I had my stroke on 17th October 2016 ,I had a severe pain in my head and the room was spinning like I was drunk, deep down inside I must have known something was wrong as I asked my wife Janette if my face had dropped, she said no I told her about the severe headache and Janette said that if the headache didn’t go then we could go to the doctors that week as we were both on holiday to check my blood pressure, I asked again was my face ok and again she replied yes, we were about to go to sleep when I said “it’s not like me to worry “, Janette thought no its not like Jon to worry, put the light on and asked me to sit up in bed which I couldn’t do very well, she then asked me to raise both my arms so they were outstretched in front of me again I could only raise my right arm properly, she immediately got up and used the phone, Janette said “ambulance please” and I thought who’s that for?
She then went on to say “I think my husband’s having a stroke ” and I thought hang on, I’m her husband. The next thing I remember was waking up in a hospital bed which I later found out was the heath in Cardiff, I had been on quite a journey but couldn’t remember any of it. It was over the next couple of days that slowly I was being filled in by my family and friends about what had happened and the full extent and seriousness of what happened, I was told that in the ambulance we went passed my shop at the time Tycoch co-op (I was a store manager) and apparently I told the paramedics that that was my shop and if they came in I’d give them discount. I can’t remember any of the journey in the ambulance to Morriston A&E or the journey in the air ambulance to the heath hospital Cardiff. Whilst in the heath things were a bit vague and I only really remember the last couple of days there and then being transferred to ward 7 in singleton.
The first thing I remember in the heath was when Janette came to visit me when I was on B4 ward and I was scratching my left leg with my left arm, Janette’s face was a picture “you’re scratching your leg ” she hollered, “I know, I’ve got an itch ” I replied ,”but you’re scratching your left leg with your left arm” ,”I KNOW I’VE GOT AN ITCH “I stated still not realising the enormity of what I was actually doing. I’d lost the use of my left side and up to that point I’d not moved any part of my left side, infact I’d been quite poorly I had had sepsis and a blood clot in my left arm, I had pretty much used up all my NHS quota, the blood clot stopping the hospital from working on my left arm which put me a little behind, I’d had three operations on the brain to relieve the pressure and had been under sedation so the hospital could control my blood pressure so no wonder I couldn’t remember anything, in a way I’m glad because I would have just got frustrated if I wasn’t able to move anything. So my journey and story moves to singleton, they (and by they I mean the whole team, nurses,doctors, specialist consultants, OT’s and finally the physiotherapists or physioterrorists as I called them. )helped rebuild my life, Morriston and the Heath saved it Singleton rebuilt it. I was always positive in hospital and sometimes a bit cocky saying things like I’ll go back to work, I’ll drive again. But deep down I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to.
I then met Jason Haynes from the stroke association who informed my wife and I about this group that met every Wednesday, we decided to give it a go and boy am I glad we did, I felt so at ease there with the fact that everyone in the group had dealings with stroke in one way or another I felt like I was understood, and with the greatest of respect to my family and friends they can never truly understand what I went and am going through still to this day.
I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones as I have regained full if not perfect mobility, I didn’t really lose my speech apart from when I was being fed by a tube and when the hospital took it out my throat was sore and I could only whisper, that was really frustrating as well. Having loads to say with no voice to say it with. So I came home from hospital and I had a fantastic domiciliary care team from the council who looked after me for a couple of months, I then moved on to a private homecare company who were equally as good.
Anyway to cut a long story short I’m now back in work, not the same position or store but back in work and the biggest thing for me is that I’m driving again, to lose my independence and freedom the car gives you is massive and something I really missed, it’s not the same driving as before the stroke as the concentration needed at all times is huge and it doesn’t come naturally like it did before, but I wouldn’t swap it for all the tea in China my work and driving make me feel a little more like the person I was before the stroke.
