. (I have been talking well before the age of 1). We had a ball playing board and word games. I loved those games. Therapy was finally fun. But when the speech therapist, who was a student in one of my early days of teaching schools, asked me to make some easy inferences, I struggled a bit.
Where had my brain gone? My post stroke brain did need plenty of rehab for sure. We worked on this and soon I was doing well. I had to really work on my short term memory skills because they truly stunk. I am happy to report that said skills are much better now. Phew! I continued to work for weeks on that part of my brain/memory rehab and can happily report that as long as I write things down as most people my age need to do, I will be fine. (I would be lost without out my personal/planner calendar. I am sure that many women my age feel the same way.)