My Stay At NYU: The Stroke Unit Day 2

I woke up to a lot of hustle and bustle in the ICU Stroke Unit.  New patients and new scared families were all around me.  I was scheduled to get an ultrasound of my heart in the morning so I wasn't allowed to have any food from midnight on.  This was really torturous for someone like me who LOVES food. I eat like two lunches every day!  The man straight across the bed from me had a far more serious stroke, one that seriously affected his memory.  He thought he was in the VA clinic and that it was 1978. He didn't know what President was in office and couldn't remember his last name.  I thank God I didn't have that happen to me!

I noticed that they started Heparin in my iv in addition to saline.  Now, I can't remember if they put this in the night before or what especially since I was groggy from the Perc but I now had fresh little marks on my arm from nurses taking blood from me every couple of hours.  A speech therapist came to visit me and gave me tests to evaluate if I needed speech therapy or not.  My speech was slurred when I would speak to her but when I would read something, I would sound normal.  She said that was good and everything would be back to normal soon.  She tested my memory and did various other things all of which I passed.  Even in the hospital, I was a class nerd.

I was also visited by a physical therapist who made me walk the corridor a couple of times.  Again, it was so strange to walk.  My legs didn't feel like my own.  I got winded quickly and almost immediately needed to stop once we got about 20 ft from the room.  This was incredibly frustrating.  I started to get angry at myself but the therapist assured me that it would get better.  I have to keep thinking that whenever I get frustrated...it will get better, I just have to have patience.

After that, I went to get my ultrasound and fell asleep during it haha.  I woke up during the tail end of it just in time to ask the technician to show me my heart on the monitor.  It really is quite amazing to see your own heart and actually see it pumping delicately.  I'm thankful I woke up for that. Small victories, right?