Living and Enjoying Life!

Joe has continued to recover from his aneurism, and I remained busy at work. We have traveled more the last two years than the previous 24! LOL We took several out of town weekends to places like Tahoe, San Francisco, Sonora, Yosemite, Monterey and San Simeon. We added two birds two the family, and said goodbye to our 16 year old female cat Patches, who died peacefully at home. Before my birthday this month I had a small stroke. I was reading Black House on a beautiful and relaxing Sunday afternoon when the words on the page became mostly unintelligible. I had some difficulty expressing myself verbally but otherwise I felt perfectly fine. I became extremely nervous. I thought it might be serious, maybe something like a stroke. My first fear was I would lose the ability to read. I got up and tried to tell Joe, my partner of 26 years, to "get me over to...that ...place where doctors work." Very weird. Ten minutes later I was in the ER being lifted on a gurney, rushed down halls into rooms, hooked up to all sorts of wonderful equipment, seen by numerous nurses, doctors and technicians, prodded, poked and asked lots of questions. Within the next two hours I was reading and speaking normally. Crazy high blood pressure 220/180! Scary. They kept me overnight to get my BP down and to keep a good eye on me. I have some work to do, appointments to keeps, medications to begin but thanks to their prompt and competent care in the ER they let Joe bring me home the next day, with no obvious deficits that couldn't be contributed to a poor nights sleep. I will discuss things with my doctor, but I imagine it will be mostly about healthy eating, exercise, and a positive attitude. All they have told me is that it was a small stroke, a CVA and an TIA, loss of blood flow to the brain with various causes and consequences. I am waiting on other test results, though my ultra sound looked "normal". The Hospital staff were insistent about the importance of everyone/anyone getting PROMPT medical assistance immediately upon any changes and/or unusual symptoms; sudden one sided weakness or numbness, sudden trouble seeing, sudden problems speaking or understanding, sudden dizziness or loss of balance, or sudden headache with no apparent cause. I am more familiar with being the guy who visits others in the hospital. I was so unsure and embarrassed about asking for help. I felt horrible when the ER personnel rushed me past two little old ladies in the waiting room. But with a suspected stoke, time really is of the essence. We need to encourage others and ourselves to react immediately when warning signs appear. That's the rub isn't it for many of us, not wanting to make a fuss or appear dramatic or make trouble for others, or thinking "it's nothing, it will pass and I will look silly", or just plain old wet your pants in paralyzing fear. If in doubt or fear, ask for help from a medical professional.