Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Hello World!

Stroke-A stroke is the sudden death of a portion of the brain cells due to a lack of oxygen. A stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is damage resulting in abnormal function of brain. It causes by blockage or rupture of an artery to the brain.

I am 29 and I had a stroke!

A real stroke, an actual stroke.

A blood clot to my brain that landed me in the Emergency Room kind of stroke....and it was scary.
The scariest part of all this of course, to me at least is that I had a stroke in my 20s, something unheard of or at least not discussed enough.  It left me feeling depressed and alone, mostly because there is not a lot of information about young people in their 20s having strokes. No support, no discussion...until now.

I want this to be a place where young people can come to to discuss their journeys and their strokes because...well, there isn't a support system for people like us.  I'm determined for this place to help me heal emotionally.  I have so many feelings and questions that are aching to get out and I want to share them...finally.

Luckily, my effects of the stroke are not lasting.  My speech is almost fully back. I can walk pretty normally and type pretty well again but my neck will take 3-6 months to heal.  Strength in my right side is building back to normal.  My short term memory suffered a little but if it is that bad, well, I wouldn't know, I won't be able to remember anyway ha! In other words, I'm lucky. I'm blessed!

I don't want to feel embarrassed by my condition. I want to feel empowered!  And writing about this does just that!

This feels like ripping off a band-aid.  I feel great!

Be well!

3 comments:

  1. Wow. You do indeed make the stroke unit sexy! You're awesome, and I'm glad a friend linked to your blog on FB!

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  2. Thanks Aimee! Getting it all out helps so much. Hopefully I can help someone out there who may be going through the same thing :)

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  3. I just found your blog yesterday, when searching for similar blogs before starting my own, about my experiences of having a stroke at 27. I look forward to reading through it.

    Like you, I'm also doing it partly to help heal myself, and the uneasy feeling I get when telling others about my experience. Though I've waited much longer than you to write about it; it's nearly 9 years ago now that I had mine. My blog (which I've just started) is here if you liked to take a look - http://strokeat27.blogspot.com/

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