I'm Looking For You!

Are you young and strokey?
Have you suffered a stroke at a young age? Are you looking for a place to tell your story and get support?

Comment here! I'd love to hear you story. We're in this together! Let this be a community for you to share your experience and inspire others :)

Coco the Clot
Although dangerous to us, she carries a sign
indicating self-loathing.

I Miss My Brain Sometimes

The weirdest thing...
Sometimes when I'm lost in my mind, I get to a point where I'm traveling through the tunnels and have to stop. I stop at a door, some part of my brain I can't get to anymore because it's locked and I don't have the key. It's a small piece of my former self I can't access no matter how hard I try. What's behind there? Stuff I forgot, things I can't remember? I visit my mind like this every couple of days in the hopes that one day the door will open. Maybe if I knock loud enough, it will hear me and let me in.

Aspirin Therapy

Since leaving the life I had with blood thinners last March, I have been taking baby aspirin every day to prevent future clots. Recently, my Mother asked me if I could get off the aspirin. I don't know, I feel very comfortable taking the aspirin even if it is for the rest of my life. It has become a bit of a crutch for me. I feel like if I don't take it and miss a couple of days, I'll immediately go into shock and stroke out.

My Mom seems to think that if I DO continue to take it, I'll end up injuring myself. I've been doing some research online and found that it's pretty dangerous to just stop taking aspirin. According to the Mayo Clinic, your body can really go into rebound mode and trigger a blood clot! 

I hope someone out there reads this and is able to pass along this info to someone they know. Who knew something as simple as taking daily baby aspirin could hurt you?

Happy Healthy New Year

Happy New Year! It's 2012 and like most people, I have started off the year with hopes of becoming more physically fit. I have made it to the gym 3 times since I have been back in the country and have no intentions of stopping. Many say that by February, our resolutions of physical fitness die down and the gym becomes a memory. Let's hope that doesn't happen to me!

The same can be said of YOUR health. There is not one of us who can honestly say they have no room for improvement because we should all be constantly trying to better ourselves especially with our health. I'm going to start adding fish oil tablets to my vitamin regiment. I have long been frightened to take additional supplements since I really thought I was pretty healthy before the stroke. I took Green Vibrance every morning, stretched etc etc. I have slowly been adding vitamins and other things I used to do in my former daily routine to my new life. This is the year to be at your best health ever! I know, I sound like a page out of an exercise magazine but I'm serious!

When I was on vacation, I ran into a childhood friend who is very close in age to me. He suffered a heart attack the year before I had my stroke. Both of us found ourselves in an in depth conversation about drugs such as Plavix and Warfarin. We paused for a second because we realized we sounded like our parents! Both of us standing there, survivors of disease, laughing about who's taking what and in agreement that maybe we went through what we did so we wouldn't have to suffer later in life. No suffering this year, no hospitals, only routine doctor visits!

Here's to your best health best you ever this year. I'm looking forward to it :)